Chapter Ten: Machi
It takes us two weeks on foot to get to Machi, and I watch the landscape turn from the familiar forests of home to the cold, damp, and marshy land of the Water Country. My feet are constantly sloshing through watery field plains, or else submerged in mud up to my ankles.
Machi, we discover, is a quaint fishing village on an island near Kirigakure, and it is permeated throughout by pale tendrils of mist that wind their way around me and dampen the clothes on my body.
"Have you seen this man?" I ask the fifth person today, holding up the picture of the man we're to be hunting. For the fifth time, I get a grumble and a shake of the head, and Kisame and I slink away to the next villager.
It's an hour before we get a lead. We've happened upon a shop with peeling paint and an aging sign that reads "Ganachi's Odds and Ends – a Knick-Knack for Every Occasion!" Inside the store is every little trinket or piece of junk you can imagine; Kisame stops to poke at a propeller hat and run his hand across the wind-chime collection and an array of tinkling notes clash at once. I even spot a few shrunken heads behind the counter.
A tabby cat wanders in and leaps onto the counter. It stares at Akaime for a moment, and then meows loudly towards the right before nonchalantly beginning to clean between its toes to make sure we know how inferior we are. Akaime hisses but the cat takes no notice.
After several moments, an ancient old wrinkly thing that looks more walnut than human hobbles from the direction the cat meowed in. The walnut squints at us.
"Buy or sell?" She asks in a wavering voice.
"I'm sorry?" I wonder aloud.
"Buy or sell, buy or sell?" she repeats, "Which have you come for? Get off the counter, you floppy old beanbag, don't get fur all over creation." With a poke of the cane and a meow of complaint the cat is forced off the counter and skulks away behind a shelf of ratty encyclopedias.
"Neither, actually." I explain, holding up the picture. "We were only wondering if this man had come in recently?"
"Hnnnn I'm afraid we don't deal in men, dear, nor women either. They do that in the next village over."
Kisame snickers and I blink, surprised and unsure what to say. The walnut wheezes with laughter. "I'm only playin with ya, boy. Let me see that man – oh, where'd I put my specs." She pats around on the counter until she finds her glasses, which she fumbles with before fixing on her face. Upon catching sight of Kisame clearly, she jumps. "Hoo! That's not a man ya got there, that's a feesh!"
"Not that one." I hold out the paper. "This one."
The walnut turns her attention to the man on the paper she stares at it for several long moments.
"Oh, I do remember him! Came in here not too long ago lookin for . . . oh, what'd he say? The relic . . . the relic . . ."
"The Relic of the Mistings?" Kisame supplies. The old woman nods.
"Yeah, yeah, that was it. Relic of the Mistings."
"And did you sell it to him?" Kisame asks carefully.
"I never heard of it, let alone sell it to him." She replies with a shrug.
Kisame nods. "I didn't think so." He glances at me. "Thank you, you've been quite helpful. But I think we'll be leaving now."
"Wait!" I say, "Did he mention where he was headed?"
"I know where he's headed." Kisame answers as he turns towards the door, "Let's go, Itachi."
There's a sharp intake of breath behind us when Kisame says my name, and we both turn.
"Something wrong?" Kisame asks the walnut with his Danzo smile.
The old lady can't stop glancing at me. "Nothing." She insists, then looks at the cat. "Come on, Mitsu, it's feeding time. Thank ya for stopping by, gentlemen."
The cat stops washing and watches Kisame, then slinks under the counter.
I think I know what's going on. The way she's looking at me with frightened eyes and trying not to show it. "If you've heard anything about what Uchiha Itachi has done," I narrow my eyes, "I suggest you keep your mouth shut about this little encounter, or your cat won't have anyone to feed him." I'd never really kill her, but she doesn't know that. The old woman nods with wide eyes.
"She'll keep her mouth shut." Kisame grins, "I'll make sure of that."
Before I can stop him, Kisame has made three hand signs and holds out his right palm towards her. A high-speed jet of water forms from his hand and pokes a clean hole right through her neck at the base of her chin. Right before she falls, her eyes catch mine, pleading, begging.
Just like theirs.
When I killed them.
All.
When the old woman slumps to the floor, Kisame opens the door and I force myself to walk out with him.
"You shouldn't have done that." I tell him coldly. Kisame pauses, and if he had eyebrows I swear he'd lift one.
"Why not?"
Because I was beginning to think you were alright! I scream inside my head. "Because now Machi's criminal justice forces will be after us."
He laughs. "Don't freak out, Itachi. It's not like they're sending ninja after us – or are you afraid of the police?"
"Unnecessary death is risky." I point out, "Especially if we're trying to stay under the radar."
"Be glad I killed her." Kisame answers, "You wouldn't have wanted her to squeal on you, because then we'd have nin on the lookout for you everywhere for the next year maybe. And where we're going, you don't want shinobi on Itachi-watch. Besides, you'll have plenty of opportunities to practice staying under the radar."
"And where are we going exactly?"
Again, Kisame gets that little uneasy twinge in his voice, though he tries to hide it. "We're going into the heart of Kirigakure."