A/N: With this, we begin the third arc of Absent Serpent. Hopefully you all are ready, this one was planned out quite a bit with my friend, ParagonPariah, who does great stuff himself. So all I can say is I'm glad to be on this one.

2 Years Later

Shinoa Yasumori ran as hard as she could through the woods, her breaths ragged with every step that thundered into the dirt. The branches of the trees clawed at her as she passed her skin sliced open in one place or another after every few steps or so. The sun was setting, turning the forest a golden and orange colour. Such a beautiful colour for what she was running from. She wasn't even sure where she was, but she had to escape. So she ran. Her close cropped brown hair let the wind pass right through, her brown eyes searched for any place she could, while the sun shed light on her unusually pale skin. She felt lighter than she was used to, but she'd lost weight since she got taken.

"Have… to… get… away…" she panted to herself as she ran, hoping she could escape. The collar on her neck itched and she hoped she could get it removed as soon as possible. Otherwise… Shinoa pushed herself harder, running through a thick cluster of branches, ignoring the fresh round of cuts that assailed her upper body, pushing ahead as much as she could. In her haste, she didn't anticipate the rock that she stepped on, tipping her up. She tumbled forward in a roll in an attempt to spread the force of the impact, but she just landed on her hands and skidded to a short stop. "Shit." She panted and got up, breaking into a run despite how pained her foot was. Her body burned with each movement of her body but it was worth it. Or rather, it would be once she found reprieve.

The trees were beginning to clear out slightly. Maybe she was headed to a clearing? Or perhaps reaching the end of it. Shinoa didn't want to hold out hope, but was watching for exits out of this damned wood. If she had any chakra, she'd be able to fight back. But was it was, she didn't so she was forced to rely on her fuzzy reflexes and untrained fighting skills. She'd been locked up for so long. Still, this might mean she was going to be free…

Just then a kunai knife flashed from above and hit the ground before her. Shinoa skidded to a stop, falling back on her rear as she heard a very loud laughing sound.

"Thought you were gonna escape, eh?" she heard that voice. Shinoa looked up and saw him crouching there. How did she not see him? "Oh well, thems the breaks, no?" Suddenly, four men appeared from the trees, somehow eluding Shinoa completely. They closed in on her, but didn't make a move. They wouldn't, not without his say so. Shinoa didn't respond as the man above dropped down with a heavy thud. He walked forward into the sunlight, revealing his features. He was well built, toting muscles he worked quite hard to achieve. His short sleeved shirt was too small and clung to his torso. His pants were loose but held up by a belt. His hair was pitch black, his eyes a cold green colour, like chips of cold, green glass. He sported a constant sadistic grin on his face. On his back, he sported a massive two handed sword with a sharp, thorn hilt. He walked up to Shinoa casually, as if he had all the time in the world to not care one bit.

"Bastard." Shinoa cursed as he raised an eyebrow.

"Bastard? Oh come now, I was born with married parents." The man crouched down. Shinoa knew he was only seventeen but he was built like someone five years older than him. "No need to be rude."

"Shut up!" Shinoa screamed at him. The man shrugged and stood back up.

"Listen, I'm trying to be nice here. You escaped and normally I'd just lop your head off but the boss says you can be valuable, what with your looks and all. Niche markets or whatever." He rolled his eyes. "Now I'm being kind and I'll take you back right now, no fuss. That way the boss doesn't think I did anything. So are you going to cooperate?" he asked her. Shinoa spat at him, hitting him in the face, the cheek. His face was expressionless as he wiped off her spit. "I was afraid of this." He muttered, before grinning. "You chose the hard way. Boys!" they turned to him. "I'll leave this one to you. I'll go take a short nap, I got time." He turned and walked away before turning back as his men began to grab Shinoa. "Oh, and girl. One more thing." The men stopped as they held her arms and legs. The man grinned as he spoke. "If you so much as try and escape" he snapped his fingers. Shinoa glared at him. As if anything could-

CRASH! Her eyes went wide as she slowly turned her head to the right. Embedded in the tree was a massive metal arrow. It looked like a harpoon meant for sea ventures. While it was embedded in the tree, the arrow began to slowly dissipate into smoke until there was nothing left. Except the hole. Shinoa's eyes moved to behind the man, where she saw a glint. Another arrow. Impossible, she heard he was dead.

"Now the arrows aren't entirely legit." The man said happily, as if he got a kick out of explaining these things. Of course he did. "However the damage they can wreak is all too real. So keep that in mind as my boys have their fun." He winked at them. "Go nuts, you earned it."

"No!" Shinoa screamed. The man turned and walked away, pulling a cigarette from his pocket along with a match, lighting the latter, then the former before taking a puff and walking by the Archer. He stopped by him, the man was cloaked in the shadows of the tree. Figures. This guy could be in a white room with a light and still hide in the shadows. Shinoa kept screaming until she was quieted. Though noise could still be heard.

"I should really stop smoking." The man muttered to him and the Archer, taking another puff. "Boss says they're bad but fuck it, I'm young." He grinned at the Archer. "Am I right?" all he got was one eye moving to look at him. Kami that was creepy. "Well, whatever." The man took another puff on the smoke. "She fights back, impale the cunt. You got me?" he asked, despite the Archer only looking at him another second before his eye moved back into place, watching the scene unfold. "Yeah, you got me." He patted the Archer's shoulder before walking off to find a quiet tree to nap in. The boys could take their time, he suggested a possibly night long retrieval. If they got their prey early and had some fun, what was the harm? Other than to Shinoa, but that was irrelevant in the big picture.

Unlike other people.

Arine wasn't happy this morning. She came to this conclusion as she hacked at various straw dummies with her spear, the tip slashing through the straw as if it were wet paper. Stab this one and bring the point up through the head. Slash the throat of that one and stab it in the chest several times. Each and every strike had a force of anger put behind it to make the attack more devastating. She wasn't entirely sure why and attacking the dummies with this much anger didn't feel satisfying or anything. It just felt like going through the motions. Necessary motions, yes, but still. Those routine motions that just irritated the hell out of Arine the more she did them.

"Fucking dummies." She growled as she slashed at the last one indiscriminately, swinging her spear around with a deftness few had seen. The speed of her attacks was incredible and by the time she was done, straw was littered everywhere and the dummies didn't exist. Arine huffed and left the area within the trees and headed back to the clearing where Yukio and Denji were practicing. Denji was busy attempting to work on another jutsu. This one involving bringing up three large floating rock spires and sending them at an opponent. It wasn't going so well. Around him were several fragments of stone and earth as Denji worked hard, sweat running down his face, soaking through his shirt. As of now he was doubled over, holding his knees as he tried breathing slowly. Arine noticed his headband was off, sitting to the side in its silvery glory. Denji looked up as she passed. He'd grown his hair out quite a bit, it was down to just below his shoulders. His left eye had healed up decently, though the scar was still visible and his eye was milky and useless.

"Issues?" he asked with a grin, but Arine paid him no mind. She wanted to talk to Aika about something else she could do. "Okay then." She heard Denji mutter behind her. On her way she spotted Yukio sitting cross legged, his arms swathed in spiralling lightning. His white hair had gotten shaggier, to the point Aika was threatening to cut it. Yukio countered about Denji's hair and she shut up about it, preferring to let Yukio be Yukio.

"You do you then." She had said to him. Now he was attempting to create Justus without hand signs. He worked on his Lightning Blade for months before he could even try to work it right. Now he could bring it out without hand signs, though he now would use one or two to make it far easier. His Lightning Drills, he said, were proving far easier.

"It's all about chakra manipulation." He said when Arine bothered. Aika got him onto it, saying Yukio was better suited at it with his intellect. So he did, and now he was found spending hours changing one jutsu he had into another through sheer force of intelligence. He'd been practicing a shield with Denji's earth jutsu and they had made quite a good practice pair.

Which left Arine with the straw dummies.

"Arine." Yukio greeted her as the lightning around his arms spun slowly, ever so slowly. "Turning a Lightning Blade into a Lightning Drill is a tad harder than I thought. It's the speed." He closed his eyes and focused, forcing the chakra to spin faster. "There we go." He sighed, looking at his arms. "Denji!" he called.

"On it!" Denji made a couple hand signs as Yukio outstretched one arm, letting the other one return to normal, the lightning fading. The other drill was pushed out and widened until it was more circular and pointed out just a bit. Arine watched as Denji made his hand signs and punched hand into the dirt, propelling an earthen javelin at Yukio, who held his shield fast until the javelin made impact hard enough to send Yukio sprawling, skidding over some grass. He got up somewhat shakily, but he had a grin on his face. He'd grown quite tall the past couple years.

"It stopped the spike from penetrating!" he said, excitedly. "However force is an issue."

"Sorry, buddy!" Denji called.

"It's fine." He said casually. He looked to Arine and frowned. "Something wrong?"

I'm just fucking angry. She thought, her face in the scowl it had been since she had awoken.

"I'm fine." She muttered before walking to the cabin and opening the door, walking in to see Aika reading a book while she lay casually on the couch. Her eyes moved up to notice the intruder before she slid a book mark into the tome and set it down.

"Arine." Aika sighed. She was beginning to get some grey hair along her temples, making her appear older.

"Aika, I need something to do." Arine was blunt as can be, Aika preferred that. Though lately she had shown what Arine could only interpret as disappointment.

"You have plenty to do." Aika looked to her student. Arine scowled back.

"Hacking at straw dummies isn't plenty to do." Arine argued.

"Then go create a jutsu." Aika said casually, despite Yukio and Denji only creating about six between the two of them.

"My arsenal's just fine." Arine countered. She just needed something to do.

"Then go work on them."

"They're fine."

"Then go spar with Yukio or Denji." Aika was beginning to sound incredibly irritated.

"They're busy."

"Then I give up, Arine!" Aika exclaimed. "You've become more and more difficult with each passing year it's incredible. I've known some thick people but you…" Aika looked at Arine, a frown on her face. "You got stuck in your rut and you just refuse to leave no matter what I do. I'd say no matter what you do but you never make an attempt to leave the rut. It's amazing how you refuse to leave and you become hostile to anyone who attempts to help you it's insane." Aika took a deep breath and grabbed her book. "You know, for all I care right now, go back to sleep. You'll do as much good. I might send someone to wake you up." Aika sighed and went back to her book. Arine stood there, watching her teacher for a minute before she heeded Aika's advice and made her way to the stairs and she headed up, reaching her bed and climbing into it. She went under her covers and lay there, staring at the wall for several minutes before she fell asleep, taking a nap.

Shinoa was dragged and thrown into her cell violently, her face hitting the floor hard enough to break the skin. She didn't feel it, however. She was barely conscious as the men threw her into the cell and closed the door, locking it with a key. Shinoa remained front first on the ground, not moving, barely breathing. She had no urge to move even a finger. She lay there, hearing the various cries of the cave as mere muffled background noise. She had long ago tuned it out as she planned. Now, however, she felt more defeated than she had in a long, long time. From outside of her cell, she heard a set of footsteps, rapid and hard, clacking along the stone floor before they stopped out of her cell.

"Well, well." Shinoa heard the voice. "Bit broken, isn't she?"

"Thought the customers liked that sort of thing." A familiar voice countered.

"I guess. It'll just take longer, though niche markets can sell quickly if you advertise right. Broken tomboy woman. Someone will pay a good amount I guess. I'd earn more if she was unsullied." The leader sounded irritated.

"She was 'sullied' before she even came here. Women can sleep around too you know."

"Still, this will be tough to sell. If she doesn't, it's on your head."

"Whatever."

"Have some damned finesse." The man was criticised by the leader before they walked away, leaving Shinoa to lay in her cell, unwilling to move.

"I have finesse!" she heard.

"If you did, I wouldn't have to sell broken products to even more broken buyers. Regardless, she's back and that's all that matters."

"You're welcome."

"Stop pushing your luck." And they left earshot. Shinoa remained in place, watching her cell wall as it grew darker and darker with every passing minute.

Despite herself, a single tear found its way out of her eye and down her cheek, onto the stone floor beneath her.

"Okay, it seems everyone's here." Aika said as Arine began walking down the stairs. Aika's look at her was relatively neutral. "So let's discuss a project I have panned for us that could net us some decent money due to this recent dry spell." Aika announced as Arine sat down.

"Dry spell?" Denji asked, his headband back on, covering his bad eye.

"You haven't noticed you've spent more time training than going out to find bounties?" Aika asked.

"Oh." Denji came to the realisation.

"Exactly. However a bounty has come up that could get us the funds we've been needing." Aika pulled a paper with an artists description of a man with a cruel looking, square face. Black hair, sadistic eyes, and a constant sneer. Arine felt an acute dislike for this picture.

"What's his story?" Yukio asked quickly, efficiently. He always was straight to the point with bounties.

"Supposedly he's the middle man for a human trafficking operation." Aika revealed with a sigh.

"Whoa, hold on!" Denji said suddenly, his hands held up. "I thought we didn't deal with that stuff."

"Denji…" Aika began but Denji refuted her.

"Listen you said we don't get tangled up in those complex webs and shit. I'm not-"

"Denji!" Aika cut him off. "This is just the middle man and he's wanted alive. All we do is nab him and send him on his way. It's a fake deal, his friends will be taken out, it'll all be fine."

"You sure about that?" Yukio asked. "We'd need to recon the area hours beforehand and make triple sure we won't be ambushed. Maybe even have someone lying in wait."

"Valid points." Aika brought up. "Which is why we shall be enacting them all. We'll recon the drop off area and make sure things go smoothly. Some dead helpers, one bound middle man, and a large sum of money for us." Aika handed Yukio the bounty paper. "It should all go well."

"Should is a term for closeness. That's only applicable with explosives." Yukio commented, handing the paper to Denji. Arine watched her friend explain this. "While volatile this situation is, that blast radius is not one we want to be in. I also say we should find out a bit more about this operation he's working for."

"Already ahead of you, so I did some asking around. Turns out this operation is a recent one, only popped up a few years ago. Though it's boomed, especially in niche markets." Aika revealed. "Partly due to accidents."

"Define accidents."

"Apparently one of the higher ups has anger issues, takes it out on the products. So they have to sell to less viable, but slightly more profitable markets." Aika explained. "They seem to tend to the sex slave market the most so it's the women that suffer most from this person's outbursts."

"Disgusting." Arine commented.

"My thoughts exactly." Aika agreed. "However if we can nab this middle man, he might talk to whomever he's delivered to then this operation might get shut down. We might as well do something of good while we're bounty hunters."

"We took down Kohta Inuzuka." Yukio brought up. "That's plenty of good."

"But we let Anri Nomura escape." Aika countered. Denji looked down suddenly, his face red. Aika saw and sighed loudly. "For various reasons. So perhaps now is the time we did something of worth that'll also get us paid. Hopefully soon this dry spell will end quickly and we can resume the rest of our scrupulous work. Sound good?"

"Sounds fine." Arine stated.

"Makes sense." Yukio stroked his chin lightly, as if he had a beard. Arine smirked, the boy hadn't grown nary one hair on his face in the time she knew him.

"Count me in then." Denji sighed. Aika smiled.

"Good. Thankfully this is a job within the Land of Fire so it won't be a huge trip. In fact it's only a couple small villages over, in the area surrounding. If we talk to some people we should find out the location of the drop off, otherwise we can just recon the surrounding areas and go from there. We need to find this person within the next couple of days if we want to get the bounty." Aika revealed. Arine was handed the paper and she saw the reward. Two Million ryo.

"Our man is worth that much?" she asked, curious.

"I know, I was surprised as well. However, because this is a small but successful operation, the middle man must be damn good at what he does. Entirely possible he used to work legitimately but got disillusioned, scorned, or just wanted more money. Either way he's good and he costs a lot."

"So what's the plan?" Yukio asked.

"Once we find him, we wait. Supposedly there's a deal they're making and it's a pretty big one. If we can interrupt it then we're golden. That'll allow us to nab the middle man and run with it. Perhaps even deal with whomever is being sold. I'm sure they can find help."

"Putting a lot of faith into one desperate person, Aika." Yukio lightly criticised her. "After all, how can we know they'd get away?"

"If you want to kill the owners, then that's up to you." Aika countered. "However, my main concern is the middle man and only him or her. Other things are up to you as individuals."

"That's fine." Yukio shrugged. "My main issue is if our middle man will have enforcers."

"We'll take them out first." Aika revealed. "That's when two of us incapacitate the middle man while the others fight off whomever is left who wants to fight. It's a simple plan, but effective I think."

"It's as good as any other, really." Yukio shrugged.

"Good. Are we in agreement?" Aika looked to her students.

"Yes." They answered in unison.

"All right. Arine, stay behind. I want to talk with you a minute. You two can go do what you need to do before bed." She nodded to Yukio and Denji, who stood and walked upstairs to their room while Arine crossed her legs, prepared for what Aika had to say to her.

"What is it?" she asked, gruffly. She was tired, she wanted to go to bed.

"Listen, Arine." Aika started off. "I'm not gonna berate you or get on your ass about your attitude, but I'm going to admit I'm concerned about it." Aika took a deep breath before continuing as Arine frowned. Her attitude? It was fine. Aika was just being uncooperative.

"It's fine." Arine voiced her thoughts.

"No, it's not." Aika sounded grim. "In fact since we've met, it's only gotten worse. You've been over all angrier, your temper is criminally short, and I've seen what you've done to the straw dummies, among other things. Denji and Yukio have both mentioned your attitude towards them has been dismissive on good days and outright ignoring them on most. This is a serious issue, Arine. We need to deal with it."

"There's nothing to deal with." Arine countered but Aika frowned and shook her head.

"Arine, there's a lot to deal with. You need to fix your attitude. There has to be something wrong." Her mouth was drawn in a tight line and Arine could see she wanted to say something she shouldn't. If she did… "Does it have to do with what happened the night I-" Arine stood up abruptly and glared at her teacher.

"Do. Not. Mention. That. Ever. Again." Arine growled, staring at Aika fiercely. Aika had no reaction to this other than a slight frown.

"Arine-" she began before Arine walked out, opening the door and slamming it shut, heading out into the dark woods, ignoring anything that might happen. She kept walking, heading into the woods with no regard for anything Aika might say to her. She just wanted to be alone.

Aika watched as her student run out of the cabin and sat there, letting it happen. She was afraid this would happen. Shizune and her talked about it at length, how Arine would eventually peak with her repressed issues regarding the attempted rape that night. Shizune had warned her but Aika didn't bother to listen as close as she should have. She accepted the news but assumed, like an idiot, that Arine would be fine after a bit. She wasn't. After four years, Arine had only gotten worse and worse. She'd been getting more and more angry, especially at her comrades. Aika also realised how Arine took few jobs that didn't deal with men wanted dead for various crimes of sexual deviancy. She should've done something earlier.

"Damn you, Arine." Aika whispered, as she sunk into her chair. "I should've done something." She rubbed her eyes roughly before sighing. Arine would be back, she was sure of it. The girl wouldn't listen to her right now, no chance. She would just have to wait. Sadly. Aika was tempted to get a drink, but then remembered she hadn't drank since she was young. "Damn." She muttered under her breath.

Arine didn't travel very far. Despite what Aika may think, Arine had a close bolt hole. The small clearing. She made it there within a couple minutes and rested at the lake, sitting down before it. Normally the moon above would be white, but on this occasion it was red. What was it called again? Blood Moon? Yeah. That was it.

"Weird name since it's orange." Arine commented to herself as she stared at it from the lake reflection. It hung high in the sky, casting little light. It was weird, how it happened like that sometimes. However, Arine didn't question it. What she did question, however, was Aika.

How could she bring that up? She should know Arine was dealing with… night terrors. She hated to admit it herself but she had been dealing with the since that night. Every sleep session was plagued with horrific images of those two sound nin finding her no matter where she hid, overpowering her no matter how hard she fought, outwitting her at every turn. Every time they'd find her and every tie they'd tear her clothes and force her to the ground… then she'd wake up in a cold sweat. She never screamed out loud though, not once. According to Yukio, she was quiet as ever. Denji had the occasional nightmare that Yukio had woken up from, but he said Arine never screamed or thrashed out. Still, she had them. She never said anything, however, because she knew Aika would make her talk to Shizune or something about it. Arine didn't want that. She didn't want to. She functioned just fine since the nightmares kept to themselves. Awake, she did what she could to wipe up the scum she could, taking specific bounties. That didn't help anything, however. Nothing helped the nightmares.

"Not like anything Aika can do will help." Arine spat, looking at the orange moon in the lake. It looked far closer in the lake, she could almost reach out and touch it. But of course it wasn't there. She almost wished it was, then she could at least go there. Instead she was stuck here, dealing with Aika being nosy. Who knows how Yukio would react, the overprotective idiot. Arine grimaced. Smart he may be, but he was prone to being just as dense as any rock Denji could conjure up. He never knew when Arine needed her alone time, which was growing larger with each passing year. "No one seems to get that, however." Arine commented to herself. She picked up a stick and spun it deftly between her fingers. Aika commented several times on her dexterity, saying it was incredible. Arine took the compliments with a grain of salt, continuing to work harder at it, repeating moves until she could do them in her sleep. However the nightmares prevented general movement. Yukio always said she was still.

"Caw!" she heard. Arine looked up and saw a black bird perched on a branch, barely visible in the orange moon's light. It twitched its head, looking down at Arine, regarding her with curiosity.

"Hello." Arine said curtly, despite it being just a bird. "What are you doing here?"

"CAW!" it screeched, making Arine jump.

"Kami…" she muttered. "Leave, shoo." She waved her hand at the creature, but it only hopped down a few more branches, ignoring her wish to be rid of it.

"Caw!" it screeched at her.

"I said, piss off!" Arine threw her stick at the bird, hitting it in the chest. It cawed several times before flying away, leaving a few feathers behind. Arine watched the light feathers fall in swaying formations before they landed on the lake's surface, disturbing it lightly with small ripples before it returned to its previous state of complete stillness, but it had the feathers floating lightly on the surface. Arine stared down at it and huffed. "Stupid bird." She stood slowly and began walking towards the cabin. She didn't know how long she'd been away and didn't care. All she wanted was to get some alone time.

It was only a couple minutes until she reached the cabin and saw it was dark. That was fine, they had a balcony and Aika taught them early on how to walk on walls and water. Arine reached the wall and stepped on it, easily walking up the short distance to the balcony, where she leapt off and landed on the railing without a sound. She stepped down and was about to head into their room when she heard him.

"Arine." Yukio's voice appeared from behind her. Arine turned and saw her friend leaning against the door frame.

"What?" Arine asked curtly. Yukio simply stood there.

"We should talk."

"There's nothing to talk about." Arine glared at him.

"There's plenty to talk about." He countered.

"Then go talk to Aika." Arine walked and pushed past Yukio, who didn't resist. "I'm sure you two will have long discussions."

"Arine…" Yukio started but Arine ignored him and went to her bed, climbing under the covers and acting as if she were asleep. She heard Yukio sigh loudly before heading to his own bed. Arine continued to stare at the wall before her. She kept staring for what felt like hours, thinking of nothing, before sleep finally found her.

A/N: Kind of a short chapter but, you know, it's the introduction one so it doesn't have to be super duper long. Hope you all enjoyed!