Arc Three: Tomozou

-.-.-

His name was Tomozou. He was only eleven and already as arrogant as a jounin. He had hair that was a washed-out pink, almost grey, like (very) watered-down blood. In direct contrast to that dull shade, his eyes were a bright blue that practically glowed. There was less than two inches of skin showing on his body below his neck; he had a collared shirt, gloves up to his elbows, and full-length pants. Hitomi was already blushing whenever she looked at him.

Seishirou hated the guy straight away.

The night that they met him, they reluctantly and without any remarks on the matter all camped together. It was a dark night, with the moon and stars mostly obscured by wisps of clouds. They had moved much father south when they heard the Bijuu roaring, deciding that distance would be their protection. Seishirou lit a fire--showing off his awesome Katon jutsu in the process--and Hitomi snuggled up against his shoulder. Tomozou sat on the other side of the fire, knees drawn up to his chest.

Hitomi fell asleep first, holding her stuffed chicken to her chest. She slept on her back, something Seishirou had never known her to do before, aside from when she was unconscious. She was probably still painfully aware of her back, then. Seishirou reached over and brushed a few stray locks of hair off her face.

This Hitomi, out there, in the wilderness, was so much different than the one from home. This one was dirty, scraggly, fierce and clingy. Back in Kiri, she had always let him have his space, and she always looked immaculate. It was like getting to know a whole other person. He knew that a shinobi's life changed a person, and that the first death was always the worst…but Ryo's death had really changed her. Seishirou could only hope that she'd eventually get over it and turn back into his little sister again.

Tomozou caught his eye as he shrugged off his backpack. It was the other boy's first movement in almost an hour. He noticed Seishirou looking at him, but pretended not to notice, and instead pulled a bottle out of his bag. The ginger-haired genin immediately made a face. Alcohol? He should have known that a ruffian such as Tomozou would resort to such stupidity…

"Don't give me that look, asshole," he said, as if reading Seishirou's mind. "It's hot sauce."

"…What." That didn't deserve to be answered with a question, so Seishirou let his voice fall flat. Now that he looked, however, he did notice that it wasn't the typical alcoholic beverage bottle, but why, in all that was holy in the world, would an eleven-year-old kid carry around a bottle of hot sauce?

He was answered when Tomozou tipped it back and chugged a few swallows, straight from the bottle. Of course, that answer only raised many more questions.

Tomozou's eyes glittered over the glass, and as he licked his lips, he smirked. He didn't acknowledge any of the obvious questions hanging in the air between them. Seishirou scowled and laid down beside Hitomi. Tomozou could handle the fire; he was going to bed. Anything to help ignore the pink-haired kid who could beat him in a fight and drank hot sauce for the hell of it.

-.-.-

When they woke up in the morning, Tomozou was still there, much to Hitomi's delight. Seishirou was less enthused. Tomozou woke up just after them, probably roused by their yawning and stretching. He immediately rolled over and flung out a hand for his backpack, pulling it close to him before he sat up. Hitomi watched him intently, studying his movements.

It was only after a few minutes that she realized neither boy was speaking. She looked between them, and found that they were studiously ignoring each other as blatantly as they could, so she took things into her own hands.

She grabbed her own bag, which she had been using as a pillow, and, after carefully sitting down and setting her chicken in her lap, the black-haired girl dumped the contents onto the dirt below. That weird white sword had been poking into her back, but she'd been afraid to stop and rearrange it yesterday, in case she got lost again. There were a few of Ryo's belongings in there, too…

What she was looking for was right on top. It was the handful of photographs they'd took from the photo albums. She carefully shuffled through them, until she found the one with the black-haired Konoha-nin. She held it up to Tomozou and asked, "Do you know this man?"

The pink-haired boy looked surprised at the question, and then leaned in to inspect the photo. "…No, haven't ever seen him before. But he looks a lot like Sasuke-san."

That was a test, and he had just passed. The next one wasn't, however. Hitomi sifted through them again, this time proffering the picture of Sasori, Deidara, and their family. Tomozou looked at it for a moment, and then narrowed his eyes. He jerked his chin forward in Seishirou's direction.

"The little orange head is his, so you'd probably be the baby. The two dark-haired ones are your parents, and the redhead was that one you're looking for. Why are you showing me these?" It was a good deduction, but it didn't help. He had definitely seen Sasori before, at least…

Hitomi tapped the picture. "You have never seen these uniforms before?"

"No, I haven't. Are they special or something? Seem pretty stupid to me." He leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes, humming something. Just a moment later, his eyes snapped back open, and he fiercely snatched the photograph from her hands. "These--are they Akatsuki uniforms?!"

"So you have seen them before," Seishirou said wryly, smirking triumphantly.

Tomozou didn't bother looking up from the picture. "No, I haven't. I just put two and two together."

"You mean how we told you they were Akatsuki?"

"No--that other picture, of the black-haired guy that looks like Sasuke-san. Let me see that one again." Hitomi carefully handed him the photo. Tomozou held it up between gloved fingers, then compared the two. "…Look. This guy looks like Sasuke-san. And Sasuke-san had an older brother, Itachi. Itachi was in the Akatsuki. And if he's wearing a uniform like those two, then it'd have to be Akatsuki, right?"

"Duh. Did you fail at the academy or something?" Seishirou rolled his eyes.

"…Academy?"

It was then they realized two things. The first, that Tomozou had never had any formal schooling, hence his lack of information concerning the group that brought about the downfall of the world. Second was that he was, simply, a natural-born genius. Hitomi watched him shyly as he eagerly leafed through the other photos.

He stopped at the second one bearing Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. His Akatsuki partner was in the background, leaning on a tall sword.

"This is…Samehada…"

"You know the sword but not the organization?!" Seishirou burst out, finally fed up with the entire thing. He probably would have continued, too, if Tomozou hadn't looked up suddenly and grinned. It wasn't a pleasant grin; it was downright scary.

"Samehada is my father's sword. It was the closest thing I had to a toy growing up. But how did this guy have it? When were these taken, huh?"

Hitomi spent the next half hour teaching Tomozou about the world at large, including its history. She got progressively redder as the time elapsed. He wouldn't stop staring at her. Seishirou grumbled and complained during the entire thing, but Hitomi was dead set on bringing Tomozou up to date.

"Ten members, huh?"

"Yes. Neither of us remember all of the names, but we know most of them, and we have a lot of their pictures."

"Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, your little redhead guy, his partner, and six more."

"Itachi, Kisame, Sasori-sensei, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, and…" He counted them off on his fingers, but that was all he could remember so early in the morning. "…And that's it. We know six names, and have pictures of four of those with us. We also know what Hidan looks like, and Hitomi might have seen Kakuzu at one point."

"Most of those are dead, then. Itachi because Sasuke-san killed him, and if dad has Kisame's sword, then it's safe to assume he's dead, too. As for the other four--they're probably all dead, if no one can remember their names. So four of them are alive?" Tomozou set his chin in his hands, before something else caught his eye. "What's that?" He pointed at the white sword-thing.

"…We have no idea," she said simply, picking it up by the wider end. "We found it where we found these photographs. It may be a weapon of some sort… Seishirou has mostly just been using it to hunt."

"Uh-huh." He rounded on Seishirou, eyeing him critically. "Do you know how to use a sword?"

"I doubt it's really a sword--"

"Do you?"

"No." That wasn't one of the things they taught at the academy. If someone wanted to learn swordplay, they would have to learn from their sensei, parents, or another person. They just taught the kids at the academy which end to hold if they were ever stuck using one.

Tomozou reached over and plucked it from Hitomi's grasp. As their hands brushed, she felt her face heat up. "I claim this as mine, then."

"Are you stupid?! That's ours!" Seishirou made a grab for it, but Tomozou pulled it out of his range and hit him on the back of the hand with the flat side. The older of the two hissed and pulled his injured hand back, glaring at his assailant. "You can't just take that." (Hitomi didn't see why not.)

"Consider it payment, then." Tomozou took a few swings with it, testing its balance. It failed whatever test he put it through, because he was soon trying to chop a small piece off the end, but to no avail. He even tried jumping on it, kicking it, biting it, and bringing a kunai to it. Nothing worked.

"Payment for what?" Hitomi inquired, watching in awe as the white object withstood everything he threw at it.

"You two are looking for that Sasori guy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, my mom is a tracker-nin. The best, like, ever. She'll find him for you."

Seishirou and Hitomi looked at each other. That was a good deal, all things considered. They didn't even know what the white thing was, and at least Tomozou could use it for himself. Plus they could track down Sasori again. Hitomi would pay anything for that chance. Even if it meant giving up Tomozou when they returned him to his mother.

"Okay."

Then, they set out north.

-.-.-

It was nearly sunset when they got to the area where Tomozou was sure they'd find his parents. It stank of blood. Seishirou saw Hitomi raise a hand to cover her nose, and he couldn't help but mimic the movement. Even Tomozou wrinkled his nose in disgust as they picked their way cautiously through the trees.

The cause of the stench was soon apparent. They came to a massive clearing of broken and burnt trees. Off towards the side, there was a large body. The ground around it was black with blood. The carcass' fur was a listless yellow color, and several limbs--tails--were scattered around the area.

The sword they had been looking at earlier, the one that was abnormally large with bandages covering it, was lying by a tree. Another sword was embedded in the trunk, along with a couple of shuriken. Various other items were scattered around the sight; there was a hairbrush there, a charred katana--not nearly as large as the other swords--stuck in the ground just a meter or two before them, several water bottles were strewn about, and broken branches were everywhere.

There were no human bodies.

Tomozou gingerly picked up the nearest water bottle, holding it upside down, watching the liquid drain out. Seishirou shuffled forward and idly prodded the katana with his toe. It fell over, raising a little mound of dirt on its tip. There was blood on the blade.

"…Sasuke-san's…" Tomozou's voice caught their attention. He was staring at the katana on the ground. Then, still holding the water bottle, he walked over to Samehada. "…Dad's." He looked up at the massive sword in the tree trunk. "Dad's." Then, he found the hair brush with cyan eyes. "Mom's."

"There are six tails. There were…supposed to be, at least." Seishirou looked up as Hitomi spoke; Tomozou did not. He continued walking through the items around the clearing. Hitomi was busy standing beside the corpse, looking minute compared to it. She walked over to the nearest of the severed tails, which was twice as long as she was tall and nearly twice as thick, too. She crawled over it, making her way around to the demon's neck, which was slashed open. "This was the cause of death. It is a clean cut, so it was probably caused by a sword."

"No, it wasn't!" Tomozou snarled suddenly. Glaring at her, he pointed to the nearest sword. "None of these fit that wound. They're either the wrong size or don't have enough blood on them."

"Blades can be cleaned," Seishirou said simply. He was proud of Hitomi for figuring such a horrible thing out on her own.

Tomozou responded by picking up the nearest one and throwing it point-first at Seishirou's head. He jerked his head to the side, close enough for the blade to nick his ear--or rather, it caught one of his piercings and pulled it out, which was actually worse. It hurt more, anyway.

"Shit! You asshole, why did you do that?!" he barked, both hands flying up to his bleeding ear. Seishirou sunk to one knee, making himself a smaller target. After all, Tomozou had a plethora of weapons readily available to him, and he'd already bested him once; it was simple ninja paranoia to go on the defensive at that point.

"That is not one of our swords!" Like he'd feared, Tomozou was already at another sword, trying to pull it loose from the tree trunk. It finally slid free, and the sudden weight shift caused him to topple over. Seishirou used the opening to swipe the katana from the ground in front of him. He'd never used one before, but it was better than nothing.

"'Our'?! You were saying they were your father's!"

"I used them just as much as him--but you're missing the point, idiot! Look at this clearing! If my dad left his swords just lying around like this, then he was not going to have time to clean them!" Tomozou was back on his feet, trying to lift the massive sword. It was easily larger than him, and he couldn't seem to get its tip off the ground.

Finally, he collapsed against the sword, using his own weight to keep them both upright. He was hidden from view by the broad blade, aside from one gloved hand still gripping the handle.

Hitomi continued idly inspecting the wound of the Bijuu, losing interest in the scene behind her. Seishirou glanced at her; she would be an easy target if this turned into a full-blown fight. He had to get to her before Tomozou did.

"Damn it…" Tomozou was speaking again. He slid lower to the ground. Seishirou only figured this out because the sword suddenly fell away without anything to prop it up. The younger boy was still leaning against the dull edge of the blade, eyes shut tightly. "Damn it," he repeated.

"What now?"

"My parents… My dad, my mom, even Sasuke-san… They're not here."

"Obviously," Seishirou retorted. Though he wasn't exactly rushing to embrace Tomozou--his ear still stung--he knew that his stance wasn't one of aggression any longer. He could relax, at least a little bit.

"There's a dead Bijuu. Another one came and ate them all as revenge."

Hitomi looked up sharply. "No."

Tomozou lolled his head against in shoulder in order to look at her. "What?"

"Your parents and Sasuke were captured, not eaten. The Bijuu are looking for bodies, after all," she said matter-of-factly. After a brief, solemn pause, she added, "Our parents were captured as well."

"For…bodies? Why?"

"They want their bodies as weapons."

-.-.-

Tomozou shut his eyes tightly, holding on to the sword; it was grounding him. A demon wanted his parents' bodies…as weapons? What did that entail? Why? Bijuu were supposed to be all-powerful, so why would they come and kidnap a couple of humans? Even if it was his parents, but…still!

They had killed one demon. Why hadn't they killed the other? Had it exhausted them so far that they couldn't put up a proper fight?

"…Where," he ground out, pulling himself up to his feet with the zanbato's hilt. The little girl just stared at him from the Rokubi's open neck. "Where are they?! Where are my parents!"

"We think they are in Iwa…"

"Then let's go!" Tomozou said fiercely. He had to do something. If his parents were still alive, then he would go to the ends of the world to save them. He saw Hitomi turn deliberately to Seishirou. There was an expression on her face that he couldn't read. If he had to guess, he would have labeled it as 'about to cry'. That was how he was feeling. Why should she cry about going to Iwa?! "What are you--"

"Ryo…died… The last time we tried to get there, Ryo died." Then, Hitomi did break down. It was a bit sudden; all he had done was mention going to rescue his parents!

Tomozou wasn't surprised, though. He was too busy crying as well to be surprised. He sank against the large sword again, finally relinquishing his grasp on the hilt.

He had been raised by his parents. He had never attended a ninja academy: he learned from them and Sasuke. He had never had any friends: he had swords and corpses. The closest thing he got to a ninja team was his crazy little family. He only knew of the rest of the world as village names and vague enemies. Now, he was all alone in the world. One of those vague enemies had finally caught up with them and had shattered his life. His parents--Sasuke--they were all as good as dead now. He was alone.

Tomozou wrapped his arms around the sword. The blade cut into the fabric of his glove, and even a little bit into the skin, but he didn't care. He needed comfort. This was his father's favorite sword…

"I-I miss them--!" He heard Hitomi start sobbing, and that only made Tomozou cry harder. Normally, he was the furthest thing from a crybaby, but normally he had the threat of ridicule by his father would keep him away from his emotions. Now all he had was a crying little girl and a jerk of a genin. "I miss my parents!" she wailed.

Seishirou walked over to her, kneeling down beside her. She was leaning up against and technically in the Rokubi's throat, and already half-congealed blood was beginning to rub off on her. Tomozou looked up, sniffling, through the semicircle notch of the sword. Seishirou sat down, and Hitomi clung to him, practically sitting in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders, letting her cry against his chest. Seishirou was now ignoring the bleeding from his ear and the fact that he was leaning against the open throat of a demon carcass. He closed his eyes. The tears leaked out, anyway.

"Shh, shh, Hitomi-chan… I miss them too… But… It'll be okay, shh…" he murmured, combing his fingers through her dark hair.

Tomozou clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, hugging the sword harder.

-.-.-

Where…where are they?

Sasori was still in the empty ex-Akatsuki hideout. He had been for the past three hours. The cell in front of him stayed decidedly empty. They must have been moved… Because he had broken in? Because the Rokubi died? Why had they been moved?!

To where…?

There were numerous Akatsuki lairs in the land. Some of them he knew right away would not be picked, be it for their size or location. Sasori knew he was taking a chance with the fact that the remaining Bijuu would stick to the hideouts of their enemies, but it was the only lead he had…

The nearest one was in Suna. The farthest was in Kiri, but he knew they wouldn't venture back there. The Nibi's unwillingness to go near the water had demonstrated that they would stick to the land. He counted three or four that would be the most likely to be picked, and decided to start with those. It would take him in a rough loop of the western half of the continent, so with some luck, he might stumble upon the Bijuu by accident…

After scouring the entire place, and finding nothing save dried blood in the cell, Sasori knew that they must have moved. They had to have moved. They couldn't have started the sealing…they didn't have Sasuke, he had seen to that…

Sasori had heard rumors of a new Sunagakure that had been rebuilt. They would undoubtedly know if the was Bijuu activity in the area. The problem would be getting in to Suna; the last time he had entered deeper Wind territory, he and Deidara had both been chased out. They didn't want Akatsuki near, because they knew what kind of luck the Akatsuki-nin brought with them. He'd have to sneak in…

He already knew how he was going to do that. Maybe those kids would be of use, after all. Now all he had to do was find them again…

-.-.-

Hinata looked up as she received her death sentence.

Her death sentence came in the form of three shinobi tossed into their new cell. She recognized them immediately; they were the three they had not wanted to see. Ever since they'd been moved, the three captives had been worried that they would soon be turned into weapons. Into Jinchuuriki.

Now that Sasuke, Suigetsu and Karin had been captured, they would definitely be turned into weapons.

She, Deidara and Hidan had decided something prior, however. They were ninja. It was against their nature to be used against their will, wasn't it? Both she and Deidara were worried about Hidan, however…

They had agreed that they would not be turned into Jinchuuriki. They would kill themselves if they ever got that far. Hidan knew he couldn't be killed, but he agreed to let them mutilate his body as far as they could, in hopes that they could kill an immortal. In fact, he was downright giddy about that prospect. Hinata couldn't stand his enthusiasm about the entire ordeal.

So when the three were thrown into their cell, Hinata couldn't help but let out a dry sob. She pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face in her arms.

Sasuke was the first to stand up again. He looked over the other three, and then, all around their cell with his Sharingan. "Don't bother," Hidan said gruffly. "There's no fucking way out."

Hinata looked up again when she felt Deidara sit down beside her. He didn't look at her, and instead was staring at Suigetsu and Karin. They didn't look in too good of health…

The Hyuuga kunoichi gave a start when she realized just how bad Karin was. Suigetsu had laid her out on the floor with her head in his lap, and his white hair hung around his face as he stared down at her. Karin was breathing laboriously, burns covering most of her exposed skin. Her glasses were missing, but the scratches on her face indicated that they had probably been broken. Her bright red hair was matted with blood, darkened to Sasori's shade.

"Come on, come on," Suigetsu whispered.

Karin suddenly coughed violently. Sasuke turned sharply to her, at her side in an instant. Suigetsu tightened his arms around her shoulders as she convulsed. Hinata jumped to her feet, trying to get the chakra that she knew she didn't possess.

Hidan watched them with disinterest from his corner of the cell. "Shit, man. Don't try to stop it; she's dyin'."

"Shut up!" Sasuke snarled over his shoulder, Sharingan blazing. Hinata, in that moment, realized just how much he looked like Itachi.

Hidan's words turned out to be true. In just a few minutes, Karin began to quiet down, as her breath came in shorter and shallower gasps. Her eyes fluttered open blindly, staring at the dark ceiling above. Suigetsu desperately leaned over her, holding her tightly, whispering in an undertone, begging her to stay.

Her chest finally stopped rising after it fell. Karin stared up blindly at Suigetsu's face, burned, bloody, missing her glasses and being missed already.

The next few hours were the toughest. Hinata tried desperately to keep Suigetsu from doing anything he'd regret, but why, she didn't know. After all, they were all going to die now--what did it matter if he got pissed or killed himself or went down fighting? At least he'd be doing something…

"Stay the hell away from her!" Suigetsu snapped at Hidan, who had moved to give Karin funeral rites. Hinata agreed with Suigetsu wholeheartedly on that; Karin didn't deserve such a funeral as the one Hidan would give her.

"Fuck you. If you're going to bring a dead body in here--"

"Fuck off, Akatsuki! Or I swear I'll rip your throat out--"

"Both of you, cut it out!" Deidara shouted, pushing Hidan back down while staring Suigetsu down. "Suck it up, both of you; you're not going to get your way. Now we have to discuss what's going to happen."

"What do you mean? We're going to be turned into Jinchuuriki and help the other two get their bodies," Sasuke said unhappily.

"What?"

"Two Bijuu are dead. Sasori said that you said that the Gobi had died, and we killed the Rokubi."

Hinata and Deidara looked at each other. It almost seemed too good to be true.

"Fat lot of good that does us," Hidan muttered from his corner. "There are still five of us. Seven demons. No one's getting out of this alive."

"We… We can't let them turn us into Jinchuuriki," Hinata whispered. She looked up at Sasuke; she didn't trust herself to look at Suigetsu. "Do you have a kunai?"

She was tossed a bloodied knife.

Deidara stared at the two men, eyes lidded. "…We have decided that we're not letting the Bijuu have our bodies. Do you understand what that means?" Sasuke nodded. Suigetsu just stared at Karin's body.

"How touching." A sudden voice broke into the scene. The humans looked up, scandalized, to see the Nibi leaning against the bars of their cell, smirking.

"You fucking cat, I'll kill you and that fox and every last one of you!" Suigetsu screamed, making a lunge for it. Sasuke and Deidara jumped up to restrain him. It was one thing to stop the Bijuu from taking their bodies, but quite another to throw a life away in a vain attempt to do some damage. But--was it? They were all going to die, anyway--

"It's a nice plan, but it won't work," it purred.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his Sharingan.

"Do you really think Youko is going to let all of you get away that easily? Ha, as if! Don't think we didn't think of you trying to take that escape route, humans." The Nibi sat down in front of the cell, baring its teeth in a feline grin. "The immortal one can't die, my body is too timid to attempt suicide, the blonde one won't leave her behind, the Uchiha is too proud and the white-haired one is too pissed to think rationally. Even so, all you have is one kunai between you."

"One kunai can do wonders, yeah," Deidara spat.

"Not if you have a time limit." The cat's eyes glittered. "Youko says we're sealing tonight. Can five high-level shinobi fight against their instincts that long and manage to die of blood loss? Maybe one of you--"

"You're underestimating a worshipper of Jashin-sama, bitch!"

The Nibi only looked mildly surprised at Hidan's outburst. "Oh, really. We'll see, then, hmm? Let's see who wins. Bijuu or humans. I'll even let you keep your one kunai, 'kay?" It giggled, like nails on a chalkboard.

As it walked away, still giggling, Sasuke turned to them and asked, "So what now?"

"What do you mean, what now?! Obviously, we're going to have to kill ourselves!" Deidara snapped, taking the kunai from Hinata before she could hurt herself. Ha, what a joke. Before she could hurt herself.

"The cat was lying. About the time limit, anyway."

"How can you be sure?" Suigetsu asked. Apparently the jab about him being too pissed to think rationally did the trick of snapping him out of it; Hinata remembered that Suigetsu was the type to always do what people didn't want of him.

"All people--things--have their tics. The cat kept waving its tails whenever it was speaking to us, but then, its tails froze when it said they were sealing tonight," Sasuke explained impatiently. "It obviously just did that to make us sweat and get us in trouble. Unless we could get away with some clean kills, the Bijuu would manage to save us with their healing abilities."

"So what do we do, then?" Suigetsu asked. It seemed as if he and Sasuke were the ones speaking now. They were more used to each other, after all, and were probably already coming up with some plan… Undoubtedly, it would be something the other captives had tried before. This would only end miserably.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Children bond over the weirdest things. While on their way back to Iwa, they converse about their parents and Tomozou ends up declaring he wants his teeth filed. And when they finally get to Iwa, they have a run in with a few large animal species of the north. Boys will be boys, after all...