"This is crap," Seishirou groaned, pulling at his hair. "No--This is utter shit."

"Mother does not like you swearing," Hitomi said reproachfully. Seishirou glanced at her with an air of discovery, as if surprised to find his little sister hovering by his elbow, like she had been for the past two weeks. He shrugged off the reprimand, however, and just continued pulling at his hair. It had fallen out of its ponytail, the holder hanging from his wrist like a bracelet right then.

"Two weeks. Two weeks. And we don't even know what's going on!" he exclaimed, giving the ginger locks one last tug before throwing his hands up in the air. On his other side, Miki rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

"It'll be okay, Sei-kun. It's just a drill. Remember, we had that one when we were in the academy? Just like that."

"It's not a drill and you know it," he hissed, narrowing ringed eyes at his teammate. She recoiled as though slapped. Seishirou frowned guiltily, and then tried, "I'm sorry--"

"No, you're…you're right," Miki said with a forced smile. She once again swapped sides in favor of her teammate. It was a bad habit of hers, and while Seishirou usually found it annoying, now he couldn't help but be grateful. Even if it was a sad kind of grateful. "I'm just being a baby about the whole thing. We should be prepared for the worst, right? And plus you said that Akatsuki guy said that the demon was chasing him…"

"Yeah, but…" You'd think that demons were faster. It had been two weeks, after all.

"You're all being whiny little kittens," Kisho said, pausing in his bath. He had been put in charge of the three of them, in lieu of their sensei, and wasn't exactly pleased with this job. "At least you haven't had to baby-sit a bunch of whiny little kittens for the past two weeks like I have. You have that to be thankful for."

"Yeah, we just had to put up with a total information blackout and your whining tail," Ryo replied. Without their sensei, the kids couldn't stop picking fights. At least it wasn't with each other anymore. That thrill had worn off in the first few hours. "Look, everyone is asleep, we can just go above ground for a few minutes and see if the village is on fire or something. That way we'll at least know whether or not we're being attacked right now…"

Seishirou and Miki were already climbing up the ladder towards one of the exits, Hitomi following them at a more sedate pace. Ryo spared a grin for the cat before trotting off to follow them.

Kisho jumped up after them, hissing and frizzing his tail. "You brats are going to be in a lot of trouble! What if you idiots lead the Bijuu to this safe house? Huh? Ever think of that?!" It was the cat's job to keep on them and be annoying, evidently.

"Do you really think they're gonna care about a bunch of kids?" Seishirou called back over his shoulder, grinning evilly. The cat visibly bit his tongue, and Seishirou could only spare a moment to think of what he could have possibly stopped himself from saying. Would he have said something to contradict him...? That would have been something. Why would the Bijuu care about a bunch of kids? But all of that was forgotten when they reached the trapdoor leading back out into the world.

Outside, the air seemed fresh. Of course, after spending two weeks underground with recycled air and fluorescent lights, everything outside seemed fresh.

The sky overhead was gray, threatening rain; this was lucky for them, since if it was sunny, they probably all would have been blinded for at least five or so minutes. Ninja or not, they had been underground for two weeks with nothing but artificial light. The human body can only adjust so quickly. The trees covering the trapdoor also gave them some shelter from the outside world, thankfully. Even Kisho was blinking and rubbing at his eyes when he first jumped out onto the soil.

"See? There's no demons…" the cat said irritably, growling.

"We're facing the wrong way," Miki pointed out, putting her hands on her hips. She nudged Kisho over until he was facing the opposite direction, the village of Kiri just visible on the horizon.

"And I still see no giant, multi-tailed demons wreaking havoc," he said wryly. "No smoke, no flames, nothing to worry your tails about. Now get back inside before someone notices you were gone."

"As if they would." Seishirou rolled his eyes. "Obaa-chan was asleep. Everyone was asleep, or off on their own. There's nothing else to do down there…" True, the first few days had been spent excitedly exploring the labyrinthine mess of corridors and bunkers, but even that had worn off. Now, only the little kids (Hitomi exempt, of course) continued to go exploring or play hide-and-seek. The elderly just sat around and slept, or occasionally told a few stories. Bo-ring. What were three genin supposed to do to entertain themselves, huh?

"Get back inside."

"You're not the boss of us, cat," Ryo said flatly, taking a few steps out of the range of 'immediate bolting back to the trapdoor should a Bijuu suddenly appear'. Seishirou, his sister and Miki all stayed inside that range, shuffling their feet nervously. Ryo looked at the far-off Kirigakure, eyes lidded. "…Sensei's back there. Waiting for the Bijuu."

"Without us." Miki walked up shyly behind him, scuffling her sandal in the grass. "Our parents, too..." she said softly. Ryo grunted; he didn't have any parents he lived with.

"Yeah, without us…" Seishirou echoed, looking down as his sister gently took hold of his hand.

-.-.-

"So you'll really give me the immortal one?" Isonade asked suspiciously. Nekomata couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Yes, I will. I promise," she replied with a sharp smile. While it would have been exceedingly easy to trick her brother, she decided that it really wouldn't matter what body he got. As long as she got her pick. "Besides, I've decided I don't want a male body. I really do appreciate the female ones. And what better place to pick up a female body than in Kiri?"

"What about that one female that's been haunting the coast…?" the Sanbi asked.

"Psh." The cat demon rolled her eyes, snorting. "She's just a wanna-be kunoichi."

"You're just saying that because you can't find her."

"…" It was technically true. The Nibi would have very much liked to get her claws into the kunoichi that was wreaking such havoc on the eastern coast, but try as she might, she just couldn't find the damn woman. It was like she could vanish off the face of the world when she chose. So instead, Nekomata was turning her sights elsewhere. Kiri was bound to have a lot of strong, female jounin, right?

It probably looked bizarre. The Nibi was sitting on the least amount of fur she could manage, perched upon the Sanbi's back as he gave her a ride to Kirigakure. (Because she was not getting wet. Forget the Akatsuki if that was the price.) Luckily, her brother had been in the vicinity, and she had offered to let him have the immortal Akatsuki-nin in return for the ride. In her eyes, it was a fair deal. She wasn't really going to use the immortal one, anyway. But it still got him out of the claws of the Hachibi or Kyuubi. Perfect.

"Do you want any help once we get there?" Isonade grumbled, raising his head up out of the water to fix a dark eye on her.

"You can relax in the water if you like. It's only a village," she sighed, flicking her two tails. Or rather, one and a half--the Akatsuki-nin with the large sword had cut off the tip in that last Akatsuki fight, however many years ago it had been. And while she hadn't gotten the joy of killing the man herself, at least he was still dead. That was a plus. But try as she might, she just couldn't regrow that one tail completely. Pure chakra she might be, but even the fiery feline couldn't fully regenerate tails.

And, like all of the Bijuu, her power was in her tails. So her strength had taken quite a dip from that severing. The kinder Bijuu had gotten into the habit of babying her for it--she had already been one of the weaker members, and that had only made it worse--while the crueler ones ridiculed her for it. But the Nibi was still definitely strong enough to burn down a village.

"…You can pick off the stragglers in the water if you like, though," she said carefully. At least Isonade could help her that way, without getting in her way. Because water and fire did not mix. And it wouldn't hurt to guard her retreat if she so needed. She may be haughty and confident, but she wasn't overconfident. There was a chance, if Akatsuki-nin were involved, that this situation could get messy. Isonade could be her back-up, if such a situation arose.

As night fell over the land, the Bijuu were in sight of Kirigakure. The last shinobi hidden village. Nekomata narrowed her slanted eyes, grinning.

-.-.-

Kisho was losing patience.

Okay, that was a lie.

He had lost his patience several hours ago. But what was a cat to do? His ninjutsu knowledge was painfully limited, and he wasn't even knee-high to the stupid children. And they were shinobi, anyway. Most of the time they could outrun him.

"Get back inside!" he yowled, his voice hoarse.

"Screw you," Ryo replied. The genin and sole academy student were playing hide-and-seek in the forest on the little island. True, they didn't venture too far from the trap door, but they were still outside! And had been for the last four hours. Apparently this trip had only energized them. They weren't going back in any time soon, that was for sure.

"What if someone sees you? You know that they send over jounin to check on this place and bring supplies." Kisho tried logic. Maybe that would work.

…And maybe fish would start jumping out of the water into his waiting mouth.

"Yeah, right. They only do that every couple of days, and we just saw my mom yesterday," Miki replied with a grin. Each supply run brought a different jounin, most of them parents of the children hidden in the safe house. Yesterday, as she said, had been Miki's mother. Seishirou was just a bit miffed that it hadn't been either of his parents--or even their sensei.

Kisho padded over to the water's edge. It had been roughly an hour since he last fished; maybe the stupid animals would have returned by now. He needed a snack--distraction--anyway. The cat crouched down in the sand, perfectly still, save for his twitching tail. There was a rather large fish just a few feet away, seemingly unaware of his presence…

"I found you, Seishirou," Hitomi said flatly. She pointed down from the tree she was in at her brother, her other hand placed carefully on the trunk's bark for stabilizing. The ginger-haired genin stood up, sighing. She was purposely seeking him out…probably because she was scared of Miki and Ryo. True, the rest of his genin squad had met her several times, and it wasn't as if they were mean to her, but she rarely felt comfortable around others. And he had a sneaking suspicion she had a crush on Ryo…

"Right," he groaned, stretching. That bush had hurt his back with its thorns. Hopefully there were no open wounds to get infected. "I'm it, guys!"

"Again?" Miki peered down from her hiding place, actually just a few feet away from Hitomi. Seishirou laughed. It seemed that even with the Byakugan, Hitomi still had quite a lot of learning to do. Of course, she was only halfway through her second year in the academy…but still. He was a genin; he expected the same level of skill from others.

"One, two, three, four--"

A roar rent the evening air.

All four kids jumped--Ryo, who had been just about to jump into another tree, slipped and fell onto the ground below. This time, not even Seishirou laughed at him. The genin didn't say anything, but Seishirou reached over and grabbed Hitomi. She didn't protest.

Another roar finally sounded, but this time they didn't jump.

It was coming from Kirigakure's direction.

"Kisho!"

"I told you, I told you stupid kittens!" The cat came running towards them, tail held high in the air. He was speaking around a rather large fish in his mouth. Blood dripped down his bottom jaw, and his eyes were large and wild. "Get back down there, now!"

Ignoring the summoned cat, Ryo turned and bolted for the shore. Seishirou, who had actually been about to listen to Kisho, saw his teammate and just pushed Hitomi in the general direction of the trapdoor before turning and chasing him. Miki was after the boys in a flash, until just Hitomi stood in the clearing with Kisho and his fish.

"Get back here!" Kisho shouted after them, finally dropping his catch on the grass. Hitomi, too, ignored him and walked sedately towards the beach. Kisho hissed at her, before running after his charges.

Ryo brushed black hair out of his eyes, already unnaturally wide. Okay, so he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. Kirigakure, on the horizon. And a large, unmistakably cat-shaped silhouette was slinking towards it. There was also some odd mound in the water behind it, which appeared to have a head.

The village's sirens went off.

"What…oh my…god…" Seishirou trailed off, taking in the sight with mouth agape. Miki ran up behind them a moment later, and only offered a high squeak. "…The demons…"

The kids watched in morbid fascination as the cat-Bijuu set the village walls aflame. The demon then went on to jump over the burning walls and started breathing fire over as much of the village as it could. Already the Kiri forces jumped into action, though they were hardly visible because of the twilight and distance. Water jutsus sprang up everywhere, drawing from the sea around them, putting out the village. The cat-Bijuu yowled.

"Come on! We have to help!" Ryo exclaimed, jarring the others out of their thoughts. The two genin turned to him incredulously. "Don't look at me like that. We have to help!"

"Why? We--We can't do anything. We're only genin," Miki said desperately, frowning.

"I am not even a genin," Hitomi added.

"You're not going anywhere, anyway," Seishirou said firmly, shoving her back towards the trapdoor. The younger girl just stumbled forward a few steps, and then turned right back around to continue listening to the conversation.

"Exactly! We're genin." Ryo planted his fists on his hips, puffing out his chest. "We have all of the basic shinobi training. We've even completed a C-rank mission. We're not idiots. I'm not saying we go take down the Bijuu ourselves…just…there are civilians that stayed behind. We can help them, right?"

"And…And we could help get the injured away…" Miki said uncertainly. For being so against the idea, now she was thinking about it quite seriously. Seishirou looked back and forth between his teammates, unable to see how they could think of going to help like that.

"That'd be suicide!" he exclaimed darkly.

"Why? As long as we stay away from the cat itself, I think we can outrun a few fires. What if there are people trapped in those houses that are burning? We could be saving lives!"

"You guys have obviously never seen a forest fire, have you?" Seishirou asked shrewdly. "It can travel fast. Humor me here--what happens if we're the ones who get trapped? If we can even get out, then it'd be because a jounin or chuunin fished us out, and that'd be wasting their valuable time."

"You're underestimating our team," Ryo snapped. "What happened to the Sei that I know? He wouldn't balk at this. He'd rush right on in."

"I'm not balking, I'm thinking!"

"We'll be careful, idiot! Like I said, we don't have to be heroes or anything! Just lend some basic support." Ryo rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Come on, Sei."

"He's…right, Sei-kun," Miki agreed softly. "We don't have to be heroes. We can just help."

"If you guys want to help, why don't you see what's right in front of you?!" Kisho finally caught up with them, it seemed. He was panting and his fur was standing on end, but at least he had caught up. "You guys are right--you are trained in the basics of being a ninja. So why not help all of the civilians and children and old people that are here?"

"They're fine," Seishirou said automatically. With someone else arguing, now he wasn't so solid on his own side… Miki must be rubbing off on him. "There's no way the Bijuu can get to here. And even if they do--why would they? Like you said, just a bunch of civilians and children and old people."

Kisho shook his head emphatically. "You kittens haven't seen the Bijuu. I have. They enjoy slaughter like a sport, more than any shinobi I know. And I've known quite a few."

"When have you seen the Bijuu, huh?" Ryo asked critically. "You're a cat. Just summoned by Sei's parents to keep an eye on them. And aren't cat years like dog years…?"

Something clicked in Seishirou's mind at Ryo's words. "No--wait. …Kisho wasn't summoned by my parents. Either of them. They're not summoners."

Hitomi looked up, suddenly catching on as well. "Mother forbade us from ever dispelling the jutsu holding him here…because she couldn't summon him back. He does not belong to us."

Ryo grinned evilly, and crouched down beside Kisho. "So, kitty cat, you say you know something about the Bijuu? Spit it out."

"Err." Kisho laid his ears back against his head, looking away. "I just…saw some Bijuu attacks."

"Where? Kiri's never been attacked."

"We moved here when I was three," Seishirou said suddenly. "Kisho, where did we live before?"

Now the three genin were all crowding the cat eagerly for some answers. The grey and black feline wasn't pleased with this. He wasn't known for holding his tongue under pressure, after all. Even Ryo and Miki knew that; Seishirou usually got any surprises out of the cat that his parents dared share with him. He hadn't been surprised for a birthday since he was seven. "Up--Up north. No village."

"So then where would you have possibly seen a village destroyed? You were here in Kiri for the past…nine years," Miki said accusingly, narrowing her hazel eyes. "The Bijuu have only been around for twelve years; before that, they were contained in their Jinchuuriki and scattered."

"Where did you live before? 'Up north' doesn't cut it, cat. In Kumogakure? Iwagakure?" Ryo pressed, grabbing Kisho by the scruff of the neck.

"No--up north. They didn't live in a ninja village. Safer that way," Kisho meowed plaintively, squirming in the black-haired genin's grasp. "They--we--fled. A village as it was being attacked by the Bijuu. They only lived up north for three years--"

Miki was the history buff of the group. She knew everything about history, granted from a certain point (the first Great Shinobi War). But this definitely was in her knowledge. "Twelve years ago…the only village to be attacked was Amegakure. Konohagakure was destroyed first, but it wasn't by the Bijuu, really. You came from Amegakure…!"

Hitomi narrowed her white eyes, the first visible expression she allowed herself to have thus far. "…The Akatsuki was housed in Amegakure."

Kisho would have been sweating buckets right then. If he wasn't a cat, of course. "Yes--okay? We lived in Amegakure before!" It wouldn't hurt to admit to that…right? There were worse things he could divulge, though. Thankfully the eradication of most of the shinobi villages left the information lacking about the Akatsuki and the Bijuu attack. Primarily, it meant the destruction of all photos of the Akatsuki. (Save Kisame, but even those photographs were of his pre-Akatsuki days.) Hinata probably owned the only surviving photographs of any of the Akatsuki members. And right now, even those were burning. So there was no way that the kids would know what they just stumbled onto. They couldn't guess the Akatsuki connections…There was no way…No way…

"So who summoned you?" Ryo asked solemnly. "Who would summon a cat, give it to someone else, and then let that cat live with them for the next twelve years? Unless--that someone died, and the cat chose to stay with them. Which is it?"

"My original owner died."

"Who was he?"

"You wouldn't know him," Kisho hissed. He swiped at him with his claws, but missed as the genin held him out at arm's length. "Let me go, now!"

"I'm not stupid, cat!" Ryo snarled. "You lived in Amegakure before. You left as the Bijuu destroyed it. You claim your original owner died. And somehow an Akatsuki member shows up all this time later, and knows Sei's parents."

Seishirou shook his head, trying to clear it. Something…Akatsuki. It rang a bell, and not just from that albino man. He could dimly remember moving to Kirigakure, and someone had helped them…He remembered long, blonde hair and Akatsuki uniforms. …Do we have Akatsuki connections? he asked himself. He didn't know whether to be elated or horrified at the thought. Wait--does that mean the Bijuu are after my parents?!

"Come on!" Seishirou jumped to his feet, and tore down the beach, kicking up sand behind him. "Who cares about that stupid cat? We have to go help!!"

"That was a sudden change of heart." But Miki stood up as well, and pranced after him, much more mindful of getting sand in her sandals. It wouldn't do to be unable to walk. Ryo also stood up and dropped Kisho at his feet.

"Wait!" the cat cried desperately. This was spiraling out of control, but he couldn't do anything about it. What had Hinata expected him to do with the kids, besides yowling at them for getting in trouble?!

"Why?" Seishirou shouted over his shoulder. He stopped, however, when he saw Hitomi jogging after them. "Hitomi-chan, no. You're staying here."

"Mother told us to stay together," the little girl replied placidly.

Miki also halted, making shooing gestures towards her. "I doubt that's what your mother meant, Hitomi-chan. Go back and stay with Kisho."

"I am staying with Seishirou," Hitomi said firmly. She grabbed her brother's hand in a surprisingly strong grasp, and refused to let go. He tried to shake her off, but to no avail.

"You can't even walk on water! You couldn't come if you tried!" he growled, trying to dislodge her from his hand. Miki had to join in, trying to pull them apart, but even that wouldn't do it. For an academy student, she could hold her ground when it came to keeping a grip on something.

Ryo solved the problem simply. He walked over and picked Hitomi up. She was so surprised that she let go immediately. He threw the kimono-clad academy student over his shoulder and walked out to the water's edge, carefully stepping on it to make sure he could handle the added weight. "Come on!"

"You're not taking my sister!" Seishirou cried indignantly, a bit peeved that he couldn't take care of the situation himself. (Well, more than a bit peeved, but somehow his sister still paled in comparison to other matters at hand.)

"We'll just put her with the first person we find."

"You will do no such thing," Hitomi replied. Her face was a brilliant shade of red, but somehow she managed to say it seriously. "I am staying with Seishirou."

"Be quiet," Ryo commanded. She obediently closed her mouth. "Now come on; she's getting heavy. Do you want to help or not?"

Seishirou appeared torn for a moment. After all, could he knowingly bring his little sister into more danger? But it only lasted a brief moment. Then the genin pushed his ponytail over one shoulder, and raced out onto the water to join his teammate.

Kisho remained on the shore. He may have been a ninja cat, but walking on water wasn't in his repertoire. The cat paced back and forth for a few minutes, watching his wards run off towards the burning village, before sighing and trying his hand at a jutsu he hadn't attempted for some time. After awkwardly forming the signs with his paws, he just shouted, "Shunshin no jutsu!" and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

-.-.-

Hinata returned to a burning Kirigakure.

"Oh shit!" Deidara cried behind her, over the roar of the flames and demon. He leaned far over the clay bird, nearly perpendicular to it's neck. It was a wonder he didn't fall. "Did you leave it like this?"

"No!" she said immediately, shocked that he would think such a thing.

The bird landed before a charred section of village wall. Seeing all of the burning buildings brought back memories of the Ame war, and Deidara knew it wasn't just him reliving that war suddenly. Hopefully it would end the same way, with the Akatsuki coming in to save their lives. Of course, Hinata only had three members to count on this time…

Sasori, predictably, was the first one off the bird. At least some things don't change. "Where did you say Hidan was?"

"He--He would have moved by now!" Hinata replied. Only half of it was hope. "I don't know where he would be!"

"At least it's only the Nibi, yeah," Deidara said with a fake grin. Hinata couldn't help but glare at him for his flippancy, even if it was reassuring. But they didn't need cheerfulness and laughing right now--they needed some high-level bombs and a savior or two.

Then, they heard a roar behind them, from the water.

The three ninja turned, just as a giant, blunt paw came towards them. It batted Sasori into the air, but the redhead caught himself with a hastily summoned Kazekage puppet. Deidara pulled a miniature Karura out of his uniform, but Hinata pulled his arm back. "You'll only kill yourself!" she cried fearfully.

"No I won't!" Deidara replied, but she was still pulling him back towards the village walls. Sasori had landed on top of the wall, iron sand falling like rain around him as he lashed out at the giant paw with it.

The paw belonged to the Sanbi. The turtle was crawling up onto the shore, albeit sluggishly. It roared unintelligibly again, trying to force the Suna-nin off of the wall. "Go!" he shouted own at them, blocking the blow with a wall of black sand. "I can handle the Sanbi--go stop the Nibi from capturing Hidan!"

"But--" Deidara was cut off when he was pulled inside the village gates by Hinata.

Sasori grinned demonically, a habit he'd picked up from Deidara. With one hand controlling the Sandaime, he pulled another scroll out of his tattered uniform. Hiruko wouldn't do much in this fight, but that's not who he was thinking of. Because he had caught sight of one crucial thing--the Sanbi's lower half was still submerged in water. And seawater conducted electricity excellently.

-.-.-

"This way!" Hinata urgently pulled Deidara by the arm through the burning city. Shinobi were running around frantically, putting out the flames and shooting random jutsus at the fiery cat that towered above them. The Bijuu was currently pinned in one spot, on the other side of the village, thankfully. It didn't need to spot the two Akatsuki members right off the bat like the Sanbi had.

"Where are we going?" Deidara shouted.

"I don't know!"

She had to find Hidan. Or Neji. Even the Mizukage would do. But she had to find someone. It was vital that she found someone soon who knew what was going on. Most of the situation seemed obvious, but one could never be sure... Otherwise she would have gotten Deidara and Sasori for no reason other than to let the Nibi and Sanbi know where they were.

Unless… Unless they fought the two demons and somehow won. Now would probably be their best bet. After all, there were three Akatsuki members and a Kage somewhere in the village. If they ever wanted to exterminate two of the demons, now would probably be the best chance they ever got. The Akatsuki had performed miracles before--why not now?

Hinata skidded to a halt, dropping Deidara's arm. So she had a choice to make. Waste time and track down Hidan or someone who would know where he was, or just attack now and hope they joined in the fight?

"What are we doing?" he asked breathlessly.

"I… Come on!" Hinata turned and pulled him towards the Nibi.

-.-.-

"Kisho?!" The three (and a half) genin were stopped on Kiri's shore by the grey cat they thought they'd left behind. It had been an exhausting trek; it was long, and they still hadn't perfected the water-walking technique, so they probably expended more chakra than what was strictly necessary.

"Go back, right now," Kisho growled, fur bristling.

"I really doubt we could," Miki said with a tight smile. She was already sweating and panting, just from that simple water walk. "We've already said this--we're not trying to be heroes. We just want to help the injured and the civilians that had stayed behind. My mother taught me a few healing jutsus--"

Kisho shook his head. "You'll only get yourselves killed! What would your mother think about that?"

Ryo sighed heavily, and just sidestepped the cat. He was bitten on the leg for his troubles. He shook his leg, but Kisho held on with a surprising ferocity. "Ouch! Look--I just want to set Hitomi-san down! She is heavy, okay?!" Kisho reluctantly let go of him and spat out a mouthful of blood and fabric. Ryo set the little girl down, rolling his shoulder to make sure it was still working.

"But the point remains, Kisho. We can't go back." Seishirou pulled Hitomi to him, putting his arms around her protectively. "We'll stay out of the way, we promise." His teammates and sister all nodded their agreement.

The cat couldn't see any way out of this. Not without Hinata or some other responsible adult coming to his rescue. "…You stay on the opposite side of the village, you got that? No where near the Bijuu. Stay hidden. Don't get near any fires. Stay together. Actually--stay with me."

"You've already proven you can't keep up with us," Ryo reminded him. "Why don't you just stick with Hitomi and keep an eye out for her?"

"I am staying with Seishirou," Hitomi replied, narrowing her doe eyes in Ryo's direction. She hadn't quite grasped the real concept of Hyuuga glaring, but she was coming pretty darn close.

Ryo backed down, but Seishirou spoke up instead. "No, you are staying here with Kisho."

"Mother told me to stay with you."

"She didn't mean like this."

"How do you know? I am not staying here. I will be a stationary target, and that is not good." Seishirou bit back a curse; she was right. No wonder he didn't like her being in the academy; she learned too much! Where did his naive, clueless little sister go...? He couldn't even imagine what a pain she'd be once she gained genin status.

"…Fine, you're coming with me." He took her hand, entwining their fingers and making sure that she knew he wasn't letting go. Seishirou then turned to Ryo. "What now, oh one of many plans? How are we getting over the wall?"

"Climb it." The ginger-haired boy pointed to Hitomi in reply. "Oh. Well…carry her? I had to carry her all the way over here, so it's your turn."

Kisho was already scaling the wall. He turned back to look over his shoulder at their progress occasionally, but he still made it to the top before any of them had gotten ten feet off the ground. The cat sat on top of it, watching the Bijuu across the village with large, green eyes, tail flicking behind him. At least he could still keep an eye on the princess' kittens, even if they didn't listen to him (or even her).

"You're heavy. The first thing I'm doing after this is all over is teaching you how to climb walls," Seishirou grunted. Mostly it was just for something to say. After all, what else could one say when they were going to face demons? Miki giggled nervously. Ryo just pressed ahead, his mouth a firm line.

They made it to the top of the wall, and took in for the first time the extent of the damage done to their village. Almost half of it was in flames. A good section of the wall and business district was totaled, smashed into rubble by the Bijuu itself. Otherwise, the fiery cat seemed stuck in one spot, held there--more or less--by a wide array of water jutsus aimed at it. But of course. Our jounin can protect this village easily. Mizukage-sama, too. Now it'll only be a matter of time before they force the cat back, Seishirou told himself.

Miki took a step forward and jumped off the wall, landing neatly below on her hands and feet. Ryo's descent was less than graceful (as with most of the things he did); he tried to copy the movement, but lost his footing, and instead skidded down the side of the wall on his backside. Hitomi watched them both with a neutral expression, before bodily pushing her brother off the edge, momentarily surprised when his hand stayed connected and she was pulled down with him.

Seishirou landed on his feet.

Hitomi landed on Seishirou.

"You guys…" Miki sighed, hanging her head. Yet again, she was the only one to come out of a situation involving her team with her dignity intact. "Sometimes it's embarrassing just to be seen with you. Are you all okay?"

"Yeah…" Aside from a bruised ego, of course.

"I swear, you three are the most incompetent ninja I have ever seen," Kisho spat, landing lightly beside them on his paws.

"Hey!" Miki squawked indignantly.

"I didn't mean you."

"Then, for the record, I am not yet a ninja," Hitomi said flatly.

"Point taken. But you two have no excuses."

"I was pushed," Seishirou complained, dusting himself off.

"You needed to get down somehow." She said this remorselessly, using her free hand to fix her hair.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Two groups join the fight--Akatsuki and children. The Nibi figures out that there is more than just Hidan hiding in Kirigakure, while Sasori and the Sanbi battle it out. Everything starts going wrong, very wrong...