notes; this one was pretty long. abnormally long. this trend could possibly continue if someoneeee reviewed! feedback would be appreciated and HELPFUL.

2. — set it on fire

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His men looked stick to their stomach at the sight. He couldn't blame them, though, they were young and inexperienced. Of course the sight of humans blown to bits, to bones and flesh would make them sick.

Nonetheless, they tried not to show this to their superior.

He surveyed the forest life around him as the other officers worked on damage control, pondering something to himself. Many of them wondered how he was able to keep such a cool head at a time like this, and he had to suppress a smirk at the thought. He was anything but a collected person.

He just had experience.

A vulture soaring overhead caught his eye. In the midst of the olive green leaves towering above their heads, the lone dark-brown bird flew, scaring all of the smaller robins away.

He continued to stare at the spot where the bird had landed, staring and staring like it would give him answers.

"Sir," his voice transceiver rung.

He answered. "What is it, Takeshi."

"Um, S-Sir... I'm not sure how to say this..."

"What?"

"Well, most of our officers had been assaulted in one way in the other, so... we don't think this is a coincidence, but..."

"Spit it out."

"Mr. Suigetsu... we think Inuzuka kidnapped your fiancé, Ms. Yamanaka."

Ino slipped in and out of consciousness. She whimpered in discomfort, turning back and forth before realizing her stomach was killing her. Her eyes snapped open, and she got sick over the side of the boat.

"Oh no," a woman said. Ino tried to find the source, but then it hit her that she had been blindfolded.

The same woman stood up and gazed into the water, watching the chunky vomit slowly sink into the water. She briefly wondered what she had for lunch. She looked to her seatmate, who seemed to be sharing the same thoughts judging by his greening face. The last person on board didn't have much to say.

"Wh-Who's there!?" Ino summoned all her strength to sit upright, barely registering the fact that her hands had been tied behind her back.

The woman uttered a sympathetic sigh. "I would offer you some of my sugarcane, but I don't think you would want any right now..." Ino heard the sound of teeth crunching.

"Who's there?" Ino repeated, panic edging its way into her voice. "Who are you?"

"W-We can't answer that yet, M—"

The man next to her elbowed her. "Don't get involved, Hinata."

She seemed torn. "But, Shino..." If possible, her voice became more timid.

Ino ignored the exchange, sensing there was another person there with them. She had a feeling she knew who it was.

"Tell me now!" Ino screamed, and both Hinata and Shino flinched at the noise.

It was a desperate scream, unnerving in a way that they couldn't explain.

Silence rung through the air in the seconds that followed.

Ino was shaking, anger and fear blurring together as she whispered once more, "Who are you."

Hinata and Shino both wore dubious expressions as they turned to Kiba, who was rowing. He felt their gaze before growling and heaving a sigh of exhaustion. Placing the paddle down, he turned around and knelt down next to Ino, eyes narrowed in an unfriendly glare.

Ino sensed that he was near him underneath her black blindfold, and immediately leaned forward so that their foreheads collided with a loud bump. Hinata gasped, Kiba seemed unaffected with his glare still in place, and Shino seemed just a tiny bit amused.

Ino felt a shiver run down her spine.

"You're cowards, all of you!" Ino exclaimed, teeth gritting as she struggled with her confinements. "How could you all gang up on me at once, and not give me a chance to fight back?!"

No one spoke. "I'm not scared," she said.

"Jayam ondu bayam illai, maghane, intha jenmathilae, vidinthulae ondu! Bayam ondu. Bakthi ennale!" Ino cried fiercely, once again struggling to free herself. Hinata and Shino watched on in apparent befuddlement and interest.

And Ino froze, her biggest surprise coming when she felt that man come close, while his breath ghosted her face.

"Jayam ondu bayam illai maname!" Kiba barked back, startling everyone. He picked up his staff and aimed it an inch away from her forehead. "Bakthi. Bakthi. Bakthi. Bakthi."

Ino shook her head, pupils constricted in utter bewilderment and fear. How could this man understand what she was saying, how could he know, how did he know, how did he know how did he know—

"This is wrong," Ino said again, voice raspy and desperate for a reason she didn't understand. Her eyes were filled with something, face twisted between fear and intrepidity as she continued, "You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong—"

He bore his teeth at her, clearly irritated by her continued frantic murmuring. He glared silently for a few moments, watching as Ino repeated herself over and over in a panicked state, right at the edge of sanity.

He decided it made him sick.

"Bakthi," Kiba said one last time, and the staff in his hand pushed her into the water.

She screamed again. Ino flailed and gurgled desperately, unable to swim or stay afloat with her constricted hands and current blindness.

"Kiba!" Hinata burst in alarm, sending him a panicked glance. "She'll die!"

Kiba shook his head, watching Ino intently. "She won't. There's still a day until we hammer the nails in her coffin." He added with a crazed laugh, "Let her swim some more!"

Next to him, Shino shook his head disbelievingly. Kiba had never made sense up until now, so what was the point? He dove in after Ino, and Hinata hesitated before doing the same.

Around the golden hours of sunset, the crickets began to chirp. Another police jeep pulled into the outskirts of the city, but wisely chose to take the noncommercial route inside. They could not afford a repeat of last time.

"Hey, Sui," Karin said. She elbowed Suigetsu, who was sitting in the shotgun seat of the car. He had seemed distant the whole evening, though it wouldn't take a genius to figure out why. "There's someone blocking the gate.

He still seemed out of it, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. She just hoped after this mess was over, she'd be getting a raise and a promotion. Criminal affairs were not her division. She rolled down the window, snapping to try and get the man's attention.

"Hey, you! Get out of the way." Karin held out her identification, waving it in the air.

He made a noncommittal grunt before rolling over in his spot on the ground, waving a hand at them to shoo.

"This dick," Karin hissed, immediately stepping out of the vehicle to slam the door shut. "I don't know who you think you are," she said as she stalked down the pavement towards him with growing malice in every step.

"Urgh," the man muttered, eyes scrunching from the flashlight Karin shined on him.

"That's a police jeep. If you haven't put two and two together yet, feel free to do so now," Karin growled. She didn't have the patience to deal with these things, as her fellow officers were beginning to discover.

"I live here," the man suddenly explained. "My name is Sai, and I live in these woods. Are you sure you want me to go?" His smile was somehow fake and amused at the same time.

"What?" Karin gawked. "What are you…"

He stood up suddenly, catching Karin off-guard. "But you can't have my services for free. Catch this." Sai threw a discarded wine bottle at her, and Karin's knee-jerk reaction to catch it cost her dearly. Sai snatched the gun in her hand the second she dropped it, and he was off.

"What the fuck!?" she cursed, glaring open-mouthed at the empty space before her. In an instant, the remaining unit filed out of the vehicles, armed and searching for the elusive man, who jumped tree to tree like it was nobody's business.

As the search went on, they failed to notice him drop down behind them. Sai snuck up to one of the cars, attempting to put the gun that he never wanted back. He had only wanted to mess with them, and he did not really want their trouble.

Sai halted, however, when he felt an ominous presence standing behind him. He turned slowly, shock registering on his face at his visitor. Suigetsu stood there with an emotionless face as he snatched the gun from Sai, who didn't resist at all.

"You're Sai." Suigetsu said it as a fact.

He nodded. "Affirmative."

"You're a forest guard, right?"

"For eighteen years."

His tone remained flat as Suigetsu continued, "I've heard good things about you. Are you familiar with these woods? Or are you more familiar with that ever-growing wine bottle collection?"

Sai didn't speak for a moment, but his motionless face kept his thoughts obscured.

"Is that why you're playing devil's advocate?" Suigetsu pressed on. "Or did someone tell you to."

Sai shook his head, apparently perturbed by the barrage of questions. "I can escort you safely, if that is what you wish."

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow, and Sai realized that he was suspicious and cracked a smile.

"There is no need to be distrustful. We both work for the government, after all."

"Suigestu, I don't trust him."

Karin was not happy with the turn-out of events, as evidenced by her crossed arms and indignant expression.

"You saw what he did," she added.

And as usual, Suigetsu did not seem to care. He focused on driving, while Karin continued to chide him endlessly for his choices.

"I don't trust you." Sai was riding on top of the vehicle, and he hung upside down in front of the open window next to Karin, much to her disdain. "All you do is yell all the time, Four Eyes. You even let yourself be incapacitated by me."

"And who the fuck's fault was that!?" Karin shot back instantly at his upside-down face. The jibe earned her one of his infamous plastic smiles. At that, she scoffed and turned her head. "I just know you're one of them."

While Karin and Sai continued to squabble, Suigetsu drifted further away from reality. He channeled his thought into focus, eyes glaring straight ahead from behind the steering wheel.

Inuzuka. He was born in Konoha twenty-six years ago. Every single town in the country had an FRI filed against him. In total, there were forty three unsolved cases. It wasn't just him – other names sometimes jumped out of the fray. Uzumaki, Haruno, Hyuuga. They all worked as one stable unit.

Though these names were there, Inuzuka was most commonly out there doing the dirty work, and thus his name was the most well-known. He had never seen him in person, and that did make Suigetsu wonder why he felt like he knew him so well. He'd been dispatched to Konoha for the very reason of pinpointing him, so of course it caused a burning wrath in his gut that he was the first to be indirectly attacked.

"Why don't you just shoot him and get it over with?" Ino had suggested. She tied her long, blonde hair up in a high ponytail before joining the table with him and Karin. "Isn't that why we pay you all?"

Karin laughed dryly. "If only it were that easy. If the Deputy Commissioner of police couldn't handle it, you can imagine how it is for the rest of us."

Suigetsu's expression hadn't changed, but his fist visibly clenched.

He was filled with the urge to find Inuzuka and punch him until his uniform stained red. From that moment onward, he was filled with inexplicable bloodlust.

Of course, there was Aburame and Hyuuga. They were his allies and most likely close friends, though there wasn't exactly proof of that. They were better at keeping their cover than their canine team member was.

There was also another that stood out – Konohamaru. He was still young, and had managed to get a high school education out of the city anonymously. They saw him very rarely. He was more of a messenger, if anything.

If any of their people were hurt by the police, the retaliation would occur in less than a day. Suigetsu remembered coming home to an explosion on his doorstep after an arrest. There was no way to control it – there were simply too many people manipulating too many things unexpectedly. They were like a well-oiled machine.

He figured Inuzuka must be some kind of leader figure to the tribe. Though with leadership like his, fear was sure to accompany it. Half the people hailed them as heroes, and the other half was scared of them. Suigetsu, however, didn't have a doubt in his mind as to how he felt about that wretched man.

By the law, he was a criminal, and criminals deserved to be punished.

Suigetsu had him close, but he had easily slipped away from his grasp at the last second. But he wouldn't let that happen again. This time, he would entrap him unquestionably.

Be strong, Ino. I won't leave without ending him.

And then, he began dreaming of red. A red sky, a red river, and a red forest – stained with the blood of Inuzuka. This deep-rooted desire tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Rather than a desire, it was an urge – an urge to see his insides spattered on the ground.

Red had always been his favorite color, and sometimes he dreamed that he drowned in it.

"Sir." Sai bent down again, this time on Suigetsu's side. "Stop the jeep," he said. "This is very important."

Suigetsu seemed irritated, but he commanded all of the other following vehicles to stop as well. Sai carefully lowered himself onto the ground, taking care not to make a noise.

"You can't just listen with your eyes," he explained. And without so much as a beckoning hand, he grabbed his backpack and headed east. Everyone followed him, anyway.

Karin fell back to catch up with someone else, not in the mood to walk with Suigetsu, who had clearly not been himself lately. Soon she was walking aside Juugo, who didn't question her for a few moments until he realized she was sticking with him.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, I'll be honest – Suigetsu's acting weird and there's no way I'm going to be around Sai, so that's why I'm chilling with you right now."

"Ever consider Suigetsu might be in mourning?"

Karin's eyes widened, seemingly a bit shaken, but she shook her head dismissively. "Why would he? I mean, he's… distraught, yes, but we all know we're going to find his precious fiancé unharmed."

"I wouldn't say that's the case," Juugo replied. "They've done terrible things in the past. For all we know, Yamanaka could be dead."

Karin took a moment to process that, the severity of the situation finally hitting her. Maybe she should have been more considerate of Suigetsu –

"There!"

One of the officers pointed a trembling finger upwards, and their gazes followed to the disturbing sight of a man gagged tied up to the bamboo tree. Much to Karin's surprise, Sai was the one who sidestepped while Suigetsu waded through the rest of the rest of the waist-deep muddy water to reach him first.

"Who did this to you?" Suigetsu inquired with a sense of urgency, grasping the man's chin and shaking him. He responded by coughing and spluttering. "Someone bring water!"

"He… he said you would come to untie me," the middle-aged man rasped. Suigetsu fed him the water messily, still focusing on him intently. "He said don't waste time, to… change the direction you're hreading."

Karin suddenly appeared next to him, starting to cut at the ropes that bound him.

"Wait," Suigetsu ordered. "Did you see her?" When he didn't respond, he fed him more water. "Did she look okay?" More water. "Was she hurt?" Suigetsu tipped the bottle too fast, and suddenly the man was coughing, releasing a spray of liquid over his face.

Once more, he asked, "Was she crying?"

The next time Ino woke up, she didn't feel nauseous. She felt weak, like the life had been sapped out of her veins, and all that was left was her bones. She summoned great energy just to open her eyes, and the sight that first greeted her was none other than him.

It looked heroic from her angle. She was laying stomach-down, about ten feet into a cave. Her cheek rested on the slick rainwater floor while she looked to the entrance. Kiba's silhouette stood there with something that looked like a cape billowing in the breeze.

She lied there for a few long moments, just watching him, mind empty of thoughts, as she was too exhausted to summon them. She observed another familiar person walk up to him – she thought his name was Shinji, or something similar. She remembered his peculiar sunglasses.

Her hazy thoughts grew alert in the next instant as she noticed the outline of a gun. Shino handed it to him, talking about something that she couldn't hear. Kiba turned around to look at her.

And before Ino could even process her next move, it was too late. There were five people around her who began to untie her from the boulder rooting her to the floor. As soon as she was free, she kicked and screamed and resisted, but it was useless. Being outnumbered meant being overpowered.

"Someone blindfold her," said the one with twin buns.

"I've got it." A cotton candy-haired lady sprung forward, and Ino felt herself go blind once again. In frustration and agony that this was happening again, she let out a louder scream.

"Let go of me!"

"Wow. Maybe I should stuff something in her mouth, too. What do you think, Tenten?"

Tenten didn't wait for a response. She bunched up a cloth and shoved it right in there, softening Ino's frenzied screams. They exchanged a foreboding look before the others told them to hurry.

Ino continued to struggle and scream as she was carried outside.

"Good God, maybe this wasn't a good idea."

"You think?"

"Okay, let's everybody chill and leave this. This isn't our business."

"Right…"

The voices ceased to be heard after Ino was finally released onto the ground. She panted in exhaustion, realizing all the screaming had made her throat sore. She didn't let her guard down, though. She knew it was far from over. She had known that since she heard the first thing he said to her.

There was a gust blowing through as she attempted to catch her breath, causing stray leaves to brush past her face. She shivered. She realized something was terribly wrong – the atmosphere of the situation was much worse than when she was in the boat.

Then, the ties came off.

Ino gasped for air, blinking to get the dirt out of her eyes. She was surrounded by woodland everywhere she could see, and they were at the top of a cliff. Ino shakily stood, and looking below, she found that a jump would certainly be fatal. There were jagged rocks at the bottom of the waterfall to assure that.

Then, she saw Kiba with a gun in his hand.

She watched in disbelief as he walked closer, cocking the gun to make that oh-so-dooming click-click.

The words were out before she could stop them. "Who are you to take away my life," she said. The words were brave, but no longer loud. Her voice was merely a whisper.

"You're… you're not…" Ino's voice was despairing. "You don't have that right. You shouldn't have dragged me into this mess, because I'm not – I'm not –"

"Shut up!" Kiba snarled, finally responding. He seemed startled by the volume of his own voice as his hand flew to clutch the side of his neck.

Ino's eyes were wide once again, reflecting the skies. She didn't let him stop her. "My life is mine. You aren't –"

Kiba exhaled loudly, shaking his head. "Stop already, would you? I have enough voices in my head as it is. You know what they're saying, don't you?

Kiba, what are you even thinking about! BOOM, get it done and over with! Just shoot the bitch right in her fucking head!"

"I won't die!" Ino cried.

"Just kill her," Kiba continued. "Let her precious fiancé and the whole world know about it."

"You're not killing me."

He shot the gun skywards once, twice, thrice. "A question on one side, and answer on the other. Revenge, forgiveness, grief, guilt, all of it!"

His breathing had become labored. Kiba's sharp eyes pierced into her own, and this unknowingly made her stagger. Ino shook her head, backing away from him.

"You can't do it."

"Don't make your final moments miserable."

"I'm not dying."

"There's only one outcome, don't kid yourself into –"

"I'm not dying because of you!"

Kiba would never forgive himself because of what he did in that next moment. He stood like a statue, unable to move in a brain-numbing bewilderment. It was something he'd never witnessed in his entire life, and it shook him in the sleepless nights to follow. What he saw wasn't courage – it was fearlessness.

Without looking back once, Ino Yamanaka jumped.