"What is this?" Hitomi asked as the plate was set in front of her. She poked it with a chopstick. Thankfully, it didn't do anything in response.
"…Egg," Aoko replied after a suspicious pause. "Like a stir-fry, kind of. With egg."
"Really?" Hitomi persisted, poking it again.
"Just eat your food," Seishirou sighed. "Itadakimasu."
"Itadakimasu…" she mumbled, still reluctant to actually ingest what was on her plate. Seishirou didn't have any problem with it, though, and Tomozou was already half done. It couldn't be toxic, but then again… maybe it would have a delayed reaction.
The day had just begun, but already it seemed to be planned out. In a way, Hitomi missed schedules, but right then, she didn't really appreciate it. It was a new village--only the second ninja village she'd ever been to--and she just wanted to explore it. With Seishirou and Tomozou. Instead, they would get a regular old tour, and kept conveniently out of the way of the political talks as Sasori and Daisuke argued about what to do.
"What are we going to be doing after the tour?" Hitomi asked, so she would have something else to do with her mouth besides eat.
"Sasori-sama mentioned that you three want some ninjutsu training." Three heads snapped to attention immediately following that. Aoko smiled at them. "He also mentioned that we're not to teach you a single thing on pain of death."
"You're horrible, Aoko-chan," Tomozou whined as he hung his head, dejectedly turning back to his breakfast.
"He did tell us he'd teach us," Seishirou mumbled around a mouthful of egg stir-fry. "Kakuzu-san, too."
"Once we reached Amegakure," Hitomi added. Her plate was still untouched, aside from the poking.
"Then I'm sure neither of them will back out on you," Yukina said with a warm smile. Seishirou ducked his head to hide the blush. "But until then, you're stuck with us, I'm afraid."
"Oh we would love to have your company," Tomozou said, with an all-too-obvious smirk at the ginger-haired boy. "Isn't that right, Sei?"
"Sasori and Kakuzu said they would not allow you to teach us ninjutsu. What about genjutsu or taijutsu?" Hitomi asked, coming to her brother's rescue.
"We're not allowed to teach you anything that can be later used against them. That's what they told us."
"…What qualifies?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but it means we're staying out of it," Aoko said cheerily. "Are you all done with your breakfast?"
Hitomi still hadn't touched hers. "Ye--mmph!"
Tomozou had leaned across the table and put his chopsticks in her mouth, making her at least try the weird egg stir-fry. "You haven't eaten anything yet. Eat your meal," he commanded imperiously, pointing at her with the chopsticks.
"Aww, that was so cute! Do you feed each other often?" Yukina cooed, looking between the two. Seishirou snorted, but managed to turn it into a cough at the last moment.
"Hmm, not really." Tomozou seemed oblivious to the romantic implications of the question. Hitomi was not; she was slowly sinking down in her chair, face beet red. "Hitomi-san just needs to eat more."
"'-san'? You're too polite, Tomozou-kun. Why don't you call her 'Hitomi-chan'?" Aoko laughed, reaching across the table to ruffle his hair. He grinned self-consciously at the affection.
"I don't know. We haven't known each other that long," he replied simply.
Seishirou leaned down and whispered, "Hitomi-chan, eat your breakfast before he decides to feed you again." She nodded faintly, but couldn't bring herself up; she was now about eye-level with the table. "Hitomi-chan," he repeated, warningly.
Sulking, she stabbed a piece of egg--what she hoped was egg--with a chopstick and ate it. It wasn't bad, but neither was it particularly good, and she was very much aware of most of the group's eyes on her.
It was the worst breakfast she'd ever had.
-.-.-
"…And what we have behind you is the tower. It's actually kind of a throw back to the pre-war Amegakure; the Akatsuki always lived in this huge tower, I guess, and this is kind of like an homage to that. Actually, they went through two towers; one was destroyed in the war itself, and the second had a short life before being stomped into the ground by the Bijuu."
"You mean you copied it."
Aoko shrugged. "Ame's always had a tower," she concluded. "The next nearest attraction of interest is the open-rain market. We call it that since it's always rained--"
"It hasn't always rained," Tomozou objected.
"Do you know about the story of Amegakure's rain?" Yukina asked lightly. All three children shook their heads. "Well, back when the Akatsuki were at their full strength, the leader was the one who controlled the rain. He used it to his advantage; it sensed all of the people that it fell on, and kept track of them for him. It also kept the fields green and the forests lush, so agriculturally, Ame prospered as well.
"Leader-sama was looked upon as a god," Yukina continued in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the rain. "That was it, pure and simple. He was regarded as a god in both civilian and ninja eyes alike, and his Akatsuki were placed just below him. His partner, Konan-sama, was treated as an angel; her paper wings didn't exactly dispel the rumors, either."
"Is that why you still refer to them all as '-sama'?" Seishirou asked, too curious to be worried about addressing her directly.
"Yes. The Akatsuki, Leader-sama especially, were all heroes for Amegakure. They saved it from a bloody, long civil war, and then started corralling the demons to protect the entire world. It was a noble cause they had."
"The Akatsuki… They were supposed to be villains, though," Hitomi said, frowning a bit in confusion.
"Because not all of the demons were actually demons at the time. They were placed in human bodies and called Jinchuuriki--some of the villages didn't like giving up their Jinchuuriki. Konoha and Suna especially."
"You know a lot about history," Tomozou said, awed. Hitomi and Seishirou both turned to him flatly; Yukina was reciting mostly textbook facts, though from a different perspective than that taught at the academy.
"I like history. It's fun," Yukina said with a bright smile.
Seishirou felt his heart wrench unexpectedly; Miki had loved history, too. Miki… I haven't thought about her in forever… he thought, feeling disloyal. What would she have said about Amegakure?
"Anyway, Leader-sama's rain. During the Last Great Shinobi War, it never rained once, because he didn't have the chakra to waste on such things. The last time it rained by his power directly was just before the start of the war. Then, all of a sudden, after his death, it started raining again. It was as if when his body died, his soul became the rain. And do you know what? It hasn't stopped raining since that day. The lightest it's ever gotten was a sort of mist." Yukina nodded, ponytail bobbing behind her.
"If the man died, how do you know so much about him? There weren't a lot of survivors of the war, especially Ame-nin, and you're too young to have participated," Seishirou said, shifting the umbrella in his hand.
"I know my history. Don't you know the history of your home village?"
"Uhh… Kind of." The only reason he'd passed the history portion of his schooling was because of Miki's help.
"Wait. Aoko-chan said that you came here only a few years ago. This isn't your home village," Tomozou said accusingly. Seishirou wished he was close enough to elbow him--hard--in the side. Why did he need to be so mean to Yukina?
"I don't really have a home village," Yukina admitted sheepishly. Seishirou definitely wanted to hit Tomozou after that.
"So we adopted her into Ame!" Aoko chirped happily, wrapping her arms around her friend's shoulders. "She's about as close to a real Ame-nin as you can get these days. We have a lot of refugees."
"Like the Konoha-nin," Hitomi piped up.
"Yup!" Yukina said with a nod. "I'm pretty sure we have at least one ninja from all of the different villages. All sorts of ranks, too."
"We even have a Kage," Aoko said, dropping her voice into a whisper as she leaned in conspiratorially. Predictably, the three kids did not believe this in the least, even if they couldn't help but stare with mouths agape. "I'm serious! She was the Raikage. She survived the war and everything."
"She?" Hitomi asked, eyes large as saucers. "…May we meet her at some point?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Aoko straightened again, smiling. "She's not technically a Kage anymore, of course--Amegakure doesn't have one. But she's very strong."
"What other kind of ninja do you have?" Tomozou asked eagerly.
"A bunch of weirdoes, like you," Aoko replied, laughing. He huffed, scowling in embarrassment. "No, I'm kidding, Tomozou-kun."
"Yeah, sure. Well, Ame must have weirdoes, if you're here," he retorted. It was Aoko's turn to huff, and soon, they were both glaring in opposite directions, arms crossed.
"We… We have a wide variety of shinobi here," Yukina took over awkwardly, looking at the two in confusion. "There's not really a single binding factor in styles, not like before the war, or in Kirigakure. Like--Aoko-chan here excels in taijutsu with defensive ninjutsu."
"Yukina-chan is really great at long-range offensive ninjutsu. Actually, she's just good at a lot of ninjutsu." Aoko chuckled, smiling sheepishly.
"And you're not going to teach us these fantastic skills?" Tomozou asked with a pout. Both girls laughed and ignored the attempt at getting around Sasori's order.
"May we at least see your ninjutsu?" Hitomi asked politely. Seishirou inwardly cheered; she was going to win them over, no question about it. If she could get under Sasori's skin and get him to teach them, then surely she could sway a couple of kunoichi who already liked her.
"Not right now. Maybe later…" Aoko effortlessly rebuffed Hitomi's plea, something no one could do without years of practice. Or so she'd thought. Hitomi looked scandalized at getting turned down, and Seishirou's mental cheering quickly halted. These girls were better than he'd thought. "Oh, here's something about Ame I bet you didn't know."
"Amegakure has the highest percentage of bloodline limit users in the world right now. We have one full clan, and a bunch of shinobi who are only one or two of their bloodline left," Yukina said happily, clapping her hands together. "Aoko-chan has one! Only she and her father have it."
Aoko giggled and blushed at the attention, sticking her tongue out at Yukina. "It's not really anything special… Besides, with these three, our percentage just went up again, I bet."
"I thought Kirigakure would have the most bloodline limit users," Hitomi said, raising an eyebrow. "Since it has a larger population."
"You would think that, right? But Kiri has a history of hating bloodline limits, and because of that, they don't have many. Most refugees from other villages would rather come here than there," Aoko explained. "…Didn't you ever get that vibe, living there?"
Hitomi blinked her white eyes. "No."
"What about you, Sei-kun?" Yukina asked, turning to Seishirou.
He tried his hardest to stop from blushing; her words helped with that. "Uhh--what d-do you mean? I don't have one." At least, he didn't think he had one. "W-Wait. Are you saying I have one?!" Yukina seemed well-versed in the world, so maybe she'd know about his eyes. She certainly recognized Hitomi's, at any rate.
"U-Um." Yukina visibly backtracked, looking to Aoko for help.
The brunette came to her rescue with an overly cheerful, hasty, "Y-You just have gray eyes, you know? Yukina-chan must have assumed that h-had one. That's all." It very obviously wasn't all.
"No, you know something," he persisted.
"We know nothing!" Aoko insisted, ducking her head. "It was just a mistake--just a mistake."
"No, it wasn't! You know something about my eyes, don't you? Is it a bloodline limit?"
"I-I don't know!" Yukina said, trying to maintain a smile.
"Seishirou, let it go," Hitomi murmured, tugging on his sleeve. Seishirou sighed.
"…Fine."
He wasn't going to let it go for long, however. He wouldn't dare. He had always been curious about his eyes, and his hair, and how different he was from his family. He had often wondered if he had been adopted, or if he was only Hitomi's half-brother, but he had never dwelt on it long enough to come up with a solid theory. With all of the excitement lately, he had pushed the topic from his mind.
But now, things were slowly falling into place. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. His appearance was one of the larger pieces, true, but it was one he'd always known, so didn't pay much attention to. Mostly it was little details, like how all of the Akatsuki members they'd met so far knew him, and how Kisho had said that they came originally from Amegakure. There was some way that Kakuzu and Sasori treated him differently, as opposed to Hitomi or Tomozou. Now, it seemed like one of the final pieces had just been given to him: Yukina had commented upon his eyes. That clinched it. He had to have a bloodline limit (now he only had to find out what it did), and he had to have come from Amegakure. He had been born here, then.
Seishirou cast a new eye about his surroundings. It was a dreary village, and it wasn't just from the rain. All of the buildings were in dark, neutral colors, in blues and grays and lots of dull metal. It had a sort of dark glamour that Kiri never had, but it also seemed like a more desolate place. That wasn't taking into account the monsters that roamed the area at night.
This… had been his home.
"…Fine," he repeated. Yukina and Aoko relaxed noticeably.
As the day wore on, Seishirou noticed a lot of things, now that he was paying attention to them. Whenever they passed people on the street, people would often do a double-take, or stare openly at him. There was more than one whispered conversation that suddenly sprung up once they'd passed.
Does this mean I'm adopted? …Probably, he thought, for the first time seriously entertaining the possibility. It felt weird. He suddenly felt like a stranger, walking next to Hitomi. His parents--no, her parents--what were their feelings towards him? Why had they taken him in? Was he another child orphaned by the war, and they had taken care of him just because? Or had they known his parents? It's possible. They lived in Ame during that time. Maybe it was one of their friends, and they died… It was the only explanation he could come up with. Why else would they have taken him, and not his real parents?
A lot of tinier, more numerous pieces fell into place in his jigsaw puzzle. Why his parents were so young--his mother had been just sixteen when he was born. She had always acted embarrassed at this fact, and he usually dropped the subject then, but now he realized that it must have been that she was embarrassed--why? Because he was close to figuring it out?
It definitely explained why, when they first met, Hidan had stared down at him with recognition.
It also (maybe) explained why he was able to use all of the elemental chakra natures with ease. Was that his bloodline limit? It would be practical and handy, but he was surprised to find that he had kind of hoped for something better.
Little things that Sasori had alluded to--they made sense as well. He had said that he'd acted like his mother, and he knew he acted nothing like the woman he'd grown up thinking was his mother. Wait, that meant that Sasori-sensei knew my mom, too. I didn't think he and my mom--Hitomi's mom--would have known a lot of the same people… he thought, slightly puzzled. She and Sasori were nothing alike, and probably had nothing but Deidara in common. Well, Deidara and the Akatsuki.
Then, it hit him. It hit him hard and gave him as much certainty as he'd ever had in his life.
"…there was a female Akatsuki member…" he breathed, unaware of the fact that he'd stopped. Hitomi was the only one who noticed, anyway, since he had been carrying their umbrella.
Seishirou didn't know whether to be happy or sad with this realization; he was only startled. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before, although, at the same time, he thought it too bizarre to be true. It was, he knew, but it was still bizarre.
The timeline fit, and the details he'd picked up fit, and everything fit just perfectly. The only female member of the Akatsuki--damn it, what was her name?! he racked his brain, but couldn't come up with it--had to have known both Sasori and Hitomi's mother. She would have been presumably older, too, not just sixteen when he was born. She also knew origami, the same technique Kakuzu was trying to pass onto him now.
Strangely, aside from trying to remember her name, the first thing Seishirou wondered was what did she look like? If he resembled her, that might be why so many people were whispering about him. It would also be comforting to know that he looked like her, though he had never known her.
"Seishirou?" Hitomi asked, jarring him back into reality. He looked at her, uncomfortably aware of the fact that she was not his sister. She tilted her head to one side, repeated, "Seishirou?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you feel ill? You are pale."
"…A little."
"Want to go back to the tower?"
"Yeah… That would be a good idea."
"Yukina!" Hitomi shouted up to where the other three had just noticed they were no longer with them. "Seishirou is sick; we want to go back now, please."
"Oh, no, that's too bad," Yukina frowned as she felt Seishirou's forehead. He didn't have fever, which was good, considering he was only a bit dazed from the revelation and nothing more. "Is it from the rain? Adjusting to the climate?"
"Yeah," Seishirou lied, swallowing his guilt. He didn't like lying to Yukina. The feeling was much more than anyone else; he could usually lie pretty easily, too. "Yu-Yukina," he started haltingly, as they walked back, "Did… Did you know what my--what the female Akatsuki mother looked like?"
"Konan-sama?" Yukina closed her eyes, thinking. "Hmm… My mental image of her is fuzzy, sorry. I've only seen a photograph once or twice."
"She had blue hair," Aoko jumped in, happy as always to help, "And blue eyes, too. She was very pretty. Her hair was almost always tied up in this bun, and she kept a white flower in it… She also wore eye shadow, I guess."
The basic description was nice, but Seishirou found it lacking. For example, if asked about his mother an hour ago, he wouldn't have said something like that. He would have replied with something like, "She has long hair that she only ties back when she fights or when she works in the garden, and she has a kind face that can get fierce when she scolds me. Oh, and when she smiles, she has this way of scrunching up her nose that lets you know that she's really happy." He didn't want a description of her physically; he wanted to know what she had been like.
Konan… She was my mother, Seishirou thought, closing his gray eyes. He didn't bother asking any more, however, since neither Aoko nor Yukina would have been old enough to know her personally, probably.
"If you want to know more about the dead Akatsuki members," Yukina said, and Seishirou winced a little at the word 'dead', "Why don't you ask Sasori-sama or Kakuzu-sama? Or even your father, or Dai-sama. They all knew the members personally."
-.-.-
Tomozou watched mutely as Seishirou stomped back up into his--their--allotted room in the tower, and slammed the door shut behind him. He knew it would be locked, too. He also had a good idea of why it had happened, whereas the three girls were clueless. "Is he… that sick?" Aoko asked.
"Did I offend him with the bloodline limits--?" Yukina asked worriedly, but her friend shook her head firmly.
"I will go speak to him," Hitomi volunteered bravely.
"No--I will," Tomozou said. He missed the look she gave him; his eyes were on the stairs where Seishirou had vanished. "Later. Hitomi-san, let's go see if your dad is done yet, okay?" Using her as a sort of shield to stop the other two kunoichi from following, Tomozou grabbed Hitomi's hand and marched up the stairs.
If Seishirou found out about his parents, then he would be angry and confused for awhile. The excitement probably wouldn't set in until later. In fact, he would probably sulk and sulk and sulk until something happened to snap out of it. And since Tomozou was such a good person, he was going to be that something.
Really, though, he just wanted to be the one to get in the middle of things. Part of it was genuine concern for Seishirou, his wellbeing, and what sort of psychological impact this could have on him--and the other part was that he wanted to see if Seishirou's revelation would have some sort of impact on his fighting style. Yukina had mentioned a bloodline limit, and his eyes were obviously odd; it would be really cool if Seishirou suddenly unlocked some sort of kickass power.
"Didn't Dai-sama say that there was a library in amidst this mess?" Tomozou asked Hitomi, once they were safe on the second floor. When she didn't answer him right away, he turned to look at her. Her face was really red. Belatedly, Tomozou let go of her hand, trying not to blush himself.
"I-I believe he did…" she answered finally. Last night, Seishirou had asked rather obnoxiously if there was any reason for this many rooms in a single tower. Daisuke had replied just as obnoxiously with a list of so-called important rooms. Among them was a library, which had been their main goal. After all, if no one was going to teach them ninjutsu, they at least wanted to try to learn some techniques on their own, didn't they?
Now, however, it would be used for more important things.
"Why do we want to go to the library…?" Hitomi asked as they marched up to the third floor.
"Well, Ame practically worships the Akatsuki, right? So they should have plenty of books on them."
"…Why?" That was when he realized she was still behind on things. Tomozou paused, mid-step, and seriously wondered whether or not to tell her. Hitomi frowned at him, but in the end, he decided not to tell her. He didn't know how much Seishirou knew, after all, and he didn't want to accidentally give something away (the promise he'd made not to tell seemed moot at this point, or so he told himself).
"Just curious. Don't you want to know more about your love?" he asked, hiding the pause with a grin. Hitomi didn't buy it, though, and just scowled. At least he elicited a tiny blush on her cheeks.
They found the library at the end of the hall on the third floor. It was musty and warmly lit inside, and packed from floor to ceiling with books on shelves. It was a tiny room, though, and there was only one real aisle; the rest of the shelves were mounted on each of the walls. In the corner, there was a small desk, and above it, a window; otherwise, it was completely books.
Tomozou hadn't anticipated so many. He stood there for a few moments, mouth agape. Hitomi pushed past him and walked into the room, surveying it with a practiced eye. She then went immediately to the nearest corner of the aisle shelf, squatting down to the second layer of books, and pulled one out. She idly leafed through it. "…It is a bingo book," she said when she noticed his curious look.
"What?" He wasn't familiar with the term.
"A book of criminals, some information, and sometimes a bounty that has been placed on their heads. Usually only strong shinobi can get into one," she explained, passing it over to him. She then took the next one on the shelf.
A bingo book sounded like exactly what he'd need. Looking through that particular one, however, he was dismayed to find that it was from nearly forty years ago. "This one is old."
"Yes, it is. I think these are placed in chronological order." Hitomi waved her hand over the rest of the shelf; they all appeared to be bingo books. "…Kakuzu is in this one."
"What? Really?" Tomozou looked over her shoulder, and it turned out she was telling the truth. Kakuzu was there, with his hair shorter and looking younger, but it was still him. Information on him was severely lacking, however, and had little more than his village of origin--Takigakure--and a few known techniques. "…Wow. He's old."
"…Slightly."
They went through book after book--year after year, until they realized this and skipped ahead--and only stopped when they recognized someone. First, it was Kakuzu, then, it was Sasori, and then they really had to search for familiarity.
Then, right after Hidan appeared in his first book, the woman named Konan appeared. It was a very rough sketch, and the bio below was similarly vague, but it was a start. Tomozou reached for the next book without looking through the rest of that one, and flipped through to the appropriate page again. This time, there was an old photograph.
"This is… Konan?" Hitomi asked softly, scanning the rest of the page. There was a bit more information this time, going as far as saying she was often seen with two boys around her age.
"Looks like it…" The girl was young, probably only fifteen or so. She was cute, in a kicked dog sort of way; her hair was doubtless only held back so she didn't have to take care of it, and her eyes were lidded and tired. There was what appeared to be a paper flower in her hair.
In the next book, she was absent. She was also missing in the next, and the one after that. It was as if Konan had died as a young girl, and left no trace.
It took them nearly an hour to come through all of the bingo books, and none of the known Akatsuki members appeared in the last few. They were usually in one or two, and then, they just vanished inexplicably.
"Maybe… They disappeared because they joined the Akatsuki," Hitomi said presently.
Tomozou stared at her, though since he was behind her, she didn't notice. "…That's right." He probably shouldn't sound so surprised; but why hadn't he thought of it? "That's why the names appear and then vanish! They joined the Akatsuki, so of course their information just wouldn't be in any old bingo book."
"We need to find a special bingo book, then."
"Huh?"
"You said that they would not appear in 'any old bingo book'. So there must be a compilation of all of the shinobi that are not in them. There has to be a special one."
"…Maybe." Tomozou wasn't sure if there would be one or not. He could definitely see her logic, but he doubted that the world's strongest shinobi would so simply agree to be put in a 'special' book. Still, it was worth a shot. "Where would one of those be?"
"I am not sure," she admitted hesitatingly. "…I would think that it would be close by the regular bingo books, but… I cannot be sure of that."
Tomozou stood up and looked at the next shelf, above the bingo book one. They books all seemed to be on the villages themselves. Here was A History in Sand, and there, The Uchiha Clan of Konohagakure. As an afterthought, he took that one off of the shelf. It would be interesting to read if he ever got any free time.
"What's on the bottom shelf?" he asked, craning his neck to look at the topmost shelf. It was full of more village-related books.
"Found it," Hitomi said simply, instead of directly replying. Tomozou was instantly beside her again, reading over her shoulder as she opened the first page.
"'Instructions: Burn in case of valuable information leaking.' Isn't that kind of obvious? I mean--if you have this sort of book, instead of it falling into enemies' hands, wouldn't you rather it burned?" he asked dubiously.
"Yes, but…" She also seemed to be confused by the instructions, though, and couldn't offer a proper response. "'Information in the following book has been compiled and checked to be truth by'…" Hitomi made a small little choking, gasping sound, and drew Tomozou's eye down to the next part, what she had just read.
The name following the statement, the author of this book, was Orochimaru.
"…What the hell… Why the hell does his name keep popping up?! Who was Orochimaru?"
"Ex-Akatsuki," Hitomi replied unhelpfully. "Sasori mentions him occasionally. Orochimaru was his partner prior to his current one."
"I know that, but--" Tomozou took the book from her, flipping through it. It was much shorter than the other bingo books, but had a lot more information on the people contained within. There were Akatsuki members, both ones they recognized and ones they didn't, and Kages, and 'shinobi of note'. "Why did he make this?"
"Maybe it was his job while he was in the Akatsuki," Hitomi suggested. Tomozou bit his tongue to stop from disagreeing; he couldn't help but think that the reasons behind the book in his hands were a bit more sinister. Orochimaru wasn't liked by Sasori, judging by the way the Suna-nin would always mention him. Unless that was just old animosity? When Sasori formed an opinion on someone, that opinion certainly stayed through the years. Maybe Orochimaru had just gotten on his bad side, and that's what they were getting, secondhand.
"How old is this?" he asked instead, closing it to look for some sort of date.
"I do not know. Find someone we know and look at their age. That should tell us."
Page after page slipped by, and the ninja who stared out at them seemed unfamiliar and all too young. Tomozou didn't recognize any of them. Then, suddenly, Hitomi put her finger in the page and said, "Stop! I believe I know him."
The picture was of a young boy, with long, blonde hair that fell over one eye. He was grinning at the camera, though it wasn't a nice grin. He looked angry and barely sane. Looking down at the age, Tomozou saw that the kid was only thirteen.
"That is Sasori's partner. He is much older now, but that is him." Hitomi nodded firmly.
"He's thirteen here. How old is he now?"
"I… do not know."
"Some help you are," Tomozou sighed, and resumed flipping through the 'shinobi of note' section. They needed someone they knew the age of. At least they knew that the book had to be pre-war, so it was at least twelve years old.
Then, he stopped on a page, just as his heart seemed to stop. It was his dad. But then, he saw that it wasn't, though it still looked remarkably like him. Tomozou swallowed thickly and looked at the name. "Houzuki Mangetsu," it read.
"This is a Kiri-nin," Hitomi said in surprise, looking from the picture to Tomozou and back again. "Do you know him?"
"This… He looks like my dad."
Tomozou flipped the page, seeing if there was much information on the back--and this time, he was sure his heart must have stopped, and he must have died, because this time, it was his father. Houzuki Suigetsu. He was a young kid, and had been glaring balefully at the camera when the picture had been taken. His white hair had been cut at an angle, as if done by a kunai himself, and he didn't have the grin Tomozou had grown up seeing.
"…This is your father." Tomozou could only nod. "He is six in this picture. How old does that make the book?"
"Why… Did he know Orochimaru?" Orochimaru certainly knew of him. Come to think of it, Sasori had constantly alluded to some sort of connection between his parents and his ex-partner. Does that mean mom is in here?! He impulsively looked through the rest of the section, but no one had red hair like hers; she wasn't in there.
"I think we need to speak to Sasori about Orochimaru."
"Yeah, to say the least."
"Why did you need to look up Akatsuki members in the first place?" Hitomi asked, setting Tomozou back on course. That's right--he was supposed to be looking up Pein and Konan for Seishirou. He could find his own stuff on his own time. But, he realized as his cyan eyes looked sideways at Hitomi, he'd have to be sneaky about this part. He had recognized his dad right away, after all; if the family resemblance was too strong, she might figure out who Seishirou's parents were as well. He didn't know what that would do to her, having her brother suddenly not be her brother (Biologically, of course. But how did you explain that part to a nine-year-old girl?).
"Just… Uhh, nothing. Nevermind." Now, how to get rid of her without suspicion… "Hey, Hitomi-san, why don't you go see what Aoko-chan and Yukina-chan are doing?" So it wasn't the most subtle approach, but it was a valid first attempt.
"No." Hitomi regarded him warily. He had put her on guard. Tomozou inwardly panicked, wondering how to divert her attention.
"Think your parents would be in any of these?"
"I have already looked for them. Only my father is, and only in one of them: the year he became a jounin." Shit, she was still on guard.
Tomozou racked his brain for an excuse. He couldn't use Sasori or her father; they were both still busy. She wouldn't approve of going back to the other girls without her escort. Seishirou was out, too, since he was the problem, in this case. There wasn't anyone else, so he couldn't pawn her off on anyone conveniently.
Is she squeamish? he wondered. "Say, while we're up here, I also wanted to look up something. It's an old scare tactic that my dad mentioned once. You slit someone's throat and then pull their tongue out of the cut, and I just can't remember the name of it. I don't exactly understand how the tongue can move in that direction, and I want to see if it's really as bloody as he said it was."
"It is called a Ninja Necktie, and I think it would be in a different section of the room," Hitomi said airily. She didn't appear at all disturbed by the question or the thought of the killing method.
Damn it, she's a clingy little kunoichi. What are girls supposed to be scared of? Bugs, and blood, and stuff like that… There weren't any handy insects to try with. Okay, think. Hitomi-san… She hates getting dirty, or having her hair messed up. Would that do it?
Tomozou was about to do that, and in fact his hand was on her head, when he realized that he didn't want to deal with a girl mad at him for messing with her hair. Hitomi stared at him, unaware of his decision. "…Your hand," she said tonelessly, looking for all the world like she was glaring at him--except for the blush that had suddenly appeared on her cheeks. That gave him an idea.
"Hitomi-san, you should really grow your hair out," he said quietly, hastily withdrawing his hand.
"Wh-Why?" The blush intensified.
"It's unbecoming for the only girl on our team to have the shortest hair."
Hitomi scowled at him and turned away, her face red from embarrassment. She hunched her shoulders a bit and made it quite clear that she was now ignoring him. Tomozou rejoiced at this; she was halfway to leaving him be. Then he could sneak back downstairs, break into Seishirou's room--well, their room--and get back into the middle of things. Maybe, too, he suddenly realized, they could use this against Sasori to get their training underway.
Hitomi was still there, at least for the moment. That would have to be the first thing changed.
What else doesn't she like? He knew he knew very little about her, and their situation took away many of his choices for action. Hmm… She doesn't like physical affection!
"Hitomi-san."
She turned just a little bit, expecting an apology. She got a surprise instead. Tomozou leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders, pulling her against his chest. She was too surprised to resist. Then, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
Five seconds later, Hitomi was running out the door.
"Mission accomplished," Tomozou said proudly, quite unaware of what he had just started.
-.-.-
Normally, Hitomi would have sat in silence and stewed over the day's happenings--because oh, what a full day it had been--but this was not a normal situation; far from it, in fact. So as such, she had little time to stew and plan and hope and think about it.
Just down the hall, coming down the stairs, she ran into someone. Literally. It happened so fast that she didn't get time to register anything--either the kiss or the collision--and instead, she and the person she'd run into both tumbled down the stairs (she had been running rather fast, after all). Hitomi found herself bruised but otherwise unhurt at the second floor landing, lying on top of someone's stomach.
"…Ow," said the someone, and Hitomi belatedly raised her head.
"I am sorry--" It was a stranger. A male stranger. A pretty handsome male stranger. Hitomi felt the words die in her throat, and couldn't help but blush in embarrassment. Today just wasn't her day. First, Tomozou fed her, then Seishirou stormed off for no reason, then Tomozou kissed her, and now she'd just pushed this boy down the stairs and landed on top of him. She felt like melting into a little puddle of mortification and oozing away. "D-Did I hurt you?"
"I don't think so," he replied, eyes closed, still resting his head on the floor where he'd hit it. After a few minutes, he cracked open an eye. "…Can you get off me now?"
"Oh! Yes!" Hitomi scrambled off of him, adjusting her skirt and shirt as she stood. Now she was all rumpled, too. Though she didn't have a mirror handy, Hitomi absently ran her fingers through her hair, fixing it by memory. "I am sorry…"
"No problem. It was an accident, right? Unless you meant to push me down the stairs--in that case, I'll have to take my revenge by feeding you to my pets," he said cheerfully, sitting up. He held his head for a moment, but seemed to regain his composure, for he stood up soon after. "Say… You're that little Hyuuga girl who arrived here last night, aren't you?"
"…Yes." It wasn't wise to talk to strangers, but she was in a village full of shinobi. Plus, several of those ninja would come to her rescue if it was needed. "My name is Hyuuga Hitomi. I am very sorry for crashing into you and making you fall down the stairs."
"No problem. I probably needed the concussion, anyway," he said with a grin. Hitomi looked stricken, but he only laughed. "Kidding, kidding. My name is Hachi. It's very nice to meet you, Hitomi-san."
Hachi? Had she heard him correctly, or was he just making fun of her? "…Hachi?" she repeated, just to be sure.
"Yeah." He adjusted his glasses after a quick nod. Hitomi frowned faintly. Eight. He was probably making fun of her, but what could she do? She wasn't going to be rude enough to question his name, especially after hurting him. "So what were you in such a hurry for?"
"Hm?"
"You were running. Why? Is there a fire upstairs?" Hachi asked, looking past her up the stairs.
"N-No. There is not."
"Any other sort of emergency I should know about?" he continued, raising an eyebrow. She shook her head firmly. "Oh. Well then, it's all good. Any chance I could get you to accompany me to the library? I'm afraid I have to retrieve a book and I would love the company of such a cute girl."
"No!" Hitomi had said it louder than she would have liked, and realized a beat too late what it must have sounded like. "I mean--I just came from the library."
"I see." He still sounded a little disappointed. "One last question before I'll let you get rid of me?"
"Sure…" Hitomi rubbed her arm, embarrassed at this whole ordeal. She didn't want to seem snobbish, but she couldn't think of any upside to returning to the library. This Hachi fellow didn't seem like such a bad guy, either, and he was really nice.
"What's your favorite animal?"
"Huh?" That question caught her off guard. She had been expecting--well, she didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it hadn't been that.
"Your favorite animal. Do you have one?"
Hitomi thought immediately of Kisho. "I think…" She had never given it much thought. She liked a lot of animals, and come to think of it, she probably only liked cats because she'd had one. Specifically, her favorite animal had been Kisho. As a species? She didn't really know. "…Cats?"
"Why did that sound more like a question than an answer?"
"I had a pet cat, and he was my favorite."
"What happened to him?"
"He was sent back to the summon world after getting caught in a fire," she replied simply.
Hachi nodded thoughtfully. "A summoned pet… Those are getting more and more common these days. A cat though, huh. It's been awhile since I've seen someone summon a cat. There's not too many of those kinds of summoners around anymore."
"You know of someone?" All of a sudden, Hitomi forgot about her horrible day, her humiliation, her shyness--all she could think of was summoning Kisho back. She felt guilty for forgetting about looking for someone all this time, but here, at last! She might get her pet back.
"Well, yeah." Hachi grinned at her excitement. "Me, actually. I'm a summoner. I pretty much suck at genjutsu and taijutsu, and I can only work with water ninjutsu, so instead I work with summoning."
Hitomi could have hugged him. "Y-You can summon cats?"
"Yeah. Along with, let's see… Dogs, hawks, toads, and dragonflies. Hawks are snobby birds, though; I hardly ever use them. I'm working on tracking down the contract scroll for snakes next. That's why I was going up to the library."
"They have contract scrolls in that library?!"
"No--I was looking for information," Hachi replied with a smile. Hitomi ducked her head, trying not to blush at her stupid question. "Are you interested in summoning, Hitomi-san?"
The response was automatic. "Yes!" Kisho--I can get Kisho back! And now I will never have to worry about him disappearing on me again, she thought, feeling something like triumph or glee welling up inside of her. She missed her cat's sarcastic, condescending attitude, the way he'd lick her hair to annoy her, or the way he'd sleep on her kimonos whenever she left them lying around…
Hachi's grin lowered into a smile, a mysterious one that Hitomi couldn't have read. She didn't bother, however, since she was too caught up in her enthusiasm. "Well, how about I teach you how to summon cats, then? It's a lot easier to learn summoning if you have someone teach you, not like how I'm trying to track down scrolls myself…" He offered a self-depreciating chuckle.
"I would love that very much," she said seriously, as she mentally placed Hachi on a tall mental pedestal. In addition to that, she realized, I will also be learning a technique before either of the boys. That, too, gave her a bit of joy. Then, with a frown, she remembered that she ought to wait and see what the adults had to say about her chakra system in regard to her spine. Hitomi wiggled her toes just thinking about it. "But… I cannot right now."
"Oh, that's good. I would actually like to finish investigating this lead I have. Afterward, though, I'll teach you. I just can't work on more than one thing at a time, you see; I'm easily distracted," Hachi explained. "So… How about in three days? I should be done either way by then, and you'll have time to settle a bit more in Amegakure."
"Okay!" she agreed with a wide smile.
Tomozou was all but forgotten with this new memory preying on her mind, and Hitomi happily pranced down the stairs to track down either her father or Sasori and tell them that they needed to figure out whether or not she could use ninjutsu fast. The fear and trepidation she'd felt earlier at the unknown effect her artificial spine was going to have on her chakra was totally erased by the thought of seeing Kisho again.
-.-.-
Seishirou looked up as someone knocked on the door. He knew it would happen eventually, but he still didn't know who it would be. It could be his father, or Hitomi, or maybe one of the Akatsuki members. Just then, he wished he had the Byakugan to see who it was, but the wish passed, and he was happy with his own eyes again. He didn't know what they did, exactly, but they had to be special.
The knocking came again. Seishirou remained motionless on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. His ponytail was hanging off of the edge of the bed, his feet were propped up on the pillow, his arms were held out perpendicularly to his body, and he was actually comfortable. It was a very good thinking position.
He had decided, with his hour to himself, several things. The first and foremost that was just because his adoptive parents weren't his biological ones, he didn't love them any less, and it really changed little to nothing in the long run. It would sure be awkward for the first few days, but that would surely pass with time. Hitomi would also be awkward to deal with, but he hoped that would pass, too. She was too good of a sister to give up.
Another thing Seishirou had decided was that he was curious about his real parents. His mother, Konan, and whoever his father had been. He wanted to know if he was like either of them in any way, behavioral or physical. He knew Konan had used origami, but what had his father been like in battle? What were they both like when not fighting? The curiosity was eating him up; he had to know.
Had they been married? Did they love each other? Did they love him? What did they act like with each other, or with him, or with other people? What did her voice sound like? Did she laugh, or blush, or tuck her hair behind her ears often? What was it like, being the only female Akatsuki member? …How had she died?
The knocking on the door stopped, and Seishirou heard someone picking the lock. It probably wasn't Hitomi, then. He lolled his head in the direction of the door, just as it opened, revealing Tomozou. Seishirou hadn't been expecting him, but now that he thought about it, why shouldn't he have? He is annoyingly perceptive.
Tomozou turned and shut the door behind him, locking it again. Then, he approached the bed. He stopped a few feet away, however, and merely held out a book at arm's length.
"…What is that supposed to be?" Seishirou asked, since it was obvious Tomozou wasn't going to say anything.
"The Akatsuki's bingo book."
Seishirou sat up at once. "Do you know?" he asked suspiciously, just to be sure. The other boy nodded. Seishirou sighed. He should have expected that Tomozou would know. He always seemed to know people, and secrets like this would definitely be something he knew. It annoyed him, though. Finding out that his parents were strangers to him was something that should be found out by the kid concerned first, and friends second.
Seishirou scooted back on the bed, shifting so that he was sitting cross-legged, with his back against the wall. Tomozou perched delicately on the edge, handing the book over. "It's old, but the information is still true. Just ignore the ages."
"Did you already check to see if she's in here?" Seishirou asked, running his hands over the cover.
"Yeah. She is." Tomozou suddenly sounded relieved, for some reason he couldn't place. He ignored that for now.
Seishirou flipped open the book, surprised to find one of the deceased Mizukage staring out at him. Turning the page, he found another Kage. He frowned, and flipped to a later part of the book. It was a young kid, probably about his age, with coal black hair and matching eyes. His expression was perfectly emotionless. "Uchiha Itachi," the name read.
So this is Itachi. He was an Akatsuki member later on, Seishirou noted. This must have been created before he joined, then, since his rank was merely "ANBU captain" and he still was connected to Konohagakure.
"The Akatsuki section is in the front," Tomozou said helpfully, and Seishirou turned back to the beginning. "I think Konan-san is on page twenty-three."
He was currently on eighteen. It was open to a woman he didn't recognize, who apparently had been Kakuzu's partner at one point. In some small part of his mind, he had guessed that his mother had been the only female, ever, to be in the Akatsuki. He was wrong, then. She was the only kunoichi at the time of the Akatsuki's final campaign, he amended, storing that bit of information away.
He slowly turned the pages, both dreading and looking forward to page twenty-three. How many pages was between eighteen and twenty-three? It seemed like over a million papers separated the two.
Page twenty-three arrived at last.
Seishirou found himself staring at his mother.
She was pretty, he registered first. His second thought was I look nothing like her. The color picture was faded a bit, but she obviously had dark blue hair and blue eyes as well; he possessed neither of those. Her expression in the photograph was bored, her eyes lidded and her mouth set in a frown. She appeared to be wearing make-up, or at least heavy eye shadow and a faint hint of lipstick or something like that, and he realized that her lower lip was pierced.
"She… She has a piercing," Seishirou said dumbly, staring at her.
"Yeah, like you. Well, you have some in your ears…" Tomozou leaned forward and brushed part of his ginger hair out of the way. "Three in this ear."
"Two in the other, since you ripped the other one out." There was half-hearted venom in the words, but Seishirou was too busy staring to invest much in an argument. "…I never would have guessed that she looked like this…"
"You look like her," Tomozou said. Seishirou finally tore his gaze away from the picture to stare incredulously at the other boy.
"No. I really don't."
"Your expressions do, I mean. The hair and eyes are kind of different." He gestured at his unruly hair, as opposed to Konan's neat bun. "I've seen you get that same half-glare, half-bored-stare before."
Oddly enough, Seishirou was touched. His mother was dead and he looked nothing like her--it seemed blasphemous--but at least he had one single expression that was alike. It was sad, but it was true, and that's why he probably smiled right then. "Thanks."
"Eh." Tomozou looked away, shrugging. "…It's true, that's all. There's not a lot in her bio, but at least it's something, right? I figure the picture is what you really wanted."
"Actually, you know what?" The smile turned into a rueful grin. "I've seen her before."
"What?!"
"My mother--uhh, adoptive mother--took a bunch of photos of the Akatsuki while they lived in Ame. That's how we could show you pictures of Sasori and Itachi. And there was a picture of my real mom… Biological mother, I don't know who's who now. But… I just wish we would have taken it." Seishirou closed the book, leaning back with a sigh. He felt some sort of closure, though he didn't know why, because for all accounts and purposes, he should have been more curious than ever. All he got was an old photograph of his mother when she was in her twenties.
"You can still go back to Kiri. If you made it this far west, it wouldn't be hard to go back east," Tomozou suggested quietly.
"I wouldn't want to go all that way just for a stupid photograph."
"You would if you could, in a heartbeat," he said with a triumphant grin. "You know it."
"You're annoying. Shut up."
They lapsed into silence; Tomozou evidently decided to follow the order. Seishirou closed his eyes, squeezing them shut tight. He could hazily picture Konan in his mind from memory now. He'd have to look at the photograph again later to get a solid, defined picture, though it would be of his mother too many years ago. Then again, the most recent picture possible would have been at least twelve years old… Maybe he would go back to Kirigakure. Just to get that picture. Or maybe--this was Ame, after all, home village of the Akatsuki before their fall.
Seishirou couldn't help but hope. Maybe someone here would know more about his mother. No--someone definitely would. All he really wanted was a few details and a more recent photograph. He would leave the rest to his imagination.
"…Hey, Tomozou. How did you figure this out beforehand?"
"I just…" The way he stopped talking made Seishirou suspicious.
"Who told you?"
"No one. I just figured it out on my own. I mean--the timeline fit, and--"
"You didn't even know who the Akatsuki were the first time we met."
"…Yeah, there's that. If you must know, Kakuzu-san told me. Don't tell him I told you, though, because he'd probably kill me in my sleep tonight for it." Tomozou winced before continuing. "Sasori-sensei was in on it a little, too. They said I had to keep it a secret from you, because they didn't know how you'd react."
"I'm not really reacting," Seishirou said flatly. "I'm just… curious." For the first time, Seishirou appreciated the fact that Sasori and Kakuzu were Akatsuki--they had interacted with Konan. They would remember her, and Kakuzu had already told them that he at least had picked up Konan's origami jutsu. "That's right!"
"Huh?"
"The origami jutsu. That was… hers." He still didn't know what to call her. On one hand, she was his biological mother--she gave birth to him and raised him for however long it was before she died. On the other, she hadn't raised him. Hitomi's mother had. "I'm going to learn it, though," Seishirou muttered, staring fiercely down at the book in his lap. "I'm going to learn it because the Akatsuki were great shinobi, and my mother had to be the best kunoichi in the world to get into it."
"How very sentimental of you."
"Hey. You are the one who picked up your father's sword techniques. I'd call that pretty sentimental."
"I was raised into swordsmanship, I'll have you know," he retorted indignantly. "But… Sei… I don't know. Damn, I'm just sorry."
"For what?"
Tomozou looked somewhat shamefaced, and was poking his fingers together nervously. "Well, I've known for awhile, and you haven't," he said, indicating that there was more, "And… I was mad at you. I guess I still kind of am."
"For what?" Seishirou asked, on guard.
"You got your dad back," he mumbled. "I didn't."
Seishirou was surprised; he hadn't thought that Tomozou was as lonely as that. It made him feel guilty, though why he should feel guilty for getting reunited with his father he didn't know. It must have been hard, though, for Tomozou. It sounded as if he was close to his parents, his father especially, and being an only child must have made that worse. Seishirou didn't blame him for keeping secrets like that. It must have felt as if it was the only way he could get something above him.
"We'll get your dad back soon. I promise."
Tomozou didn't look cheered. "Sei… I know who your dad is, too. Biological."
The guilt and slight happiness were gone instantly. "…What?"
"I actually figured out who your dad was first. I only figured out that Konan-san was your mother when Sasori mentioned that she was the leader's partner…"
"Oh shit--are you serious?!" Seishirou's voice was louder than he liked, but he couldn't help it. Finding out about Konan on his own was one thing, but suddenly having his father thrown in his face like that? His father was the leader of the Akatsuki?! It sounded too weird to be true. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be true.
"See, that's a better reaction."
"No, it's not. That's just… I don't know. It's--crazy. It makes sense, but it doesn't. We're talking about the same leader, right? The one that was considered to be a god because of how strong he was?"
"That's the one. You look a lot like him."
"What?"
"Page twenty-four."
-.-.-
Neji had had a very busy day. In a lot of ways, this was a good thing. It meant he didn't have to think, and it let him act like he was actually doing something. It also made him a little nostalgic. He and Daisuke argued--got into a fist fight, actually--and Sasori didn't help things. They were supposed to be trying to figure out if the Bijuu were in Rain land, but instead they kept getting off track.
They only got a little bit done. They still didn't have any solid leads on the Bijuu. Nor did they figure out what was haunting Ame at night--they were waiting until sundown to see if they could do anything about that.
"You and Sasori-san can go outside. But not you, Kakuzu-san." Daisuke was unusually serious towards the end of their meeting. This immediately put them all on guard. He almost never got serious. Daisuke nodded towards Neji. "You might be safe because of the Byakugan and Kaiten."
"Might? That's not reassuring."
"It's a dangerous world. It's hard to be sure of anything."
"Why can't I go out?" Kakuzu asked, his voice dangerously low. He seemed ready to carry out Pein's orders and execute Daisuke on the spot.
"You'll be swarmed immediately."
"Why only me?"
"Neji has his Byakugan and Kaiten. I just said that."
"Why Sasori, then?" Kakuzu ground out. Even Sasori was edging away from him at that point.
"He's a puppet. That might throw them off, or it might mean he's safe completely. I'm not sure." Daisuke shrugged, trying not to look nervous. "You three don't know how these things kill, do you? They eat hearts."
"Hearts?"
"Literally. Well, kind of--we think they eat them. All we know is that the bodies they leave behind are mangled, with their chests ripped open, ribs scattered and ripped out and broken every which way--" Daisuke was accompanying this with gestures and managed to paint a very descriptive mental image for them, "--and their heart is missing. Along with a lot of blood and usually other organs, but it's always their heart."
"So they eat hearts and look like shadows. …You aren't very creative," Neji remarked.
"I'm serious! We have no idea what they are, and I was describing them as simply as possible for your weak minds to comprehend," Daisuke snapped. Scarlet eyes blazing, he added, "I know next to nothing about these things. All I know is that they've taken down everyone who has tried to take them on."
"Why do they only appear at night?" Sasori asked calmly. This, in turn, had a sort of calming effect on the rest of them, significantly lowering the amount of killer intent in the room.
"We don't know that, either. They might be nocturnal, or they might get hurt by the sun in some way. It's possible they can't stand the light."
"Fire jutsus?"
"Ineffective."
"Lightning?"
"Also ineffective, though that one it's possible we might have missed." Daisuke rubbed the back of his head. "Look, everything we've tried has failed somehow. These things aren't impervious to these attacks, but it just doesn't stop them. They don't bleed, either. Luckily, it seems that they can't use any sort of chakra or learn any sort of taijutsu style, either. They're kind of dumb, too; they just attack whatever they see. They'll scratch at doors and windows at night, but they never manage to get in."
"Is it some sort of jutsu?"
"That's what we've been thinking. You should check them out with your Byakugan."
"Will do."
Then they only had to wait for night, of course. Sunset was still an hour away when Neji discovered that his night would be just as busy. Not only was he expected to defend Amegakure for the second time in his life, but now he was expected to deal with family problems.
Seishirou stood in front of him. He was looking at him with barely masked anxiety--or maybe it was anger in those gray eyes. Neji couldn't blame him, for he was holding a book open. He held it out at arm's length, using it as a sort of shield, though really it could have been used better as a metaphorical sword.
On the page, a young man with spiky, ginger hair and gray, ringed eyes glared sullenly out of a slightly faded color photograph.
Neji didn't know what to say. He and Hinata had both known that this day would undoubtedly come, but it had always been some sort of an unspoken agreement that she would be the one to talk him through most of it; she was his connection to the Akatsuki. It not only made her absence that much sharper in Neji's mind, but it also made him feel as if he had brought it upon himself by bringing them all to Amegakure.
"We need to talk, then," Neji said finally, reaching forward and closing the book. He meant to take it out of Seishirou's hands, too, but the boy stubbornly clung to it. Neji didn't bother fighting him for it.
"Yeah, we do," Seishirou mumbled, hugging the book to his chest.
-.-.-
Next Chapter: Neji and Seishirou have a talk about the pre-war Akatsuki and Amegakure. Meanwhile, the fight against the monsters starts--and heats up! The adults battle and the kids have a blast.