A/N: Yes, finally a chapter featuring more of Kankurou than anyone else…well kind of.
In the part of the Naruto manga where Gaara was revived by Chiyo's sacrifice you will see a person in the crowd with a big cat. I speculate that it may be that Suna has a cat equivalent of Konoha's Inuzuka clan. I previously referred to this in chapter 8 when Tsunade speculates about the possibilities for Ino's baby having a Suna father to Inoichi. In this chapter you get to meet my take on that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I am searching for a way to rectify that situation….
Search Party
Two weeks after he had gotten word of his nephew's birth, Kankurou got a summons from the Kazekage. When his sister left, he had decided to go back to wearing his cat-eared cap. As he trudged along the corridors of the central complex he ran the list through his mind. He probably wants to waste my talent by making me to go off on a routine mission. Is it that time of year when the jounin get assigned genin? That's the last thing I need, I didn't like kids when I was one, why would I want three of them looking to me for guidance…I'd prefer something dangerous…really dangerous.
He arrived on the floor where the business offices were. Haijun stopped him in the outer office, "Rokudaime already has someone in there with him. It'll be a few minutes anyways; you're not the only one called for this assignment." The man ran a hand through his stringy mud-colored hair; pushing bangs back from his eyes and returned to the paper work at the desk. He worked rapidly, organizing various incoming items and attaching notes to things for additional processing.
Kankurou watched for a moment then slouched in the chair with the contented thought, At least I'm not chained to a desk job. Occasional paperwork I can handle, but this volume… Actually I'm glad Gaara managed to find good help when he was Kazekage, I would have hated to have been co-opted into doing stuff like that. Although I get the impression, as much as I don't care for the man, Haijun is remarkably efficient.
A moment later, a battle scarred man named Norihiro wandered into the office. The puppet master knew him as one of the jounin who regularly was in charge of guard duty at the main walls or the main complex. Although he was one of Pokaru's favorites, he was not by any stretch of the imagination what you would call a 'yes man'.
Haijun pointed toward the collection of chairs and returned to his work.
The puppet master met the taller man's eyes. "Any guess what we're here for?"
"No clue," came the reply as the gray-clad man sat down and started to clean under the nails of his right hand with a kunai. His brown hair stuck out in tufts from under the traditional Suna headgear.
"Just hoping it's not a genin team," the puppet master commented back.
"Probably not," the dark blue eyes studied him, "but I don't think that would be a bad thing. It might make you a better uncle."
"Thanks," Kankurou muttered trying to rein in the sarcasm.
Norihiro tilted his head back toward the entrance, another of the guard duty regulars, Kazunari, was stepping in. The man was what most would consider as classically handsome: even features, dark brown eyes and silky black hair that was tied back in a tail that hung a good eight inches below his shoulders. Kankurou always wondered how the man could draw the two blades he wore across his back without cutting it off. Unlike his two companions, he wore no headgear except his hitai-ate.
The swordsman took in the two faces regarding him. "Well, here I was thinking this was going to be a boring mission." a grin crossed the handsome face and he pulled up a chair next to Norihiko. "Hey, are we going to be waiting for very long?"
Haijun looked up from his paperwork for a second. "You're still short of being a team," the breathy voice informed them.
"So at least two jounin and me, sounds like fun," Kazunari regarded his soon to be companions.
"I'm just happy it's not getting assigned a genin team," Kankurou smirked at his fellow jounin, "no matter how much good you think it will do for me."
The door to the entrance opened again and in walked a large black cat with white feet, one of the Kageneko (a/n: "shadow cat"). It was followed by a petite woman with short hair the color of wheat. She was dressed in a cocoa colored body suit with sand camouflage pants. She too could be referred to by the term Kageneko; it was practice in Suna to refer to both the people and cats by the term. In stark contrast to the rest of her practicality, she wore a rose colored scarf around her neck tied into a big bow on the backside.
"Mio," Norihiro spoke her name, "welcome to the party."
She grinned at the tallest member of the group, "I love parties…but not surprise parties. Right, Ni-Nyanko?"
As Kankurou watched the large cat arch against her, all the way up to her hip, it surprised him that the animal didn't push the young woman over. She was only seventeen years old, the youngest of their crew, but she was developing renown for her tracking skills. Now this is starting to become interesting, he smiled. I can't wait to see what we might need one of the best trackers in Suna for.
The door of the Kazekage's office clicked open. All heads turned to watch as out walked a figure that stood a few inches taller than Mio. She, at least Kankurou assumed it was a she, wore a hat that was over-hung with a veil that extended beyond the shoulders and an oversized utility-vest. In fact, all the clothing the shinobi wore seemed strangely miss-sized. Kazunari and Norihiro nodded an acknowledgement as she went by, the head tipped an acknowledgement in return. Leave it to the guards to know everyone. Maybe I'll ask later…
As the woman left the outer office everyone stood and made ready to head into the Kazekage's office. Haijun stood up and went inside for just a moment before ushering the rest of them in. He closed the door behind him as he stepped back out.
Pokaru sat behind his desk. There were only a few small files on it. "Please make yourselves comfortable." His graceful hands gestured toward the chairs about the chamber.
The four shinobi took seats with Ni-Nyanko sitting next to and about as tall as Mio.
The black-haired Kazekage smiled at the assemblage. "There has been an unresolved mystery that one of you has a stake in. The council and I have let it rest for a few years after the first attempts to solve it failed. In fact, two of you went on some of those searches." His green eyes looked pointedly at Norihiro and Kankurou. "I feel we have been lax and am taking this action without the council's input."
Kankurou felt a strange thrill of excitement. Can he possibly mean?
"I want to see if it is possible to find out what happened to Godaime Kazekage Gaara-sama after all this time."
In spite of himself, Kankurou grinned. "About time."
Norihiro nodded in agreement.
"There is one thing you won't like about this mission, puppet master." Pokaru's eyes narrowed, "You're not in charge."
Norihiro turned to the Kazekage wide-eyed. It was not a friendly expression. "You can't be serious."
"I have to be, as I said before, this is not an approved mission. Therefore I have to have someone I trust implicitly who has nothing personal to gain from it."
The gray clad man bowed his head, "Very well then, Rokudaime-sama, I will serve." His glance flickered toward Kankurou.
The puppet master spoke cautiously, "I accept that condition and any other you may wish to add: this opportunity is one I've long been hoping for. I will not waste my chance by letting my ego get the best of me."
"That's good, because I'm only allotting you three months. It's probably as long as I can get Haijun to falsify paperwork on the behalf of the four of you as to your whereabouts. He's competent and reliable but there are limits to even his creativity." He momentarily flashed his smile, then pushed a folder forward, "These are the records of the last search, I hope they will prove useful."
Kankurou's hand went out, but Pokaru rested his hand over the top. "Ahem," He flicked a glance to Norihiro, "mission leader." A wicked smirk crossed his lips.
The other man came forward and reached for the folder.
The puppet master withdrew his hand as if it had been burned. I think Rokudaime's enjoying this just a bit too much.
When they were about an hour outside of Suna on their way to Outpost 4, Mio made a comment, "I hope this is the kind of mission that will earn me my jounin status."
"More likely I'll get mine, there's only been one woman who's gotten her promotion since Pokaru-sama's been in charge." Kazunari muttered, "You just saw her walk out of his office."
"That was Shiori?" Mio looked at him with surprise. "She looked like a rag-woman."
"The council backed her promotion 100 percent, the woman apparently has some serious credentials to back it up," Norihiro said.
"Other than the Chidoku family trait?" Kankurou commented.
"Rumor is she knows how to use it with a vengeance." Norihiro replied, "My sources are pretty sure she's done a few high level assassinations… maybe even more than you."
"Feh," was the puppet master's response.
"What's the matter, developing a sudden inferiority complex?" the black-hair swordsman asked. "We go looking for your little brother and you get more defensive than usual."
Norihiro glanced quickly at Kankurou's darkening expression then back to the oblivious man who'd caused the mood. "Hey, I have an idea. Since neither you or Mio are jounin yet, why don't we go the extra mile and not only view the mission itself as an opportunity for promotion, but why don't you allow Kankurou and me the chance to work you two harder than you think is possible?" He didn't want to say it yet, but he doubted that the mission would actually find Gaara, only clues as to where he'd been.
The painted face studied the pretty-boy who'd annoyed him. "I think that is a most excellent idea. I've got some new toys I'm just dying to run a full test on."
In the months they'd been traveling together, the four Suna shinobi had fully earned each other's respect, though not necessarily their friendship.
Mio, in spite of her occasionally ditzy personality, was really quite smart and could get right down to business when matters called for it. She and Ni-Nyanko seemed to be in total sync with each other, acting in tandem in practice combat with no verbal commands exchanged.
Kazunari's skills were impressive to begin with, his technique showed both speed and a disarming elegance. He was proving to be a perfect sparring partner for Kankurou: he learned quickly, adapted on the fly, and seemed to push the puppet master easily as hard he was in return. (Of course Kankurou was playing with a 'handicap', he only used one puppets against his opponent at a time and tried to rely on his physical abilities a little more heavily as well.) The biggest problem that remained was their personalities frequently clashed.
Norihiro had lived up to Pokaru-sama's expectations of being all a leader could be. He was able to soothe the bruised egos of his two male companions. He showed great patience when Mio had decided to learn a new weapon under his tutelage. He also had the ability to put both Kankurou and Kazunari in their place when their bickering got out of hand, without pissing either of them off.
Furthermore, Kazunari had started up an ongoing attempt to flirt with Mio since she turned eighteen about a month into their trip. Her response was to insist that Kankurou would be a better match for her since he already had cat-ears. Kankurou's reaction had been to insist the he would make a far better, over-protective big brother for her… "or Ni-Nyanko" as Mio had been quick to add.
The team had just returned to meet up at their room after having split up for the day in a large village at the northern shore in the territory between Taki no Kuni and what was left of Oto no Kuni. Investigations had been providing minimal information so far, they'd only ended up here because Mio had stumbled upon someone in Takigakure who'd recognized not Gaara, but the picture of his student Matsuri, which they'd brought along just in case there was a connection between the two. Kankurou still maintained his belief that Matsuri's disappearance was not connected to Gaara's but since they'd gotten no leads since they'd been in the territory where the sand gourd had been found during the first search years ago, they followed up on it.
Mio smacked Kazunari up side the head. "You freaking idiot," she'd contained her anger until they were away from prying eyes and ears. "If you hadn't walked in when you did I might have gotten something useful out of the old woman. And to add insult to injury you had to say that obnoxious 'Oh, there you are Honey.' line." Her golden eyes looked more animal like than usual. "She shut right up again after that."
"But did you get anything useful?" Norihiro said as he gestured for the two of them to move further apart. Mio claimed the chair nearest the windows.
"Actually, yes, but I don't think Kankurou will like it. Gaara was apparently traveling disguised as a woman."
"No way." The puppet master's grimace showed the cat-girl had been correct.
"The woman said, 'I remember her eyes'. You must admit you brother had some rather distinctive eyes and a sweet looking face. She also said that there was a brush burn like scab over the area where his tattoo was." Mio was looking pretty satisfied with the information she'd gotten.
"Do you suppose that means he was trying to remove it one layer at a time?" Norihiro speculated out loud. "It was one of his most distinctive features after all."
"Other than the gourd, which was found previously," muttered Kazunari, "I wonder what he replaced that with."
"Okay, so that's all we've found out," Kankurou scowled, "I want to speak to this woman tomorrow."
"No, I won't allow it," the Kageneko girl said firmly.
"You're the junior member of this team, who are you to try and stop me?" the painted face sneered. "You have no say in what I do."
"But I do," Norihiro said firmly, "I want to hear Mio's reasons." He turned to regard the girl.
"When I finally got her to talk to me, the woman seemed cautious, almost too much so." The kunoichi worried her lip with her teeth, "She opened up when her husband left the room, like it was some big secret or something. I think we'll have to find someone else who may have had contact; I don't think she'll talk to me again."
"Next town or here?" The puppet master was sounding clearly agitated.
"I say give it one last try here. There are two more supply places we haven't gotten to yet." Norihiro was trying to maintain his calm demeanor in hopes it would calm his fellow jounin's state. He turned back to the cat-girl, "So why do you think they were willing to talk to you over anyone else in our group?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's because I'm a girl."
"Are you sure?" Kazunari expressed surprise, while Kankurou merely grunted his distain.
"Pretty sure, think about it. The only people who seem to remember Gaara are women. The old woman today, the woman who directed me to her, even the one who remembered Matsuri. There's got to be some connection, something only a woman would understand." She sat there with her straw-colored head bobbing in a way that they'd all come to recognize as her 'think-something-over' routine. Then suddenly she flopped over in the chair like a rag doll. A loud growl/gurgle emitted from her body. "Sorry….hungry…can't think now."
"Fine, I'll get the kitchen staff to send something up," Kankurou growled as he got up and headed out. Anything to get us the next clue, even if it sounds as crazy as the rest of what she's put out there. So far it's still the only progress we've made.
When they finished their dinner Mio tried to curl up on the floor and fall asleep next to Ni-Nyanko as was her habit. Kankurou jerked her up a held her in a standing position. No one else moved to prevent him. "So, do you have a theory yet?"
She blinked.
"Mio, we need our next step so we can work out our plans for tomorrow," Norihiro spoke to her. "If it doesn't require more of your input, we'll let you sleep then."
Her head nodded in agreement…or was it her thinking move again. About five minutes passed during which it almost looked like she was going to fall asleep anyways. Then finally, "I hate to say it but it's possible that Gaara-sama was disguising himself as a battered woman on the run from her husband/lover."
"You can't be serious." Kankurou dropped her as he recoiled at the thought, his left eye twitching. Mio landed on her butt making a noise the sounded strangely like "Nyu".
Kazunari looked easily as disgusted at the idea, "He'd never do that."
"I hate to say it, but I think it sounds plausible." Norihiro said calmly. "If you consider the way the last search conducted it was all about 'Have you seen this man, or someone with the following traits?' If you think about it very few men could pull of a convincing imitation of a woman for very long so we weren't even thinking in those terms…maybe Gaara-sama based this action knowing how Suna-logic works."
Kankurou hung his head for a moment. "That's true, it was always three times as hard for him to promote a woman to jounin, regardless of her merits. The council has always been hesitant about female advancement." He looked over at the girl who still sat on the floor. "Mio, regardless of how things turn out, I will recommend you for a promotion. Even more impressive considering that you were supposed to be a tracker, only to come into play if it looked like we were getting close. Your analysis of the situation is the only thing that kept this investigation moving."
The cat-girl grinned, jumped up and threw her arms around the puppet master, "I knew Kanki-onii-chan likes me." She kissed him on top of the head, ran back to her corner and curled up next to the Kageneko before he could react. "I go to sleep now."
Kankurou and Kazunari both stared at her, while Norihiro merely chuckled. "Gentlemen, we still need a plan. I think our girl has earned the right to sleep, so let's put our fair share of work into this mission."
The painted face regarded the other jounin, "I still want the opportunity to follow up on Mio's leads."
"You should partner with her tomorrow then, but you'll have to take a page from your little brother. You're better at disguise jutsu than anyone I know: you should go as a woman.
"And just who would you like me to look like; Temari?"
How about halfway between your siblings? Most people think of brothers and sisters being more similar than you are with yours." Once again the scar twisted his smile, "How about his hair and eyes with her build and smile."
"Now?" Kankurou wanted to question the judgment of this, but somehow couldn't come up with a good argument at the moment.
"There's a mirror on the closet door if you think you need it." After having removed his headgear for the day, Norihiro ran a hand through his flattened brown hair. He wasn't going to budge on this, but hoped he wouldn't have to assert himself too strongly tonight. It was far better if he could do things calmly, he'd been spent a fair amount of time with a working friendship around Baki so he was familiar with the quirks of all the Fourth's children. Bet he'd be amused if he heard of what I'm about to put Kankurou through. "Just remember this may be the key to the next part of the puzzle."
"I know." The reply was somewhere between displeasure and reluctant acceptance of the task at hand.
"So let's see her." Kazunari said with his amusement clear across his face. It was obvious he was enjoying seeing the member of the group with the highest reputation squirm.
"Fine." There was a poof and there stood a woman who fulfilled Norihiro's request. She wore something akin to Temari's black outfit in a burgundy shade.
"Oh yeah," the black haired chuunin grinned, "if I didn't know better, I'd so be asking you out."
Kankurou immediately dropped the disguise. "Don't even think about it."
Kankurou wore his disguise as they made ready to catch some breakfast.
"Wait," Mio said, "you need a more girlish sounding name that Kankurou."
"Code name: Marisu, then?" Norihiro offered.
"Marisu," Mio grinned, "I like it."
"Sounds almost sexy," Kazunari added giving a dreamy smile.
The puppet master glared at him as Mio smacked the back of the swordsman's head. As she grinned, "Beat you to it, Onii-chan."
As 'Marisu' and Mio made their way about town, it was decided that the Kageneko would do the talking. The girl had a good grasp of the subtleties that the mission involved. As Kankurou listened to her work he was impressed by her logic and technique. It was a far cry from the exuberant way she presented herself around her teammates.
"So you're saying that the two of them holed up here for about two weeks." She studied the expression of the middle-aged woman as she showed them a smaller back storage room in one of the warehouses.
The woman glanced nervously about, "Yes, but they were very cautious. They didn't even want a doctor to check your sister over." Her gaze turned to the pretend redhead, "I think she was in denial over the whole situation, the facial scarring and the impending baby."
"What baby?" Marisu spoke, body tensing as if she wanted to attack the woman for suddenly going insane.
Mio on the other hand moved cautiously alongside the woman so only Kankurou could see her lips as she mouthed the word 'sand' while gesturing the distended belly of a pregnant woman with one hand.
Kankurou understood the message, body relaxing. She's clever, I would never have come up with that being part of Gaara's disguise. But it makes strange sense. As Marisu he asked, "You're absolutely certain about this?"
"I'd say she was about seven months along," the woman's brow furrowed. "She shouldn't have been traveling in that condition. It scared me, in spite of how protective her companion was of her."
"No wonder she was cautious about hiding her whereabouts," Mio said softly.
Marisu picked up the thought, "If she could have only let me know before it came to this. There might have been something I could have done to prevent her from taking such drastic measures." His eyes caught Mio's hint of an encouraging smile, "Do you have even the slightest idea in what direction they were headed?"
The woman met Marisu's concerned gaze, then suddenly a noise from the other room made her jump. The voice took a nervous edge, "They went to the ports, that's all I know."
Mio stopped her for just a second, "This woman was definitely accompanying her, correct?" She held up the picture of Matsuri.
The woman nodded, "I think her hair was dark and her face a bit thinner, but I'm positive it was her."
"No other ideas about contacts?" Marisu asked.
"None," the woman replied, "your sister's companion made all the arrangements. As I said before she was very protective. I have to go now." She led them back toward the exits.
"Thank you for all you've told us." He tried to speak as sweetly as he could, "I'll try to take comfort that she was safe when you last saw her and has since found a safe haven far away from…" he put just a hint of waver in the voice and wanted the woman to fill in the blank as her bowed Marisu's head. Then the two of them stepped out the door.
Kankurou spoke to his teammate as soon as they were outside, "We've lost them. From the ports they could have gone anywhere."
Mio's eyes showed sympathy, "Then we might as well go back to our room, you look weary." Her companion had emerged from the warehouse shadows to join them for the walk back.
When they made it back to the room, Kankurou let it out in on tirade, "Damn it, we finally get something resembling real information and we only have five days left to act on it before we have to head off for home." He was once again in his own guise. "As soon as Norihiro and Kazunari get back, I'm hitting the docks."
Mio had claimed her favorite chair by the window, and sat hunched up into, knees pulled up under her chin. It was always best to stay out of the puppet master's way when he was agitated. Ni-Nyanko curled behind the chair as far from him as possible.
He set about pacing the room only reinforcing the mood.
Ten minutes later, their companions entered the room. Norihiro took in the scene immediately. "Sorry we're late, we thought we had a lead, but it didn't pan out." He flicked a disappointed glare at Kazunari. "I hope that you got more information."
"Only what we should have expected," Kankurou scowled, "they took a ship out of here."
"I assume that means you want to spend our remaining time scouring the docks." The scarred mouth twisted curiously as he waited on the puppet master's response.
"Starting right now," Kankurou said in a very direct manner. "We should start with the most reputable and work on down. I'll assume because of my brother's disguise he would have started with safer. He certain would have wanted to avoid problems for himself and Matsuri."
"So you officially confirmed that at least." Kazunari nodded, "We get to report that it was two missing-nin instead of just Gaara-sama."
Again the searches over the remaining days turned up no additional information. It was Mio's turn to be disguised as a member of the opposite sex: since her figure was minimal, she just wore looser clothes and pretended to be a youth of about fourteen. Ni-Nyanko lived up to its Kageneko name, disappearing into shadows waiting for some unspoken cue to reappear.
It was finally the last day; they went to one of the most dangerous corners of the docks. And strangely enough they ran into someone who claimed to have seen their quarry. He lead them out onto a classically styled sailing vessel then onto the deck to show them to what looked to be an office on board.
"Just wait here while I get the captain." He slipped out through the doorway.
As soon as they heard the latch click, they all burst out laughing. Then they felt the first lurch of the ship moving out.
"Shanghaied? How stupid can they be?" Kankurou growled softly.
"We better get out there before Ni-Nyanko gets restless," Mio said dropping her disguise.
"I'll get the door." Kazunari started to reach back over his shoulders toward his blades.
"Not in this limited space." Kankurou said.
"No problem," Norihiro was already placing a connected ring set on his left hand. He infused his chakra and it formed a wedge shaped field around his knuckles. One swift thrust and the door exploded outward in splinters.
They rushed out forming a semi-circle in front of the door. Almost immediately the Kageneko beast appeared by her companion's side. They advanced to the middle of the deck as the crew gathered around holding an array of vicious looking weapons.
Kankurou said softly to the team, "If they don't heed your warning, I want starboard to myself."
"Agreed," came the soft reply from the other jounin. He then raised his voice, "We'll give you one warning: We are Suna shinobi and you are delaying us from an information gathering mission. If you do not let us go now, we will not hold back in dealing with you."
"Only four and an animal," one of the men said, "don't make me laugh." He raised a weapon pointed it at them and yell, "Leave none alive."
Before the first of the crew could start their charge, the puppet master with blinding speed pulled a scroll and used it to summon seven puppets. The collection looked like something out of nightmares: beasts built with blades, saws and drills at the ends of limbs. "Welcome to the puppet theater of blood. Hope you enjoy the show."
Kazunari drew his blades in a smooth swift motion.
Norihiro started to call up a wind jutsu.
Mio decided to play with her new toy, a three part staff with pointed ends, while Ni-Nyanko bared her fangs and the tip of her tail bristled into rapidly stiffening spikes.
Three shinobi and a large cat charged their opponents though at first glance they appeared clearly out numbered. Kankurou merely gestured and launched his monstrosities at the men on his side. I couldn't have asked for a better way to vent my frustrations. His expression echoed his mood. The screams of the newly maimed and disemboweled played like dark music to his ears.
The jounin commander's first move was to send a slashing wind upward to destroy the sails of the ship the drop the shreds along with the rigging to entangle the maximum number of opponents on the one side of the ship.
The Kageneko team seemed to dance through the wreckage circling each other as they brought down the crewmen with a variety of well aimed puncture wounds.
The swordsman too cut his own path of destruction. No blade could get past his flowing parries but the accurate movements of his own attacks cut down one assailant after the next.
Kankurou realized to his disappointment that his targets were rapidly dwindling. No man had even made an attempt to come in his direction, then again one of his disguise techniques made him and his chakra signature appear to be about six feet away from his actual position. Unless they had someone who was able to penetrate the jutsu, which was highly unlikely since he only knew of a handful in Suna who could do that…
Norihiro was enjoying himself as well, one of his gifts was being able to pick-up and use any weapon. He went from opponent to opponent claiming the weapon of each man he vanquished and turning it on the next. He didn't give a second thought to Kankurou, but did check briefly on his other charges. He caught the cats' deadly dance and grinned. They were almost a delight to watch…he was certainly going to back Kankurou's decision to recommend the girl's promotion.
As he turned his head the other way he heard a noise that sounded like a mechanism being released, it bore no resemblance to any of the puppet noises. Something passed before his vision, instead of following its path he tracked back where it had come from. A man stood on an elevated area of the deck trying to reset whatever mechanism had been launched, If memory serves, the item is called a crossbow. He called his slashing wind jutsu back up and hit the man with it cutting him down and destroying the weapon.
Kazunari noticed he had two more left in his corner of the deck, a thrust, And then there was one. This man snatched his fallen comrade's blade and postured like his was ready to take his opponent on by his own rules. "If you haven't played with two weapons before this is not the time to start." I'm giving you fair warning. A moment later the man was impaled on the swordsman's left hand blade. The seaman's two weapons fell harmlessly to the deck. Suddenly, something knocked the black haired chuunin off balance. A sharp pain tore through his face as he toppled toward the deck.
Since his side of the ship was nothing but a blood slicked collection of body parts, Kankurou turned his attentions to the other side of things. One of the crewmen had Kazunari by his ponytail and looked like he was about to try to chop off his head. I don't think so. He may be an asshole, but he's ours. The nearest puppet flew with amazing speed, slashing out and giving the man the treatment he was about to inflict on the chuunin. A severed head and arm fell to the deck, hand clutching a fistful of silky black tresses. Ooops, Kankurou's inner voice dripped with sarcasm, so sorry about the hair.
Norihiro walked up to the fallen swordsman at a moderate pace. As Mio surveyed Kankurou's handiwork, "Wow, you're vicious. I'm glad you're my Onii-chan. I would so not want to get into a fight with you."
The puppet master did a series of gestures reversing the summons for each puppet. "If you think I'm vicious now, wait until I've been cleaning my toys. I love to use them but maintenance is a bitch after a battle."
They decided to take one of the launches back to shore because Kazunari needed some first aid…and maybe some real medical treatment when they got back to shore. The crossbow bolt the Norihiro had traced back to its owner had been the item which knocked the swordsman off balance. In a moment of remarkable luck, it had blasted its way through both his cheeks damaging nothing vital. The team leader was doing field stitches to hold the torn flesh together while the cat-girl dabbed away the excess blood.
Kankurou decided to use three of his most humanoid puppets to power the trip back to shore. He sat in the back of the boat controlling them while leaning back against Ni-Nyanko; the cat needed to be kept as far away from the fresh blood because it kept exciting her. Not surprising considering how much she seemed to enjoy licking it off herself after the fight.
Less than three hours later they were back in their room, except of course for Kazunari who was staying overnight at the house of one of the village doctors. They had provided information to the port authority about the pirate ship that was adrift in the harbor. Norihiro recommended if they had a spiritualist they should bring them along to exorcize the potentially angry spirits that may be left on board.
As they journeyed home, Kazunari had to come to terms with the mismatched wounds that now graced his cheeks. No more perfection of features. And then there was his hair, it had always been kept at a length that was both long yet still manageable for him. Now the only thing the ragged ends almost at shoulder length were good for was hiding the dressings that still covered part of his face. Norihiro had told him that he had been very close to meeting his demise, and scars that were honorably earned made one more of man than any number of sexual conquests possibly could.
Unfortunately, Mio heard the whole conversation. When they were halfway back to Suna he decided to play the sympathy card as he made his latest attempt at hitting on her while they all made camp. The Kageneko girl smiled. "It'll never work out," she pulled her shirt up to a spot just below her breasts, exposing a huge area of scars covering the left side of her body, "I must be a man too."
Norihiro wasted the beer he'd brought from the last town by blowing it out of his nose, afterward he had no taste for the rest of the bottle.
Kankurou watched the whole scene curiously; he'd missed the previous conversation that was referenced, but he did enjoy the mortified expression that took over the swordsman's face.
On what was absolutely the final day of their three-month mission, they sat waiting just outside the Kazekage's office so they could make their final report. They were very obviously straight off the road, dusty clothes and all. Ten minutes passed and once again the bundle of oversized clothes walked out of the office.
The covered head turned briefly toward the four of them, in particular Kazunari. A soft but strangely distorted voice said, "Rough mission, Kazu?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle," he replied bluntly.
"Looks like you had a good team." A hand waved briefly at the gray clad leader, "See you around."
"Good day to you, Shiori," Norihiro replied.
Mio just watched her go in awe. I wanna be a jounin too.
"The Kazekage will see you now." Haijun held the door and gestured for them to enter.
They took their seats within the office. Norihiro and Kankurou in the center and the Kageneko team nearest the door.
Pokaru studied the current condition of the team members. "Only one of you seems to be sporting a new look. I guess there weren't as many surprises on this mission as I would have expected." He took a sip from a tea cup. "So what did you find out about my honorable predecessor?"
Norihiro stood up and gave a straight-forward summary of their mission. He deliberately left out one detail: Gaara's chosen mode of disguise. The truth was that he only knew half that story anyways; Kankurou and Mio had never disclosed how the sand was being carried. The Kazekage seemed reasonably satisfied with the results and dismissed all of them but the team leader.
"So little sister," Kankurou said as he cracked a smile, "can I treat you to lunch?"
"If you make that sisters, I'll take you up on it." Mio grinned as she scratched both hands through Ni-Nyanko's fur.
"Fine, little sisters." Gaara running of with Matsuri still bothers me. That can't be all, can it? I would never…stop it. The reason he'd asked her along was he wasn't ready to be left alone with his thoughts just yet. And her company was far easier to take than Kazunari's. "If you're lucky, Norihiro's putting your name forward for promotion even as we speak."
A/N: Everyone else does fight scenes - I figured it was time to try my luck at one. And oops, did I crack my self-imposed language this chapter…
I tried to make Mio a real cat-girl; if you've ever had a cat you know they can be creatures with multiple personalities…
Special request: if you read this part I would really love to get some feed back on what you think of my Original Characters. Especially since this chapter relies so heavily on them. And I admit at least one of them (Besides Pokaru-sama) will make another appearance in a future chapter. So if you review can you let me know?... please…
Yea!! My most reviewed story ever!! Thank you very much to: Awaii, DreaD, ladyviolathornhaven, shannny2k, shelvesinthecloset, Shubaltz Crazist & WellITriedSoManyOptions.!!
