Hitomi chewed her lip while she wandered the town. Hidan and Kakuzu were off getting information and Emiri was busy inside a shop getting things for her pug ninja dog, Frodo. She was by herself just wandering around and she had a curfew... She hadn't had a curfew since she was little... like genin little...
She sighed softly and wandered around. She couldn't remember what town they were in but it wasn't a ninja village and it was hot. Four kilometers west from this town began the desert that led to Sunagakure. She hated it being so hot, it was hard to breathe and the town was dusty and she'd just rather take another visit to Hidden Mist where it was like a giant and pleasant humidifier.
"I don't believe I've seen you before." She jumped as she heard a voice behind her, coming out of a shop she'd just passed.
She turned to look at the man, looking him up and down. He had makeup on in stripes on his face and he had a hood that looked like cat ears. He had something wrapped up on his back.
"I don't think I've seen you either..." she frowned softly, trying not to insult him. That was the last thing she wanted to do right now was insult someone and get into a fight.
"Why the long face? You're a pretty lady..." he smiled and reached out a hand, "I'm Kankuro... and you are?"
"I'm... Gin..." she lied, "Gin Hellrasier..."
They smiled to each other for a couple moments before Hitomi turned away, "It was nice meeting you..."
"Wait..." he grabbed her wrist, "Sorry... why don't you let me treat you to a meal? It's almost lunchtime and you seem to be all by yourself..."
"Uhm... I guess... thank you?" she lowered her head, not really knowing how to say no when he was being so nice.
"You're welcome... it'll be my treat... come on... let's go." He tilted her chin up, "Cheer up a little... aww, you're blushing. Am I really that cute?"
Well he certainly had an ego...
Her lips formed a small frown and he smirked, "Is that a yes?"
She rolled her eyes and decided to humor him, "Yes. Cat eared hoods are totally my thing."
He laughed, "Well that's okay, grumpy girls with a good sense of humor are my thing."
That made her smiled softly, "I'm not that grumpy... I just don't know you..."
"Well then let's get to know eachother. It's a great day and we're going to have lunch together so we might as well, right? Now how about some dango?"
He took her down the street a little to a place where they had dango and tea. It was a no shoes facility with clean floors so they took their shoes off on the way in. They sat together and talked about his day. He was from Sunagakure and he said he was a puppet master.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she smiled, beginning to grow to like him. He was a nice guy. They could be friends if he'd like to.
"I have a younger brother and an older sister." he nodded, "Temari and Gaara are their names.
She suddenly paled, wait... Gaara... that was the name of the new Kazekage... normally she wasn't into politics but Katerinu and Emiri had a discussion about it and that's how she knew. If this guy found out she was a missing nin, she'd be screwed... Anyways, Gaara had been a jinchuuriki before.
"You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost." Kankuro frowned with worry.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go..." she forced a smile and stood up, "It was nice talking to you... It really was nice to meet you, you seem like a really cool guy."
"So soon? But wait... you want to meet up some other time?" he stood up as well.
"I'm sorry but I can't... I'm going to be leaving town soon. I was only here with some others and I have to get back to them or I'm gonna get my butt whooped." she turned and left him without another word.
She hadn't gotten far before she ran into Emiri and Frodo.
"Fuck, Emiri. I'm in so much deep shit." she grabbed her friend by the shoulders.
"Where are your shoes?" Emiri stood up.
"Shit, I must've forgot them at the dango shop... listen... that's not important right now... what's important is I was just chatting with the Kazekage's older brother-"
"YOU WHAT!" Emiri yelled.
"Not so loud!" Hitomi put her hand over Emiri's mouth and chewed her bottom lip, "Listen... I don't think he knows who we are yet but I didn't give him any information and I gave him a fake name so I think we're safe..."
"You'd better. Do you know how pissed everyone is going to be?" Emiri scowled, "Bakana baka, onee-san. You're going to get us killed."
"I'm sorry... I'm just saying we should lie low for a bit..." Hitomi frowned.
"Alright... listen... I've got to go... I'm going with Ita-kun and Kisame back to the base so we can let the Leader know I'm with you guys now that way I don't die." Emiri sighed, "You just go back to the hotel and lie low. Got it?"
"Got it." Hitomi nodded and then left Emiri.
Emiri disappeared into the crowd and Hitomi wandered back in the direction of the hotel before freezing when she saw there was a ninja hound between her and the hotel. It was sniffing the ground and Katerinu was right behind it with a shirt from Hitomi's house.
"Oh fuck me sideways." Hitomi bolted off in the opposite direction before hearing the dog bark and begin to follow.
Bare feet hit the dirt as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She used to always say that she didn't run that fast but when she was chased by a dog she'd run faster than a bat out of hell. Her heart pounded and her chest heaved, eyes wide with the fear of being caught. She'd met the guy who did interrogations one time when she was visiting Katerinu and she'd be damned if he ever got his hands on her, he was scary as fuck.
She almost tripped as she skidded to turn a corner, trying to bury herself in the crowds so they couldn't get her. She could hear the dog, hot on her heels and snapping those sharp teeth, ready to catch her. Her breath, the dog's panting, Katerinu's yelling, it all became background noise as she struggled to get away. Survival was the only thing she could focus on and when a human is forced to survive, they can get pretty desperate.
Adrenaline pounded in her veins as she scaled walls and dodged aorund corners. She darted about, considering going serpentine and running back and forth. But that only worked if they were throwing things at you and so far they hadn't thrown any-
THWOCK!
She let loose a squeal as a kunai hit a post inches from her head.
She bounded over a fence and slid under a window that led into a basement of another hotel. She quickly closed the window and ran upstairs, running right into none other but Kankuro again.
"Gin! What're you doing here?" Kankuro blinked, "And why're you out of breath?"
"Sorry... was running around..." Hitomi looked around before getting a plan, "Hey, you have a hotel room? How about we go there?"
"Uh yeah... sure?" he nodded as she stood up straight again and followed him.
This was a little weird and when they got to his room he locked the door behind them.
"Alright... truth time... why're you acting suspicious?" he frowned.
She paused, realizing her plan had just backfired... If he found out who she was then he might turn her in. This day was just turning out to be a real shithole...
"Alright... alright..." she sighed before looking down, quickly thinking up another lie, "I've got a bounty on my head... from one of my own friends..."
Well it was partially true, wasn't it?
"Why?" he frowned.
"Because... because she's a traitor..." she sighed.
Well... she had turned them in, so she was a traitor to them... but at the same time it had been Hitomi who'd done what she shouldn't have... But he didn't have to know that... This was a matter of staying alive... and not going to jail.
"I see... so when you were running just now... you were running from this friend?" he was piecing it together in his head.
"Yeah... she has a dog on her..." Hitomi looked at the ground, "I'm sorry to have pulled you into it... You're a really nice guy..."
He nodded, sighing, "Although I'm a little annoyed that you didn't tell me this at first, I can't just let a girl get attacked and killed..."
"You sure you're not just saying that because I'm giving you compliments?" she cracked half a smile and he chuckled.
"I'm sure... come on... you can hang out with me for a bit... by the way, here's your shoes, you forgot them at the shop." He held the shoes out.
"Thank you..." she nodded and took them before looking at her dusty feet and making a face.
"Go ahead and take a shower... I'm going to think things over for a little bit..." He nodded and sat down in the main part of the room while she headed for the bathroom.
When she got there, she closed the door so he wouldn't peek in and turned the water on hot, just like she liked it. She undressed and stepped in, trying to be quiet and not bother him too much. She was getting in over her head, but she was sure she'd find a way out of it anyways. She usually did... or she just dealt with it... Either way she felt she could survive it and be okay.
"You forgot a towel..." Kankuro's voice came from in the bathroom and she squeaked in surprise.
She peeked out of the curtain, still hiding her body, "Oh... thanks..."
"Sorry to spook you." he was trying not to laugh.
"What's so funny?" she frowned.
"You. You sound funny when you get spooked." he chuckled.
"Is that an insult?" she glared.
"No, no, not at all. It's cute." he chuckled, "Calm down, feisty..."
She nodded, "That's what I thought."
Now he laughed.
She smiled, proud of herself, "Well I like your laugh. I like to make people happy and hear them laugh... oftentimes it's very contagious and I end up laughing too."
She grinned to him and he nodded, "Well that's good at least... Though I think you'd find it hard to be around my brother. He used to never laugh or smile. He was a scary little shit... killed people for looking at him wrong... But he's better now... I'm proud to be his brother."
She smiled, "That's cool... Hey Kankuro?"
"Yeah?" he responded.
"Do you think sometime you could show me your puppets? You said you were a puppet master. I think puppets are neat." she blinked innocently.
"I guess." he shrugged, "Might as well."
"Thank you!" she bounced a little with happiness, causing her breasts to bounce against the curtain before she drew back, "Oops! Sorry!"
"Nice rack." he laughed.
"Pervert!" she blushed a little, "But that's okay... a lot of my friends are perverts too... How do I always end up hanging around perverts?"
"Maybe you're a pervert yourself." he offered.
"Thanks a lot." she made a face but smiled.
"You're welcome... now hurry up and finish so I can show you Crow, he's one of my puppets."
"Suh-weet!" she grinned before turning the water off, "Out now so I can get dressed."
He nodded and left the room. She got out of the shower and walked over to the towel, drying off, making sure he wasn't peeking through the door. He wasn't. Good.
She finished drying off and got dressed before putting on her shoes and leaving the bathroom to see him unwrapping the thing that had been on his back. Though it was no longer a thing she didn't know what it was, now it was a half wrapped super cool puppet that was just begging for her to hug it.
"Oh my god that is sooooo cute!" she ran over and picked the puppet off the bed, hugging it close and petting the hair on top of it's head, "What's his name again?"
"Crow." Kankuro blinked in surprise to her reaction, frowning slightly.
She noticed the frown, "What're you jealous Crow gets a hug and you don't? I could give you a hug too if you want..."
"Only if I get a kiss to go with it..." he smirked, winking.
Now it was her turn to blink in surprise, "Uhm... uh..." She found herself to be at a loss for words.
"Please? Just one. A quick one even." he looked at her kindly.
Well he had been nice... and now he was helping her hide out... and she was lying to him... she kinda owed him, didn't she now?
"Uhm... al-alright..." she nodded and laid Crow down carefully as if he were alive.
Kankuro held his arms out, pulling her into a tight hug and stuffing his face in her neck, "You smell nice."
"I just took a shower, silly." she giggled.
She suddenly gasped as she felt his lips sucking on her throat. He was bibbling and sucking, kissing and humming. She gently set a hand on his chest, carefully trying to push him away a little. She found her touch was weak though and he could probably barely feel it through his clothing. It wasn't helping at the soft sounds that escaped her from the feeling.
"K-kankuro..." she breathed, trying to tell him no.
He responded by licking up her jawline and kissing her lips, "Yes?"
She frowned at him, her eyes showing fear.
"Oh... I'm sorry... I went too far... I'm sorry..." he sighed softly, petting her hair.
"I think I should go..." she whispered.
"Alright... let me know if you're ever in town, okay...?" he frowned softly.
She nodded, getting up and leaving the room.