Chapter Three

Kisame was resting in a small restaurant after a long day of running. He didn't have the money to get a hotel room so he would eat then have to make his way back to the forest to sleep. The man wasn't far from his target. In fact he should be able to get there tomorrow afternoon if he didn't make any stops.

So now that he was almost there he had to think of how to get the information he needed. It wasn't like he could simply walk into Iwagakure and expect someone to give him what he need. Kisame took another bite of his rice and a gulp of water. His head still hurt a little from his hangover this morning so he took his time chewing his meal. He really had too much to drink last night.

A thought occurred to him as he sat there watching people enter and leave the small restaurant. He would wait outside the village until someone left alone and then he would kidnap them and take the information he needed via torture. Kisame felt his bloodlust push forward inside him. A good slaughter should get his mind off other things, things that caused him great pain to think about.

Swallowing the last of his rice and downing the rest of his water Kisame stood from his table, left some money on it, and left the facility. The cool air felt great against the back of his neck. Samehada went to its place on his back and he left in the direction of the forest.

Kisame found a tree that had big roots that stuck up from the earth and decided it looked like a good place to sleep. He made his way to the tree and sat down, setting his gigantic sword next to him and leaning back. The shark-nin was warn out, but he knew what waited for him in unconsciousness and that kept him awake. Without realizing it Kisame fell asleep and his nightmare was the worst he had ever had. Not because it was worse than the others, but because he couldn't wake up from it this time.

He had to watch repeatedly as Itachi, along with all the other deceased members of akatsuki faded from sight. Then there was Toorima, the little girl that touched his heart. She faded as well, and all he was left with was the sound of her laughter, her happiness. Kisame wanted to wake from this nightmare. The man wanted sake to drown out the voice, the image, the pain.

Light peeked out from the tops of the nearby mountains and hit Kisames eyelids. Slowly he opened his eyes and yawned. It was very bright now and despite the nightmare, his body was well rested. Kisame hoisted Samehada back across his back and took off at a run, determined to get this mission over and done with today.

The weather was decent and he focused on the task at hand and the plan he was forming. His surroundings went almost unnoticed as he zoomed forward and paid almost no attention. He was almost there, just a little ways further.

Kisame stopped dead in his tracks. The smell of blood made his nose flair out and his heart rate spike. It wasn't too old and there was a lot of it. The mission completely forgotten he headed to the source of the smell. It was a wonderfully intoxicating smell. He stopped in a small clearing were a battle had obviously taken place. What caught his attention first was the blood on the ground that was drawn into a sort of pentagram.

He knew that design. Hidan wore it around his neck all the time, and then he remembered, Hidan was buried sixty or so feet underground in a protected forest. Hadn't Hidan given that necklace to Hinata at some point? Hinata was dead now too though, so who was it that made this circle? Was there some other Jashinist walking around that Madara didn't know about?

Kisame felt his breathing escalate and adrenaline started to rush through his veins. A picture from the last time he had seen the child, Toorima, raced through his mind. She had the pendant around her neck the last time he had seen her. Hinata must have given it to her.

His feet seemed to move on their own as they followed the trail of blood from the circle. If there was any chance that she was still alive he was going to take it and find out. Kisame knew that this could end in more heartache. He could be wrong and it could just be some other person he had never met, but that small chance overrode everything else. Even if it killed him, he had to find out who drew that circle.

~^-^~

Toorima gave her catlike yawn and crawled out of bed. She had been in the hot spring so long the night before that her hair was still wet. The young woman made her way to the bathroom and turned on the sink splashing her face with warm water and brushing her teeth. Then she combed her long sleek hair and left the bathroom turning off the light behind her.

Today she would have to go buy more clothes seeing as hers were ruined in the last two battles. Chaos rolled over on the bed and let out a snort. 'I'll stay here if you don't mind.' He thought sluggishly. 'Typical male, you hate shopping.' Toorima replied in her thoughts and chuckled. 'I wanna go.' Serenity said sheepishly and jumped off the bed making her way over to her master. 'For your protection.' The snow leopard added and looked down. Toorima chuckled again. 'Ok, we won't be gone long Chaos.'

Toorima set some food on the floor for the black leopard that had fallen back asleep and the two females left the room. Serenity tried her hardest to hide her excitement and Toorima walked beside her quietly. Shopping wasn't her favorite thing to do either, but she didn't have a choice this time, her clothes really had been trashed. In fact she was walking around in her pajamas. People starred at her like they often did, her ears and tail always got more attention than she would have liked. Of course she had grown used to it, but that didn't mean she liked it.

In the fight against Sasuke she had discarded her cloak and wasn't able to retrieve it. Every time she went into a town she would wear that cloak, just to avoid the never ending glances from passerby's. Someone tugged her tail and she was just about to turn and rip the persons head off until she saw it was a little girl. She had to be maybe three of four years old. Toorima got down on one knee and looked at the little girl. The smile that broke out on the child's face made Toorima smile back. "Kitty." The girl said and pointed at Toorima.

The mother of the child ran over and picked her up. The woman looked Toorima up and down before scurrying away as quickly as she could. Toorima sighed and turned back toward the nearest clothing store. 'That was rude.' Serenity thought and nudged her master's leg. 'It's fine, I stopped caring what people thought about me the day my mother died.' Toorima thought and her heart throbbed. Today was going to be a bad day, she could already tell.

Once in the store Toorima looked around. Serenity had strayed away to go look at bandanas and ribbons. Rack after rack Toorima scoured through. She was picky about what she would wear. This store didn't have the best selection but she found a few good things and a new cloak. It was longer than her last one and dragged on the floor a little, but it was fine for now. Toorima paid for her clothes and left the establishment with Serenity hot on her heels. The big cat had found a blue ribbon that matched their eyes and asked Toorima to get it, which she did.

Back in the hot spring resort Toorima headed back to the bathroom where she started the shower. Chaos and Serenity started to eat the food left out for them and Toorima shut the door giving her some privacy. Good thing they could only hear what she wanted them to hear from her thoughts.

The water still stung against her wounds and her still bandaged ankle throbbed. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to slice through that tendon in order to wound Sasuke, but the thought still made her happy. He still had to be suffering as well. Out of the shower and all clean Toorima dried herself off and put on her panties. Then she pulled the pants from the bag. They were black and made of soft, durable material that was loose and light. The pants sat low on her hips so she didn't have to cut a hole for her tail.

The shirt she had bought was black with a spaghetti strap over her right shoulder and the left sleeve was long and draped like that of a kimonos. Toorima liked the shirt, even though it only covered her chest, so she pulled the tube top fishnet shirt from the bag and put that on before the shirt. Then she pulled out a fishnet glove that went from the middle of her hand with a thumb hole, all the way up past her elbow on the arm that had the spaghetti strap sleeve. She looked down to examine herself then and was only slightly pleased. Something was missing.

It was the ribbons that symbolized her parents, the ones that matched their eye colors. She left the bathroom and went to the pile of her discarded ratty old clothes and dug through them till she found those ribbons. When she did she cut strategic holes in the upper arm of the kimono like sleeve with a kunai. Toorima then twisted the pale purple ribbon and the deep purple ribbon together and weaved them through the holes in her sleeve and tied them in a bow on the outside of her arm. Now she was pleased.

Chaos looked up. 'Nice.' He thought and Toorima stuck her tongue out at him. It wasn't a mean gesture, but an embarrassed one. 'Not many ninjas want a wife with ears and a tail.' She thought with a sigh. The black leopard just chuckled and went back to his meal. In truth Toorima didn't want to settle down as some housewife. She preferred her freedom and the thrill of battle. Not to mention that the only man she has ever showed any interest in is one she hasn't seen in so many long years.

Her mind strayed to thoughts of Kisame and Chaos cleared his throat. Toorima snapped back to reality and let out a single laugh and scratched the back of her head. 'Sorry, anyway, we need to find another mission, one that will pay better.' She thought moving to a chair that was conveniently in the corner and sitting down in it.

Toorima sat there and let her companions finish their meal. Serenity finished first and came over to Toorima. 'Could you help me?' The snow leopard asked softly. The young woman smiled and followed the directions that Serenity thought. When she finished the blue ribbon from the store was tied up and down her tail in a crisscrossing pattern and she wanted a bow at the end of her tail. It looked adorable on the enormous feline and Toorima gave her a hug and scratched her back.

Chaos shook his head and came over to the other two. 'Women.' He sighed. Both females turned to him and raised their eyebrows. Toorima took what was left of the blue ribbon and did the same to his right arm/paw, without the bow and tied it in a not where you couldn't see it, behind his shoulder blade. He sat there obediently but complained plenty during the process. It didn't look girly or stupid and he let it go seeing as Toorima was merciful and didn't tie it in a bow.

With a feeling of accomplishment Toorima moved to the table and ate something for breakfast and packed some food for later. 'Ready?' She thought and her teammates nodded. They left the resort and headed for the nearest village to find any clues to a high paying job.

***

Little did Toorima know that she was being followed by Karin, who had the ability to completely mask her chakra and erase its signature. The red-head wasn't happy that she was sent to track the woman in the first place but she couldn't disobey an order from Sasuke.

Just the fact that Sasuke wanted this woman for any reason made her blood boil. Karin didn't even know why Sasuke wanted her. They had made it to a rest stop in a small village after their battle with the unique woman and got the Uchihas Achilles heel wrapped after ointment had been applied.

Night hadn't even fallen when Sasuke had ordered the only female on the team to track her down and keep tabs on her till the others caught up. It was so vexing. The more she thought about it the more Karin got jealous and angry.

Toorima emerged from the hot spring resort she had been staying in and took off toward the west. Karin moved behind the buildings and kept an eye on the other woman. Karin wasn't brave enough to pick a fight with someone she would undoubtedly loose against, especially one that had allies traveling with them, so any thoughts of attacking the girl ended.

Karin watched as her target pulled a long black cloak from her small backpack and took off in a run after it was in place over her shoulders, hiding her face from view. She wasn't going to fail this mission so as quietly as she could she started to run after Toorima.

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My dearest readers,

I am so sorry that I am taking so long to update this story. My job is being more demanding lately and I'm lacking inspiration. I wanted to take a second to thank all of you that are reading this story and being patient with me. Thank you all so much. It would be greatly appreciated if you would review after you read, every review I get helps to inspire me to continue.

Please enjoy reading and I should have the next chapter up soon. Thank you!

~Lady Toorima