Stage Twenty One: Surprises

The hair; that one tiny, really long hair. I somehow got him to believe that it might have been a hair from Konohagakure. There was a girl there who had really long, blond hair. Mind you, it didn't last beyond the Chunin exams, but she had it. Beyond her, I couldn't think of any one who had the hair, nor why it could have gotten in my quarters, unless I told him flat out that there had been a series of people in my bedchambers. As you can imagine, that would not have gone well on many levels.

He handed the hair back to me reluctantly, seeing the holes in my theory, but also seeing that I genuinely did not know who else it could have come from. I knew there were thoughts going on in his mind that he wasn't sharing with me, but I couldn't just ask him about it, no matter how badly I wanted to.

Regardless of what he thought, it's what I thought that mattered, and I was determined to find out everything I could about this mystery strand.

Kisame

Curse everything. I have never been to a place that is so damn dry. Does Pein not understand that I need humidity to live? No, he doesn't. Nor does he care. People keep looking at me. It's like they know. I'm not even wearing the stupid cloak. Wish I was. The sweat would keep me moist. But no, I'm not supposed to be identified, all because Deidara blew this place up! Bastard…

I was given a photo. One, tiny, outdated photo. This picture has to be at least ten years old. And I'm supposed to find the girl. How? He doesn't care. Brown hair, green eyes, appears to be average height next to her shorter, younger sister. Absolutely unremarkable in any way. How are they even related? They look nothing alike!

Her name was Umiko. Just goes by Umi, I guess. Supposedly returned here after a while to check things out. Well, both of them did, and around the same time. Must be some sister thing, where, they think they're dead, but they still have to do everything together. No, I shouldn't assume things. I don't know if they were close or not. They were little girls. They probably don't know if they were close or not. Assuming things could get me in trouble here.

Okay, here's what I know. One, she's Tsuki's older sister. Two, she's supposedly dead. Three, she was reportedly seen here by the guys at the village gates. Four, Pein wants her at all costs, nearly as much as he wanted Tsuki, but not as bad. Umi did something smarter than Tsuki. She laid low for ten years. Tsuki had to go and make a name for herself. She got infamous under Orochimaru's thumb. Now she's trying to escape, but everyone already knows. Well, not everyone. Just Konoha, Suna, and everywhere else on their border. So, Lightning shouldn't know. Definitely no the land of Snow. She's a desert cat. She wouldn't like it there.

This girl I'm looking for, she's so unnoticeable. Just blends in with everyone. She doesn't have the vermillion hair of her sister, nor her violet eyes. I've seen five like her already. Show them the picture, and they don't know who she is. Hell, they could be lying to me for all I know.

The story I'm supposed to give her goes something like this: 'I know a guy who knew your mother. He's as good as dead, so I'm the next in line to take responsibility for you. Your sister's somewhere out there (I got Tsuki's current picture from Itachi, though he was gone when I took it. I'll pay with blood when I return.) and I need your help to find her.' Yeah, crock of shit, right?

I've been at this for about a week. No luck. I've decided to go back the inn and try again tomorrow. There's a park around an oasis on the way that I stop by just for the humidity. That's when shit turned south.

"Kisame?"

Oh god, any voice but that voice.

Someone else muttered, "You know that guy?"

"God kid, you're following me?" I turn around to see Yahara Usami clutching the arm of some freaky ass boy wearing a Suna plate. They guy was wearing more make up than she was, which is saying something. She giggled something. "No, I'm not following you. I was here first."

I rolled my eyes. "Great. Why don't you go back to your date?"

Yahara has been bothering me since she was at least ten years old. She showed up in Kirigakure right around the time I joined up with the Cipher Division. Where as most kids her age kept a thorough and respectful distance from me, the brat just wouldn't leave me alone! It was a small benefit to joining the Akatsuki, leaving her behind. And now, I have to find this stupid girl, another stupid girl has found me. Damn my luck.

"Kisame, what's in your hand?" She immediately grabbed for the photo I carried. I tried to keep it from her, but being lost in thought as I was, she caught the damn thing. I watched her carefully, and noticed that her face fell as soon as she looked at it. The childish joy ebbed from her misty, green eyes.

The boy looked over her shoulder. "Let me see, Hara."

She turned her back on him, hiding the picture from view. "Who's she?" Her eyes met mine, challenging me.

"I think you know, kid," I answered. I dug around in my pocket for the second picture. "Know her, too?" I asked.

The guy piped up before Yahara could. "Yeah, that's Tsuki."

I looked at him. "Wasn't asking you, punk."

"I've seen her," Yahara answered. "She was here a couple weeks ago." She looked at her feet. It was rather uncharacteristic of Yahara, if you ask me.

"I can vouch for that. Why, did Tsuki do something wrong?"

I sighed. "What hasn't she done wrong?" Yahara looked up at me again. "Regardless of Tsuki, it's Yahara I'm here for."

She perked up. "What? Why? Kisame, you monster, you can't just stalk me here?"

I've never met someone who could go through three octaves faster than she could. "Yahara, don't make a scene. You're not being stalked. I just have information you might find interesting, and knowing you as I do, you're not going to want that revealed with your boyfriend standing next to you."

"Yahara, what is this guy talking about?"

This is going to get messy, fast. I'm going to have to find a sake house somewhere after all of this is over.

"No, Kankuro, he's right. I'll tell you everything I can, I promise. But I need to take care of this alone."

"Hara, I don't trust him."

"I trust him," she answered.

I couldn't believe her. She was there when I killed my own team. She was there when I killed most of the government officials in the village. She was there when I abandoned everything, and she trusts me? What the hell is wrong with this woman?

"Come with me, Usami." I waved her toward the village entrance.

"When will she be back?"

The fool had the audacity to ask. "I can't answer that."

She looked up at me. "Why is that?"

"Because I don't know."

Tsuki

I have sliced, diced, and stared at this strand for as long as I could, in as many ways as I could possibly think of. Yet there are three things that I have learned. First, this person really gets dehydrated, due to the lack of oils found in the quick of the hair. Second, they don't get the vitamins from fruits and vegetables. And third, they've lived in the area of Konoha or the surrounding area for quite some time. None of this tells me who they are, or why they were in my room.

Orochimaru has hovered behind me constantly, always wondering what I have found as far as the information this hair can give me. I really wish I had one of Ino's hairs to cross refer to. Until then, there is nothing more that I can to with this strand of unknown hair.

I pushed myself away from the microscope, the piles of charts, papers, and envelopes. My desk was cluttered. My office was a mess. I had locked myself in my own wing for days, breaking only for food and drink. I needed a shower, badly. My hair was greasy, and I felt filthy from sitting in one spot for too long. Not to mention sore.

Needless to say, it was a relief to feel the hot water washing away the accumulated filth and stress of the day. Bubbles accumulated down at the drain, and the scent of pomegranate filled the steamy air.

"You take some really long showers, Brat."

My breath caught in my chest. "How dare you invade my space, you bastard."

Hidan's chuckle filled the silence. "Tell me all about it, slut. Get out of the shower." His hand snaked in through the curtain and shut the water off. I still had suds on my chest.

I poked my head out of the curtain, making sure I couldn't be seen from the neck down. He was clutching my towel in his hands, and I had no other means to cover myself, other than to either stand there and drip dry, or approach him for the towel. "I hope Jashin eats you alive."

He smiled. "It would be an honour. Get out, you have some explaining to do, Brat."

"I have nothing to explain to you," I spat.

He took an envelope out from under my towel, and held it up so I could see it. "No, I think you do," he responded. "How long have you had this?"

I sighed. I didn't want him to ever see it. "I got it the night you kidnapped me. I'm just as surprised as you are."

Hidan sighed. "I'm not surprised."

For the first time, he seemed to give up on anger, and remorse took over. "No? What the hell is wrong with you? You killed the only woman left to tie you down, even though you had little to no contact in at least twelve years, robber her of any happiness she, her husband, and her daughters could have had assuming they would survive your attack, and you still expected this?"

"You got away," he muttered. "That wasn't an accident. I could have tracked you down. I could have finished it. It'd have been so fuckin' easy."

"Why didn't you?"

"You'd never understand."

I sighed. "This isn't something I want to talk to you about. May I have my towel, please?" I held out my hand, still clutching the shower curtain in my right.

He handed it to me and looked away. "I'm not asking for your forgiveness."

"I wouldn't give it to you if you did. You killed them knowing what you were doing. No one said you had to. You didn't have to join the Akatsuki."

"Thought you didn't want to talk about it."

"Give me some slack. I'm talking to the man who killed my family." I wrapped the towel around myself, ensuring everything was hidden.

"Let me guess, you're going to follow with a damn monologue on how you're going to swear to kill me to avenge your lost family, or dye trying? Or you're going to inflict as much pain on me as your lost family felt, and for all the emotional damage I caused you? Fuck that."

"You're a whinny bitch, Hidan. Don't you think I would have tried that already, had I planned on being that foolish? Do you think I haven't learned anything from Sasuke? It would be a waste of my time."

I stepped out of the shower gingerly. For the first time, I looked my godfather in the eye. He was thinking something, and I wasn't sure I liked it. "Don't look at me that way."

"Can't help it. You're a bitch, but you're still her daughter."

"Hidan?" I batted my eyelashes.

"Hnn?" he grunted. He looked up into my eyes for a slight moment, before returning his gaze elsewhere.

"You're a bastard. Get out of by bathroom."

He sighed heavily, then threw a kimono at me. "You're going to need help with that." He stepped out the door and back into my bedroom. I shrugged into the kimono that I had picked out for me by a mass murdering Jashinist. Though he was right, I did need someone else to tie the bow at the back, I didn't need him. I produced a clone to do it for me, then immediately discharged her.

He was waiting for me on my bed.

"So, I take it was you who was in my room and took half my clothing and possessions."

"As much as I would love to give you that much discomfort, I was not the lucky bastard who ransacked your shit. Kakuzu did all the dirty work. He didn't touch your cash, though, greedy douche." He rolled his eyes. "If I did it, you'd have scars."

"So, then you're here to take me away. Yeah, good luck with that." I walked toward the shoji and slid it open. "I'm kind of on house arrest."

"Yeah, like you'd still be conscious if I were here to take you away. Bitch, please. I'd have taken you away naked, and laughed about it as I dumped you on the floor of the commons. Deidara would have had his way with you all over the sofa."

Realization struck me harder than an angry Zabuza on steroids. "If both you and Kakuzu have been in my bedroom in the last week, who else did Leader send here?"

Hidan scratched his chin while tilting his head back. "We were the only two, why?" He cracked his neck in boredom.

"No one else? Not Itachi or Kisame?" I asked, leading him to tell me anything.

"Itachi disappeared after you left with that guy. Kisame got assigned some mission back in Suna. Damn if he didn't stop bitching. Can't stand dry places. Kinda a shark thing. Sasori's been out of commission since your last encounter. Deidara went somewhere, but not on Leader's business. Didn't say where he was goin'. Don't care to know."

That was it then. He had to have been here. But why? We'd never actually met. He was gone when I was there last, and all I knew was hearsay. What means did he have for coming here? "No one else could have been in my room then?"

"Why the hell do you care? Not like we're a danger to you. We're not allowed to kill you, though I would love a crack at it."

I arched an eyebrow in his direction. "I'm starting to believe you're a badass for show and nothing more."

"Say anything about it, and I'll cut out your tongue."