I'll be going to live on campus this fall so I'll be busy the next couple weeks, but I'll try to update as soon as possible, because I might not be able to do so frequently once I'm there. Anyway, here it is!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of these characters except Ryoko.
Itachi and Kisame didn't bother to reverse their more than obvious Akatsuki cloaks as they entered a rather busy and about village somewhere in the grass country. The bells hanging from their straw hats jingled slightly with the breeze as the sunlight beat down on them, giving them something to be thankful for on this hot summer day.
Kisame followed Itachi closely as his partner weaved through the villagers and looked about for a nice place to take a break from traveling.
"There's a teahouse," Kisame pointed out as he removed his hat, enabling the breeze to blow through his navy hair.
Itachi made no reply as he made his way to the rather nice looking teahouse. A strong smell of tea herbs washed over the duo as they stepped inside the small dim building. They stood there at the entrance, allowing their eyes to adjust to the dim light as a few people looked away from their teacups to observe the shinobi.
As soon as Kisame was able to make out a bar-like counter, he took a seat near the entrance and gestured for Itachi to take the empty seat beside him. As Itachi complied and discarded his hat, Kisame looked to his left and examined the red-haired person who sat a seat away from him. This seemed to be the first person who didn't stare or look at him strangely since they had arrived. Then he realized why.
She was blind.
Ryoko sensed not only two presences, but two powerful presences as a flow of power reached her. Her red eyes narrowed suspiciously as she noticed that both newcomers had cloaked their chakra. Hmph. Or tried to. She smirked and sipped her tea quietly, not bothering to turn to the newcomers, considering she couldn't see anyway. Her body stiffened slightly as she felt the newcomers take their seats right next to hers with only one round stool separating them.
"More tea?"
"Huh?" Ryoko shifted her attention to the elderly woman in front of her and smiled as soon as she processed what the woman had said. "Yes please," she said rather innocently.
The woman filled Ryoko's teacup expertly before moving on to serve the two newcomers that had aroused a feeling of suspicion in the red-head.
Ryoko fixed her sightless red eyes in front of her as she observed the newcomers with what she liked to call her sixth sense. Or rather, her fifth, since she had lost her sight. As soon as she lost her vision almost a year ago she had sharpened her ability to sense chakra. Usually, any shinobi could sense chakra, but what made Ryoko's ability different was that she could not only feel peoples' chakra more clearly and at a distance, but she could also feel what they were feeling (though faintly depending on how disguised or strong people's emotions are). It was like a stronger version of empathy for her.
At first, Ryoko had problems with her 'sixth sense'. Sometimes she got overwhelmed by other energies and only felt other people's, usually confusing her. It gave her headaches within the first month of developing this ability. Having no one to talk to, Ryoko learned to control her ability within time all the while learning of other things this ability allowed her to do.
One of the things she discovered was that she was able to somehow manipulate people's energy as a way of getting them to feel or think differently as well as draw out thoughts from their minds. It was much harder if not impossible to do it on someone who had a stronger mind or had more control over their chakra, thoughts, and emotions. Most of these people were usually ninjas. Although her ability grew somewhat stronger and tamer over time, Ryoko chose to not use it for two reasons: she had morals, meaning that she did not have the desire to 'read people's thoughts', as she called it, and using her ability usually gave her headaches. Due to this, Ryoko chose to keep it locked away unless she really needed to use it. Other than headaches, the only other weakness was that if her own emotions were overwhelming, she could not control it.
Using only a tad bit of her ability, Ryoko mentally reached over to the presences beside to and tried to 'absorb' a small fragment of the person's chakra. The keyword here was "tried".
Man, these guys are made of concrete! Ryoko thought to herself. She reeled her ability back in, mentally promising herself not to use it without much reason like that again. Instead, she took a whiff of the air around her and identified both newcomers as males once the manly musky scent hit nostrils. There was something else too… blood. One of them was hurt, the one closest to her, though not by much. Maybe it was best if she got out of this teahouse. These two people weren't ordinary shinobi, much less civilians.
Ryoko dug a hand into the plump leather pouch that was tied around her ninja gear belt and pulled out several coins and set them on the bar counter before her. She preferred to use coins rather than paper money, because she could 'see' the amount of money she held with her hands due to the different sizes and engravements on the coins. One never knows when some jerk will decide to rip off a blind girl.
"Keep the change," Ryoko said to the woman she felt was in front of her as she stood up, ready to leave.
Suddenly, Ryoko jumped, startled, when she felt a hand squeeze her butt. Her red hair whirled with her as she spun around to glare at new stranger behind her. Flushed with anger and embarrassment, she opened her mouth and clenched her fist, ready to give this guy a pounding.
"Taking advantage of a girl, nonetheless blind?" A voice beside her spoke. It was one of the guys she had been observing and he sounded somewhat cocky and challenging. "Now that's just lower than low."
Ryoko felt herself being pushed to the side by the harasser as he took a step forward to look at big blue man. Blue, literally.
"What? You feelin' like a hero today?" The pervert replied with a smirk plastered on his face. "This is none of your business, sharky."
'Sharky' stood up, extending to his full height. The harasser's smirk faltered.
"Kisame," a new emotionless, yet commanding voice spoke. "We are not here to attract attention."
Kisame grinned, bearing his razor sharp teeth as he replied. "I'll try not to make a mess."
Ryoko gripped her wooden short staff in her right hand, alert, when she heard a sickening crunch accompanied by a painful scream that erupted from the pervert's throat.
Kisame had easily forced the guy to his knees as his strong calloused hands held the guy's arms behind him, breaking them. His grin grew as he pushed on the man's back with his foot, earning a few more yelps and cracks.
"Apologize," he said, uncaring of all the attention he had attracted. His dark-haired partner simply sipped his tea calmly, waiting for Kisame to finish.
"S-sorry! Sorry, miss!"
Kisame let the perverted man drop to the floor in pain and watched as he picked himself up and left hurriedly without looking back.
Ryoko swallowed nervously as she felt Kisame's eyes on her.
"You okay, kid?" Kisame was finally able to get a good look at the blind redhead before him. She stood to about 5 feet and 7 inches tall dressed in forest green cargo pants and a black three-quarter sleeve shirt. A matching forest green cloak that linked around her neck with a gold chain completed her outfit. He smirked when he saw that she was clutching her short staff in, what was it? Fear?
Ryoko nearly jumped when Kisame spoke to her, but she managed to control herself. "Y-yeah." She drew in a long breath, forcing herself to relax before bowing her head in gratitude. "Thank you." Normally she would have said something like, 'I can handle myself!', but she still felt a nagging suspicion about this guy that made her shiver.
"Its no problem," Kisame replied, a bit surprised at her reaction. He sat back down making sure that Samehada was still leaning on the bar counter and safe. "Sit," he said when he noticed that she was still a bit shaken.
Ryoko complied when she felt Kisame guide her with an outstretched hand to the empty seat beside him.
"So, what's your name, kid?"
"Ryoko… Hashiki, Ryoko."
"Well, its a pleasure to meet you, Ryoko. I'm Kisame, and this here," he gestured to the raven-haired man with a thumb, forgetting that she could not see. "Is Itachi."
Ryoko sat upright, having nearly forgotten about the other fairly quiet man. "Oh, well, its very nice to meet you two," she replied, smiling slightly when she noticed that Kisame was very polite and friendly. Her smiled faltered slightly, however, when she also noticed that Kisame hadn't told her their last names like she had.
They're probably in hiding… she thought to herself, suspiciously. But wait a second! Itachi and Kisame? There's not a lot of people running around freely with the name Itachi. Could it be Uchiha Itachi? And how many Itachis have a partner named Kisame?
Ryoko stopped herself from making any movements or expressions that might give away her newfound suspicions. They must be Akatsuki! She felt her stomach flip once the thought had processed completely. Better to keep this to herself, she continued smiling slightly with her staff in hand.
"What is a blind girl doing here alone? You're not from around here."
This time, it was Itachi who had spoken, and it was more like a statement than a question. While Kisame and Ryoko had conversed, the raven-haired man had come to some suspicions of his own. This girl was dressed for fighting and she was also alone, something no normal blind person would do. Itachi had come to the conclusion that this girl was shinobi a distance away from her village.
Ryoko narrowed her sightless red eyes at the rather blunt statement. "Yeah, so?" she answered crudely. "And don't worry about my being here." She mentally slapped herself, forgetting that this may be the famous Uchiha that had murdered his clan in the past.
Itachi narrowed his eyes back at her as well, but did not reply. It wasn't worth it. She was just a lone blind girl whom he'd never cross paths with again anyway.
Sensing the tension in the air, Kisame decided to disturb the silence. "I don't mean to offend you by saying this, Ryoko, but I don't think its safe for someone like you to be wandering the village alone."
Ryoko reached down into a pocket of her cargo pants with her left hand and brought up her Konoha headband to dangle in front of them. "Look, I'm a ninja, dammit. I've been fine alone for couple months and I will be for the next-! The next… forever!" She hated how people treated her like a helpless child. It just never seemed to stop.
Kisame looked a bit taken aback by her little outburst. It seems like this one's a bit on the fiery side. He smirked.
"So you're a missing nin?" Itachi asked as soon as he caught the fact that she had been alone for a couple of months. He smirked slightly when he noticed the red-head's expression go from anger to blank, then anger again. Looks like he's won this round.
Ryoko's shoulders slumped when she realized that she had not only failed to control her emotions, but had also given away the important fact that she was now a missing nin. She tied her headband over her eyes and stood up.
"Hey, hey, where are you going?" Kisame asked, standing up as well with Samehada in hand.
"I'm sorry, but that's really none of your business, Kisame-san," she replied as she used her staff and the slight breeze to guide her to the exit of the teahouse. "But if you must know, I'm leaving the village."
Itachi stood up beside Kisame as the blue skinned man put down some money on the counter before following Ryoko outside.
"Let me take you to the outskirts of the village," he offered as he walked beside the shorter girl with Itachi on his other side.
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"We're headed out of here anyway, so I'm still coming."
Ryoko considered telling them to buzz off, Akatsuki or not, but stopped herself when she realized it would be unwise. If she were to be any ruder then she had already been, they wouldn't pass up the chance to kill her once she was outside the village. If they were Akatsuki, that is. Even if they were, they couldn't be that cold.
Ryoko decided not to take a chance. "Fine, do whatever you want," she told them, not bothering to stop or face them. She banished the bad mood with a small smirk and quickened her pace through the village. "Keep up!… if you can that is."
Upon hearing this, Kisame grinned and glanced at his partner who rose a single brow at Ryoko's sudden mood swing.
"Women," Itachi muttered, earning a low growl from Ryoko.
Kisame simply chuckled.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, kid," Kisame told Ryoko as they stood at the beginning of two paths. He strapped Samehada safely to his back before turning to Itachi as a sign that he was ready to depart.
Ryoko smiled as she tapped her staff to the ground and leaned on it slightly. "Same here, Kisame-san." A light breeze blew around them, ruffling their hair, with only the sound of the wind and billowing cloaks surrounding them. "You too, Itachi-san."
Itachi merely gave a single nod, not caring if Ryoko could see it or not.
Ryoko lifted her face to her wind and parted her lips slightly, tasting the air. "I'd better get going," she said almost sadly. "Its going to rain." With that, she turned and left on one of the paths the main one had separated into.
Itachi turned the other way and began walking on the other path, leaving Kisame to walk after him and wonder whether Ryoko's prediction of rain would come true. For some reason, he decided that he trusted her forecast.
Well, that's it! Finally! This took forever to type. I hope it was good enough... and I tried not to make Itachi and Kisame OOC, but I think I failed anyway. Oh well. Oh, and for a sneak peek, I plan on having Sasori and Deidara cross paths with Ryoko. Anyway... please, review!