IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Nekomi made the five jumps into the land of Fire, and was about halfway through. They walked into the next town. Nekomi thought 'It's a good thing I've done a lot of scouting in fire country or I wouldn't be able to use Inabikari like this...Suddenly her stomach growled. Nekomi blushed lightly as the boys looked at her. She said "Ah, what do you two think of getting something to eat? We've run out of stored food. How about..."
Naruto cried "Ramen!"
Nekomi smiled. "Ramen ok with you Gaara?" Gaara nodded. Nekomi said "Fine, but you'll eat vegetables too. They're good for you."
"Hai..." Naruto had a feeling he didn't like vegetables.
They walked into town. Nekomi felt uneasiness at the edge of her consciousness. She pushed it to the back of her mind, disregarding it. She was just nervous interacting with people again, that was all.
They soon found a restauraunt and went in. Nekomi almost backed out, the place was full of ninja and ronin looking types. It must be a hangout. She swallowed. No, she could not leave now, it would draw suspicion as more than one of them turned around to look at her. She swallowed. She walked up to the counter, Naruto and Gaara closely behind. She said "Oh, do you serve ramen?"
The owner said "Hai, I haven't seen you around here before..."
Nekomi said "No, I'm just passing through. I'm on a trip with my sons."
The bartender looked at the three of them "They look like you. How old are they?""
Nekomi had programmed the necklaces to make them look ten. "Ten and eleven."
"Where are you from?"
Nekomi paused. She could tell the truth. "I come from Rain country." It would only be the partial truth however if questions were asked.
"Where in Rain country?"
Nekomi lied "A small village, you wouldn't have heard of it, it's in the north."
The bartender nodded.
"Could I please have a vegetable plate and six bowls of pork ramen, please?"
"Hai."
Nekomi saw Gaara and Naruto look at her, but she was relieved they stayed silent. Naruto did because Gaara was glaring at him. She sat down at a table. Naruto and Gaara sat beside her. Nekomi restrained herself from flinching as a ninja came over. Instead she smiled and asked "May I help you?" She looked at him.
He was a konoha ninja. 'Oh how wonderful' Nekomi thought sarcastically. He said "I haven't seen you before."
Nekomi said "Oh, I'm sure I don't stick out much, but I'm not from Amegakure, I'm just from rain. It's a good sized country."
"Which city?"
Nekomi named off a city to the north and he seemed satisfied with the answer, but then he paused as he got closer to her. Nekomi looked down. Crap, the necklace had come out on top. She looked, the boys' ones were still underneath their clothing as their necklines were higher.
The man took the orb of the necklace in his hand. "This is a special necklace. Where did you get it?"
Nekomi thought 'Crap. What do I tell him?' She said "It was a present from a friend of mine."
"Really? Then you won't mind if I take it off!" He took it off and nothing happened. He looked dissapointed.
Nekomi thought 'Thank Kami I wasn't using the necklace for my genjutsu!' "Can I have that back now? It's all I have to remember her by."
He asked "Was your friend a Wara?"
Nekomi nodded and cried "Misara-chan! I miss her! She gave me it as a birthday present. She got it working for the nobles. It was a month's pay, but she said it was worth it. I'd give it back to her if I could just see her again..." she said wistfully. She had always been a good actor. The man seemed to believe her. He gave it back to her reluctantly. "Thank you." Nekomi was praying in her head for the man to leave.
The man, who had on standard ninja gear was a jonin by his vest, although he wore a mask like an anbu. His hair reminded her of a scarecrow. Nekomi thought for a moment, then picked him out of the bingo book descriptions she had commited to memory. This was Hatake Kakashi, wielder of the Sharingan eye! He would be able to see through all of their disguises if he lifted up that hitate! She swallowed, trying hard to cover her nervousness. She noticed Naruto seemed to really be on edge too. He was as close to her as he could get.
The man said "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Hatake Kakashi."
Nekomi said "I'm Kagomi Mino and these are my sons, Akari and Banshou."
"Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Nekomi chanted in her head 'Leave, leave, leave...'
Kakashi sat down. "You don't mind if I join you do you?"
Nekomi said "Of course not."
Naruto said "But kassan!"
Nekomi looked at him. "N.Akari-kun, is that anyway to treat a guest? Be nice. You should show respect to travelling shinobi."
Naruto looked utterly confused, but complied "Hai. Gomen."
Kakashi frowned. Why did that voice sound familiar? He shrugged it off. He said, in almost a whisper "I investigated the Wara incident."
"Hai."
Kakashi continued, setting up for a reaction. He said "I found something peculiar with my team."
"Hai?" Nekomi started to sweat alittle, but kept herself as calm as she could.
"We checked the body count. The numbers don't add up."
Nekomi's heart stopped. Had they been found out. Her face paled.
Kakashi wondered at the reaction he was getting. This woman seemed to be hiding something. She was sweating now. Did she know something about the assassination? He said "What could account for just one missing ninja?" Kakashi knew that being out on other missions or getting destroyed by fire could account for the innacuracy in body count. Every Wara had been accounted for save one. He had not expected her reaction. When he looked, she was gone. He saw her at the doors of the place. 'She does know something.' He went after her.
Nekomi thought 'How does he know? How does he know?! Crap! What if he knows about Naruto or Gaara?'
Gaara asked, as they ran, trying to get away to do an unseen Inabikari, "Does he know about us?"
"Looks that way."
Naruto said "We have to get out of her now! I don't want to go back!"
"We have to find a private area!" Suddenly Kakashi was in front of them.He said "Hold on. I need to ask you a few questions." Nekomi grew more and more nervous as he approached. He would take her boys away from her. She didn't want to fight him here! She would have to take him out quick, and stealthily. She thought quickly, then smiled "Oh, I ran out because I had forgotten about an errand I had in town." She stepped closer "Now, what did you want to ask me?"
The second Kakashi opened his mouth and let down his guard, Nekomi used the oblivion jutsu she had been forming behind her back on the copy nin. He fell and she propped him up at a bar and took Gaara and Naruto to an alley that was clear. She said, quietly, "Now, we've got to get to mist now before something else happens. It's going to be in one big jump."
Gaara said "But Kassan! You've already made five jumps."
Nekomi said "We have to get out of here. Our lives and freedom could depend on our getting out of here before that ninja wakes up." She turned to Naruto. "I'm going to need a little of your Chakra, ok?" He nodded and Naruto felt half of his chakra go away. He yawned. Nekomi picked them both up on her hips and held them as she did the handsigns "Inabikari no jutsu!" She was gone.
About an hour later...
The owner of a certain bar came back from lunch to see a silver haird man sitting slumped against the pole, but on a stool. He said "Hey, mister. It's too early to get that drunk." The man woke up after he poked him.
"Huh?" The main asked, slowly. "What happened?"
The owner thought 'How indecent, getting that drunk this early.' He said "I came back from lunch and found you here. How should I know? Now, are you going to order something?"
Kakashi's stomach growled. He had never gotten his food after all. He ordered some miso soup. The owner seemed more friendly after that. He said "How'd you end up like that? I would think ninja would have a higher tolerance for alcohol."
Kakashi said "I wasn't drinking."
"Sure..."
Kakashi was frustrated "No, you see, there was this woman..."
The owner guffawed "She must have been something! She work around here?"
Kakashi shook his head "It's not like that."
"Good enough to make you go after her seriously, that's impressive. I couldn't afford it though."
Kakashi said, frustrated "Can we drop it? I'm not in the mood to talk right now."
"What'd she do, leave you afterwards? You can always find her again, she does work around here?"
Kakashi yelled "It's not like that!"
The man said "I see. She's one of the travelling ones."
Kakashi gave in. "Yes, she's a traveller, alright. Now, is my miso ready?"
"Coming right up" The owner said with a smirk. Kakashi sighed.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII It was misty in Kiri, like it usually was, but not as bad as some days. Because of this, a young girl who had been out to pick herbs saw what looked like three bodies laying on the cold ground. She ran back to the clearing where her sensei was practicing. "Zabuza-san!"
The swordsman looked at the girl that he adopted and sighed "What is it now, Haku? Did you find another animal in a trap that you want for a pet? I told you, no more pets."
Haku shook her head. "It's people! There's two boys and a woman! They're out cold."
"So?"
"What if they're hurt, Zabuza-san?"
Zabuza sighed "Fine. Take me to them." Zabuza looked at the woman. She was beautiful with long black hair. The boys had brown hair, could they be brothers? Then he rubbed his eyes when he noticed a flicker and one of the boys suddenly had blond hair and marks on his cheeks and was half the age he had been before. "What the..."
Haku said "It appears to be genjutsu, Zabuza-san."
"I can see that." Now Zabuza was curious. Who were these people? As he noticed the woman had a sword, this only heightened his curiosity. He said "I don't know why I let you talk me into these things, Haku..." He picked up the boys over his shoulders and the woman bridal style. Boy, were the three of them heavy! He said "It's a good thing we live close to here..."
Haku was surprised. Usually Zabuza would not help people so readily. He must be curious about her. She smiled. She had noticed the sword too. Maybe this woman was a swordsman.
When they got to the house, Zabuza lay the woman on his bed. He had planned to put her on Haku's mat, but didn't at the last minute. He put the boys on her mat. He said "Check them out. Are they injured?" Zabuza took off the pack and jacket and put them beside the bed.
Haku had some practice in diagnosing injury, so she looked them over. She shook her head. "Just chakra depletion, but it's severe. It will probably be a week before they wake up."
Zabuza said "Great. What are we going to do with them for a week?" He was trying to get the sword off, but she kept moving, suddenly her eyes shot open, which freaked him out "No." She mumbled.
Haku said "I think she's still asleep Zabuza-san."
Zabuza let go of the sword and she relaxed and her eyes closed. "Geez..."
Haku asked "Where are you going to sleep, Zabuza-san?"
Zabuza said "There's enough room on the bed."
Haku asked "But what about the sword?"
Zabuza sweatdropped, then sighed and said "On the floor. You can sleep on your mat with the boys. The three of you can fit."
Haku nodded. She didn't mind sharing her mat. It would be warmer. Suddenly the red haired boy sat up with a groan and this freaked out both of them.
Gaara focused on these two. He had never really been fully unconscious, just almost. "Who are you?"
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII In case you were wondering, the reason why Zabuza saw Nekomi as she really looks is because her genjutsu dropped because she fell unconscious. Naruto's flickered out becasue his chakra went too low and the necklace has a safety feature to keep from killing the user. Gaara's fine because he didn't have as much of a chakra drain as either of them.