Arc Four: Ame
-.-.-
Over the course of the next few days, the group made their way into the Land of Rain. Unlike in previous years, the entire land wasn't experiencing rain. It was still a common thing, and the humidity was unnaturally high, but it just wasn't raining. This set both Akatsuki-nin on edge, as they had always dealt with the constant rain as a sort of comfort.
Once out of the desert, however, Tomozou immediately perked up. He was no longer the one plodding behind, taking in large amounts of water only to sweat it back out--he was up ahead, bounding from large, wet tree, to large, wet lake, to large, wet rock. Now it was Hitomi and Seishirou who fell to the back, unaccustomed to the humidity or heat. Well, they were familiar with wet things (they had grown up in Kirigakure, after all), but not the combination of hot and wet. It was tiring them out quickly.
On their second day in the country, it began raining. Kakuzu and Sasori both looked up; they knew what Pein's rain had meant. True, real rain was just as common, but after years of dealing with his kind, they were cautious.
"…I'm going to go scout the area," Kakuzu said, slowly standing up.
"Don't go too far," Sasori advised as he disappeared into the rainy forest. The puppeteer sighed at his ignored warning, and reclined back against the nearest tree trunk. Across from him, Hitomi was all but unconscious, sniffling miserably as she leaned against Seishirou's shoulder. The ginger-haired genin wasn't in a much better state. Neji was sitting on the rock behind them protectively, Byakugan casually active as he surveyed the area.
Tomozou, meanwhile, was climbing one of the trees, jumping from branch to branch, trying to catch a bird. He, at least, seemed at home in the humidity and rain.
"…We're getting closer to Amegakure, aren't we?" Neji asked, tilting his chin back as he shook water out of his hair.
"I'd say two days away. Three if we continue at this pace," Tomozou called down, though the brunette man had addressed Sasori.
"Oh, shut the hell up, Tomozou. This is like the desert for us. We can't keep up," Seishirou shouted back, wringing water out of his ponytail.
"In the desert, you weren't doing much better," Tomozou replied with a grin, vanishing into the trees once more.
"When will we stop for the day?" Hitomi asked faintly, closing her eyes as she rested against her brother.
"In an hour or two, most likely."
"Mm, good…"
So the days passed. Seishirou and Hitomi gradually got more acclimated to the wetness and the rain didn't let up. This put the two Akatsuki members even more on edge, but Neji just repeatedly told them that since they were heading into the heart of the country, it was only likely that it'd rain more. Kakuzu was now almost always out on scouting, and Sasori probably didn't join him only because he didn't deal well with the rain either.
"This body is going to rot," he growled darkly, narrowing his eyes at the body of the kunoichi. He'd seal her in a scroll, but it undoubtedly would kill her, and he didn't have time to make a new one which would keep her alive. It was difficult lugging her around, too, as well as keeping her alive. Sasori seriously debated about killing her and dumping the body, but then he would look down at his missing hand, and decide that it was worth it.
On these occasions, he usually kicked her once or twice in the stomach. It didn't hurt her, but it made him feel better.
They were on one of their many breaks. Neji and Kakuzu were both off scouting this time, so Sasori was left babysitting--again. The only upside to that scenario was that none of the kids were sick anymore, just tired, so they weren't running around shouting and playing. Not that they did that much, anyway, but Sasori was thankful nonetheless.
"We should be there sometime soon. Maybe tonight." Tomozou happily chattered away, sharing hazy memories he had of the village, and the few people he remembered. "There were a lot of renegades, and refugees, from other villages, so there's all sorts of people there. I remember there was this really cute girl, too…" He didn't notice how Hitomi frowned. "I'm pretty sure there's at least a couple people from every village in the world."
"Even Kiri?"
"Yeah, plenty from Kiri."
"What about the destroyed villages?"
"Well, I was too young to know about any of them at the time, but probably. There were some Ame-nin, so why wouldn't there be Suna-nin and Iwa-nin and Konoha-nin?"
"What do they all wear for hitai-ates?"
"I don't know. I can't remember something like that. Hey…" Tomozou leaned in, peering at them both for a moment. "Why don't either of you have a headband, come to think of it. Why don't you?"
"I am not a genin--you only receive one when you are promoted to genin," Hitomi explained.
"And I forgot mine in Kiri…" Seishirou mumbled.
"Liar, I know you have one. I've seen it. Hitomi carries it in her pack."
"That… That was Ryo's," he said flatly, giving Tomozou the tiniest hint of a glare.
"That name sounds familiar." Tomozou didn't get hints easily.
"He was a teammate of Seishirou's."
"Oh, yeah. …So he's dead now?" Tomozou didn't get an answer, on account of the fact that both Seishirou and Hitomi were hanging their heads, depressed again. Tomozou hastily backpedaled. "H-Hey! I didn't mean--you can't be sad about him forever, right? Everyone dies."
Sasori listened in, wondering how the kids would try to navigate through the minefield of talking of dead comrades. Something interrupted his eavesdropping, however: he sensed someone approaching. Several people. It wasn't Kakuzu or Neji, then; they had been together long enough to get used to each other coming and going.
Sasori got to his feet, leaving the body of Haya at his feet. He faked a stretch, but he really only wanted to get into a position so he could hear better. There were no other sounds, save the rain and the children's conversation. So these people weren't amateurs; they had to be Ame-nin. "…I'm gonna go track down Kakuzu and get him to get his ass back here. It's about time we got going again," he muttered, as if not caring whether or not the children heard him. He walked casually into the surrounding undergrowth. It appeared that they hadn't even noticed that he left.
Sasori pretended to walk off, and then doubled back and hunkered down in a hollowed out dead tree, half rotten, to watch to see if the Ame-nin would take the bait.
-.-.-
"Well… Just wait, guys! Once we get into the village, we'll start learning that ninjutsu, and we'll find information about the Bijuu and then we'll go rescue our parents! Simple as that!" Tomozou was still trying in vain to cheer them up. He had just asked an innocent question, after all! He made a mental note to never, ever mention Ryo again, though.
"Yeah," Seishirou replied noncommittally. Hitomi only nodded.
Tomozou sighed, running a gloved hand through his wet hair. "Just--cheer up--"
Then, with a jolt, he realized they were alone. He only realized this because three people were suddenly there in the clearing with them, and those three were certainly not the men he was accustomed to seeing.
All three of them were wearing long, shapeless, drab grey cloaks, and white animal masks. If Tomozou had a bit more knowledge of the pre-war era, he might have recognized them as ANBU masks, minus the white markings, but since he didn't, he only thought them bizarre. The only distinguishing feature among the three aside from height was that one of them had a hitai-ate tied around his (or her) neck.
"…Who are you three supposed to be? There's no more ANBU," Seishirou said disdainfully, looking for all the world like he was not worried one bit. But because of their proximity, Tomozou could see his hands shaking.
"We are not ANBU," said the one in the middle, with the headband. He revealed himself to be male.
"Then you are only impersonating them to hide your identities," Hitomi said with a nod. To their surprise, the man in the middle nodded his agreement.
"Where did your guardian go?" the one on the right, a female, asked.
"That lazy asshole of a babysitter? Who knows." Tomozou shrugged, trying and failing to grin. He knew the situation wasn't good. If these three would openly approach them, it meant they were confident in their abilities. With three-on-three, they would probably lose. If it was one or even two, he wouldn't have backed down, but not with the odds where they stood.
"He's behind us, about twenty degrees to the left, and he didn't even bother concealing himself thoroughly," the man in the middle drawled, shifting into a more relaxed stance. "So you can come out now, Sasori-san."
"He was only using the children as bait to get us to come out," the kunoichi on the right growled, stamping her foot. Tomozou noticed Seishirou suddenly bristling, and instinctively edged away from him before he really registered it.
"Sensei, you bastard! We're not bait--!"
"Hitomi-chan said I could use you as bait to accomplish my own means." Sasori stepped out of the foliage directly behind the three masked ninja, shaking his sleeve loosely around his missing hand.
His words, however, even irked Tomozou. "What do you mean--you actually used us as bait?! What if they had just jumped in and killed us?"
"Are you saying you would be so easily killed?" Sasori retorted calmly.
"You aren't allowed to use us as bait!" Seishirou snarled, jumping to his feet. Tomozou leapt up beside him, sword already held out in front of him.
"I really do not mind it," Hitomi said, staying firmly on the rock.
"…This is getting really bothersome," the man in the middle said, rubbing the back of his head. "Can we just sort this out and get on with it already?"
"Get on with what?" Sasori inquired, turning his attention to him. "Do you believe you can take me in a fight? That's even neglecting the children."
"Oh, come on, Sasori-san." For the first time, the third shinobi spoke up, revealing his gender as male as well. He, too, knew who Sasori was. Tomozou just knew that it couldn't be a good thing. The masked shinobi turned a little until he was facing the redhead. "You know we're not going to fight you. Would we be Ame-nin if we did?"
"I've had several Ame-nin fight me in the past…" Sasori trailed off with a narrowing of his eyes; his attention was pointedly on that sole shinobi.
"Oh, yeah. That's beside the point now." He waved his hand in the air, shaking his head. "You wouldn't have risked them if you thought there would be a fight."
"Maybe I would have. I'm not particularly fond of any of them."
"That is not true!" Hitomi said with a huff, pouting in Sasori's direction.
There was a chuckle from the man on the left. The man in the middle, however, sighed. "I'd like to get back inside sometime soon, you know."
"Plus, the sun is setting," the kunoichi said nervously. Tomozou didn't know what that had to do with anything; couldn't they see in the dark? If they couldn't… Well, they weren't very good ninja, then.
"Fine, fine," the third conceded, "Let's get back to Ame. Coming, Sasori-san? Or will you have to go get Deidara-senpai first?"
Quick as lightning, Sasori reached over and pulled the wolf mask off of the man's face. As his back was to them, Tomozou didn't immediately see him, though the diction was familiar… "I knew it. It was you, Daisuke," Sasori said, although he didn't seem pleased about this fact.
"Dai-sama?!" Equally fast, Tomozou was already running to meet the leader.
"Sunset," the kunoichi repeated worriedly as Tomozou eagerly grinned and fretted over the black-haired man.
"She's right. We better get going. I don't think anyone would be pleased if the children didn't make it back to the village in one piece," the man in the middle added flatly.
"Why wouldn't we make it in one piece?" Tomozou asked over his shoulder, caught between turning to face this stranger--in hopes that it would be another vaguely familiar face--and tugging on Daisuke's sleeve. "Dai-sama, we have Sasori-sensei on our side; nothing would kill us after sunset."
"While I would love to test that theory," Daisuke replied kindly, "I would not love to test it while I was also out in the open. We need to get back to the village."
As the group turned to go, the three Ame-nin stiffened in surprise to see Kakuzu and Neji, casually blocking the path. None of them had sensed their arrival, much to their embarrassment.
-.-.-
Seishirou's first impression of Ikari Daisuke was a mixed one. On one hand, he verbally abused and annoyed Sasori to no end, apparently by his mere presence. On the other, he was still wary of him as an enemy, and his joking made him seem a bit immature. The genin wasn't fond of immature leaders, after all. The Mizukage had been grave and solemn, and his sensei had been slightly more caring, but just as serious. It seemed like some sort of blasphemy to have a man like Daisuke in charge of an entire village.
Hitomi, however, thought otherwise.
"You have pretty eyes," was the first thing she directly said to him. All three--Seishirou, Tomozou and Sasori--mentally (and literally, in Seishirou's case) groaned. She just couldn't keep to herself.
"Thank you," Daisuke said with a chuckle. "You do, too, Hitomi-chan."
"I like your mask," she added shyly.
"Hitomi," Neji said warningly, ready to intervene. She frowned, but quieted. Daisuke had to cover his mouth to hide his smirk.
"He is nowhere near as handsome as Sasori," she muttered, loud enough to be heard by all. There were several hastily stifled giggles.
"Really now," Daisuke replied, trying to figure out whether to be insulted or amused. He must have settled on the latter, because a moment after, he said, "Why is Sasori so great?"
"He does not have long hair, like you do, and his hair is red." Daisuke's was pitch black and tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. "He also looks much younger."
"Hitomi-chan, thank you for that," Sasori said with a grin at Daisuke's expression. He looked like he'd been slapped across the face. Seishirou grimaced; should a leader really be worried about what a little foreign girl's opinion?
What's so bad about sunset? Seishirou asked himself for the umpteenth time. He had been trying in vain to ignore his sister's conversation the entire time--he didn't need to know what her thoughts on men were--and concentrated instead on that question. What was wrong with sunset? All shinobi had night vision to a certain extent, and they weren't fighting, unless there was some nocturnal creature native to Ame. In that case, why were they so scared of it? And why hadn't their group encountered the animal before? They'd already spent three nights in Ame, and nothing had attacked them. …What's so bad about sunset?
The village gates soon came into sight. Seishirou wasn't surprised to see a wall surrounding the village--it seemed like a throwback to a time when they were needed; when enemy shinobi were more of a threat than demons--but he was surprised to see the size of the village. It was no Kirigakure, of course, but it was still very large. The architecture, though, was what really threw him.
Kirigakure had had nice, structured houses and streets; there was a method to it. The only method this village might've had was a mad one. Aside from a few main streets, the rest of the roads were narrow and muddy. Houses and buildings were crowded together, and though it was rapidly becoming dusk, it seemed as if no lights were on.
Then, as they started getting into the village, Seishirou noticed something else which put him on edge. The lights were on; the windows were blacked out. Was this all just for protection against the Bijuu? Making sure that they wouldn't be seen at night?
"All of this is… a bit much, isn't it?" Seishirou heard his father ask Daisuke. He turned in time to catch Daisuke shake his head.
"I'll explain once we're inside."
"It'll be too late to arrange other rooms tonight; they can stay at the tower, can't they?" the kunoichi asked.
"Why don't you two take off your masks?" Daisuke asked in return, noticing that his cohorts were still concealing their identities. "Come on, be nice. Introduce yourselves."
"No thanks, not right now," the other man said in reply, reaching up to tap his deer mask. "We're still nice and dry right now. Maybe when we're inside we'll be nice."
"We have towels. You can dry yourself off. I bet if you asked nicely, Ino-chan would dry your hair for you."
"I'd rather avoid getting soaked altogether."
"…I thought it was you," Neji said, smiling faintly at the masked man. The only response he received was a bob of the head.
"What's so bad about sunset?" Seishirou asked at last, since he didn't follow the very conversation very well.
"It's not sunset itself," the kunoichi started in reply, but Daisuke took over from there, continuing, "The sunsets are actually kind of pretty if the clouds part long enough to see them. It's what comes after sunset that's the bad part."
"What comes after sunset, then?"
"Darkness."
Seishirou knew he was teasing him, but he couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting a straight answer. Or did Daisuke talk like that to everyone, not just those he knew? Though it annoyed him, Seishirou found himself hoping it was the latter. He was tired of having adults duck out of questions they didn't want to answer.
"Here's the tower!" the kunoichi bounded up ahead, pointing to what, obviously, was a tower. It was easily the tallest building in Ame. Without waiting for a reply, she threw open the door and darted inside, shouting, "Aoko-chan, Aoko-chan, we're back!"
Daisuke shooed them all inside and was the last to come in the door. He turned and shut it behind him, bolting it, and then making a seal, presumably to lock it. He didn't bother hiding the motion, though Seishirou was uneasy because of it. "…Why did you lock us in?" Neji asked, and Seishirou was aware that he'd come up behind him and Hitomi protectively.
"Oh, no, I didn't lock us in. I locked them out," Daisuke said simply, shedding his cloak on the floor. He then shook out his hair and wrung the ponytail out, though he still dripped plenty on the floor below. "You can change out of your wet things upstairs. You'll want to, too, trust me. So no being rude by refusing. That means you too, Sasori-san."
"Why is it '-san' now?" the redhead asked flatly. He dripped on to the floor as well, making no move to dry off at all. He seemed to be actually willing himself to drip more, as to make more of a mess.
"Oh, you know, time's passed and all. Plus you look a lot less…" Daisuke gestured vaguely, searching for the word he meant. Sasori raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, you just don't seem like you deserve as much respect without my favorite artist by your side. He completed the artist duo, you know? Without Deidara-senpai, you're just poor little Sasori-san. Unless you're prefer '-kun', of course--"
Daisuke was interrupted (which was good, considering how Sasori was visibly bristling at that point and even Kakuzu was shying away from him) when two girls came flying down the stairs. Seishirou saw little more than blurs of pink and blue as they passed, and immediately rushed to latch on to Tomozou. "Tomozou-kun!" one of them shouted, while the other collapsed into giggles of glee.
Once they stopped moving and Tomozou stopped flailing, it gave the others a time to look at them. The first thing that was said was, "Holy shit," courtesy of Kakuzu.
"Oh, hi," said one of the girls, looking up from where she was petting Tomozou. Seishirou didn't know what made the three men of their group stare at her so blatantly, though she was pretty. Maybe she was another familiar face to them.
She had long, cinnamon brown hair, coming down to nearly her waist. She had a nice smile, and a round face which complimented that, and her eyes were slightly slanted and a dull, dark green. She was wearing a small, pink dress, one of the straps falling off her shoulder, that stopped quite a few inches above her knees; underneath she wore black leggings, or else Seishirou probably would have headed into the next country for embarrassment. Even so, the ensemble did nothing to hide her curves, and curves she definitely had. Seishirou looked back and forth between her and the others, not making the connection.
"Daisuke… She looks just like--" Neji started.
"I'm Aoko," the girl interrupted, smile faltering a tiny bit. "I'm Dai-sama's assistant."
Neji, Sasori and Kakuzu all turned to Daisuke accusingly, the next statement obvious: assistant, sure. She certainly didn't seem like the secretary type.
"It's been awhile, Aoko-chan," Tomozou squeaked, still being hugged mercilessly by her and the other girl.
"Ohh, I know! Too long! Look at how much you've grown--you're so cute now, Tomozou-kun!" Aoko squealed, pouncing again on his hair as she petted it. "Your hair--you've grown it out! It's darker now, too! How old are you now? Aren't you twelve?"
"Eleven." Though he was obviously being overwhelmed by the attention, Tomozou didn't seem displeased that it was given by two pretty girls. He seemed to be thinking that if he were to die from oxygen deprivation, he'd like to go as he was.
Then, Seishirou got a good look at the other girl.
She had light blue hair the color of the sky on a clear day, tied back in a ponytail, and eyes that matched. Her outfit, like her friend's, didn't spare any viewer her curves--especially with the low-cut shirt she was wearing. It laced up the front to show her belly button, and flared out over her hips and the black shorts she was wearing underneath. The top, like her hair and eyes, was a shade of light blue, and she wore a long-sleeved fishnet shirt underneath it.
Seishirou was instantly smitten.
"Hi, I'm Yukina," she introduced herself with a smile. "I'm Aoko-chan's best friend, and I also help Dai-sama out from time to time." When she spoke, he belatedly realized that she had been the kunoichi who had brought them to Ame.
By then, Tomozou was nearly unconscious, so both girls let him go. He swayed on his feet before regaining his composure with a shake of his head. He turned to Yukina questioningly. Aoko jumped in before he had time to ask. "Yukina-chan came here after your last visit--you've never met her. That's why you don't recognize her, silly."
"O-Oh."
"Nice to meet you, Tomozou-kun! You're just as cute as Aoko-chan said you were."
"When Aoko-chan last saw him, he was only six," Daisuke commented wryly, amused by their behavior. Seishirou, however, probably would have attacked Tomozou, if Yukina hadn't been in the room, of course. "Well--come on, we've introduced everyone here now--since you guys already know Shika-kun--and there are wet clothes that are dripping on my floor!" Daisuke was promptly hit in the head with a sopping wet Akatsuki cloak. Surprisingly, the offending ninja wasn't Sasori; it had been Kakuzu.
-.-.-
"…This is going to be a long night," said the last of their retrieval team, the one Daisuke had called 'Shika-kun'.
Hitomi recognized him at once. Seishirou didn't, but that was probably because he was too busy staring at Yukina. "You were with the blonde woman," she told him seriously. Her father followed her as she walked over, peering up at him to make sure it was the same person. "You are that Konoha-nin who was with her."
"You two have met?" Neji asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Ino picked her up in one of the non-ninja villages back east." He shrugged before returning to shaking out his wet hair. "We recognized her at once as yours, of course."
"Because of my eyes," Hitomi explained, as if her father wouldn't understand that part. "Seishirou wanted to attack him, however."
Neji chuckled. "Of course he did."
"Your--son?--reminds me a lot of a certain man I met once, you know."
"I'll explain that later, Shikamaru," Neji said, nodding down towards his daughter. Hitomi didn't miss the move, and sulked. It meant she would be left out of more 'important talks', which were basically anything the adults didn't want her to know. "Hitomi, why don't you go get out of those wet clothes? You'll catch a cold again if you don't." It wasn't a very subtle way to get rid of her.
As if his words were a cue, Aoko and Yukina spotted Hitomi for the first time. "She's adorable!" Aoko squealed, and Hitomi suddenly felt herself hauled upright.
"I know, isn't she?" Yukina agreed, beaming at them both.
"U-Um, could you please set me down?" Hitomi asked, a little surprised at their enthusiasm. She was used to being called an 'adorable little girl', but never with this much excitement. She wasn't sure she liked it.
"Oh, yeah, of course!" Hitomi was set back down on the floor, though the two kept her corralled between them. "What's your name?"
Hitomi glanced back at her father for help, but he just smiled at her. "Hi-Hitomi," she answered them, hanging her head. Not that she didn't like the attention--but why did Seishirou remind a stranger of a certain man, a man that they wouldn't talk about in front of her?
"Come on, Hitomi-chan. We need to get you into some proper clothes before you get sick," Yukina said, reaching down and holding her hand as Aoko bounded up the stairs ahead of them. Hitomi looked over at her brother and Tomozou, who were engaged in a low conversation; she was going to be separated from them unless she could think of a way out of this. Fast.
"I am fine," she lied, though she knew by how warm Yukina's hand was that hers must be freezing. "Seishirou and Tomozou also need to get into warm clothes, do they not?"
"Yes, but they're boys. They're not going to wear skirts, are they?" Hitomi perked up at the word 'skirt'. She missed those; her tattered, dirty, thrown-together outfit didn't include a proper skirt. "We'll get you a warm bath and then some clean clothes."
"Do… Do you have any kimonos?" Hitomi asked hopefully, boys all but forgotten behind her.
"Kimono? No need to be so formal," Aoko said with a laugh. She was pretty when she laughed, and it was then that the youngest girl realized that Aoko was the one Tomozou had been referring to when he said he remembered a 'pretty girl' in Ame. Hitomi's distrust was back again, and she again tugged at Yukina's hand, trying to return downstairs. "I want to go back to Seishirou," she mumbled.
"We're not separating you, silly. You'll see him again soon."
Hitomi had never before in her life been so against having a bath.
-.-.-
"So… What is wrong with the night here?" Kakuzu asked as he wrapped his hair in a towel. Daisuke snickered at the sight, but it only ended up in his defeat again; this time, Sasori's uniform was thrown at him. "Shut the hell up, Ikari. You're lucky we didn't execute you the moment we saw you. Tell us what we need to know now before things get ugly."
"The night itself isn't what's wrong," Shikamaru replied, sitting on the bottom step. He was already dry, because he had been wearing the cloak and mask the entire time outside. He stayed carefully away from the mud they tracked in. "It's what's been appearing during the night."
"We've already had four people killed, and about five more injured," Daisuke said, for the first time serious.
"Six," Shikamaru corrected with a sigh. He pulled a cigarette carton out of his pocket and tapped one out, placing it in his mouth but not lighting it. "Last night, a man had his leg broken trying to get away."
"What's been appearing at night?" Neji asked, surprised at this. If so few were killed, it wasn't a demon or another ninja. But for so many, it couldn't just be any wild animal.
"Well…" Daisuke rubbed the back of his head, and Shikamaru was staring studiously at the far wall. Neither looked like they wanted to answer.
"…If you don't tell us, I'm going to go climb out a window and find out," Tomozou threatened, reminding them all that he and Seishirou were still in the room.
"Don't!" Given the reaction, they had a very bad problem indeed.
"…Why are we safe inside, then?" Seishirou asked slowly.
"We're not sure, but we're not complaining." Shikamaru shrugged, flicking the cigarette up and down with his lips. "Don't get me wrong, they can't get in for lack of trying. They just… fail at trying, I guess."
"Who is 'they'?" Kakuzu asked impatiently.
"…You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Tell me anyway."
"We're not exactly sure what they are," Daisuke said, still fielding. "If I had to say--they almost look like Deidara-senpai's art." Cue incredulous looks on both Sasori and Kakuzu's faces. "They're black, with hollow eyes, and nothing we can do can really kill them. We can incapacitate them, but in the morning, just before dawn, they all leave, regardless of how many pieces they were in."
"But what are they?"
"They're kind of humanoid in shape, but plenty of them also look pretty bizarre, too--you know what your shadows look like? They can be long at sunset, or a circle at noon. It varies like that, but most of them are some sort of human. Not very tall, just over five feet, I'd guess, and it looks like they aren't armed, so they're not ninja, whatever they are."
"…Some sort of creature, then?"
"Possibly. We're just not sure," Shikamaru replied. "We've been trying to capture one for a few days now, to examine it, but they elude capture."
"How long has this been going on?"
"Two months, two weeks."
"And they remind you of Deidara's art how?"
"Just… It looks like they were created. They're not natural. They're very simplistic, too, with points instead of fingers and instead of feet. I don't know how they walk like that, but they do, and they leave tiny little holes all over instead of footprints. It's creepy," Daisuke said cheerfully. "So we lock down Ame at night while this goes on, until we can come up with a plan to combat them."
Sasori and Kakuzu exchanged a glance. "Let us out there," Kakuzu said gruffly, "and we'll take care of them."
"Not tonight. Tonight, you all need to rest and tell us why you're here."
"To get information on the Bijuu. If this Ame is anything like the pre-war Ame, then you'll have set up an information network spanning the continent. We need to know where the demons are currently," Neji said.
"Why would you want to do that? Going to go demon hunting again, huh? It'll probably have the same results," advised Daisuke, nodding knowingly. "Especially with only half the organization still around."
"We're not going to capture them this time. We're going to kill them."
"Why?"
"They've gotten smart," Kakuzu growled, glaring at the wall across the room. "They're going to turn themselves into Jinchuuriki."
Shikamaru gave a low whistle. "…Just what we need."
"Wouldn't that make it easier? Easier to kill them, I mean," Daisuke asked.
"Dai, you know how strong Naruto was with the Kyuubi inside of him?" Shikamaru said, turning to the leader as he took over the explanation.
"Yeah, but still, the Akatsuki won out on that one."
"Naruto was a genin, with limited skills. The Kyuubi was what made him so strong, and he had to work with a child's body. Now imagine what any of the demons could do with a full grown body, which has had years of shinobi training, a wide arsenal of jutsus, and already an established chakra reserve. Imagine them with an Akatsuki body." Shikamaru glanced at the two Akatsuki members. "That's right, isn't it? I assumed the last bit based off of your missing partners…"
"Yeah, that's it."
It was Daisuke's turn to nod grimly. He sighed. "That's… a bit worse than I would have guessed. But--there's only five members left--"
"Your information is lacking," Sasori interrupted sourly. "Four members still alive, and two of them are with the Bijuu now. There are also only seven Bijuu still alive."
"Still, seven is a greater number than four."
"They're not just going for Akatsuki members. They're smart enough to figure out who is around Akatsuki level," Neji said darkly, crossing his arms over his chest. "They've already taken Hinata as well. They'll probably be on the lookout for you, too." He nodded towards Daisuke.
"Hina-chan, Deidara-senpai, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, me--?" Daisuke counted them off on his fingers, looking at Neji all the while. "Missing one there."
"It depends. They might not be on the lookout for you… Only if they missed out on their first pick."
"They're not getting him. The Rokubi is already dead trying to get Uchiha. They wouldn't risk another demon. Do you have a place I could work on her?" The question came at random, so for a moment or two, Daisuke just blinked at him. Sasori gestured to the bloody lump of fabric and flesh that was Haya at that point. He'd been carrying her in one of his other puppet's cloaks up until that point, so it had been easy to hide the fact that he'd been smuggling a half-dead body into the country.
"…Is that what I think it is?" Shikamaru asked, chewing on the end of the cigarette.
"Most likely."
"Sasori, who is that?" Daisuke inquired, grinning uncertainly.
"A Suna kunoichi who I decided to turn into a puppet."
"Suna? They already hate Ame, I hope you know. If you just ignited another war--"
"I didn't. There weren't any survivors, and they didn't know we were going to Ame. Do you have a place or not?"
Daisuke, who was ready to beat his head against the wall--at least he acted a tiny bit like the leader of a ninja village--pointed towards the stairs. "Third floor, second door on the left." As Sasori left, lugging Haya up the stairs, Daisuke couldn't resist one last remark, "It's good to see that not everything has changed."
-.-.-
Next Chapter: Hitomi doesn't like Amegakure much. The food is weird and it's making everyone act even weirder. Why is Seishirou so moody all of a sudden? And why is Tomozou--no, Hitomi doesn't even want to know what is behind Tomozou's actions! ...Maybe, though, maybe she'll be able to forget about both of them if it means getting Kisho back.