Few day has passed since Mitsuki's failed revenge match. It was the day for their ship to depart and cross the border to the Land of Fire.

"Yosh, I think that's all" Mitsuki exclaimed as she finished tying her cloth bag.

"How is it that you ended up with even more things to carry than the both of us combined?" Kisame couldn't help but poke fun at the cheerful girl.

"Shouldn't you count your Samehada?" Mitsuki turned her head towards Kisame as she glared at him in annoyance.

"This is different, this is my partner and my ninja tool." Kisame grinned at her as he awaited for her retort.

"Then, I could say that clothes and makeups are woman's weapon too!" Mitsuki jeered at Kisame.

Kisame tried to hold himself back from retorting to Mitsuki calling herself a woman.

"Where did you even learn that.. and, makeup? You're not gonna wear it, aren't you?" Kisame frowned.

"Nope, not yet, at least. I know wearing make up makes shinobi easier to track by scents or something. But it might come in handy if I ever need to act and look older, I think. Ah, and it's a gift from Hazuki-nee, so don't worry about Itachi-kun's wallet." Mitsuki answered concisely as she tied the cloth bag to the tip of a wooden stick for carrying.

"Hazuki-nee?" asked Kisame.

Before Mitsuki could answer, the door opened, Itachi stood outside the door as he informed, "I've handled the check-out. We should go."

"Understood," Kisame replied. "Let's go, kiddo."

"OK," Mitsuki answered as she carried tightened the tie on her pack once more to be safe.

However, as the duo followed Itachi to leave the inn, a conversation caught their ears.

"We're lucky, the ship will be leaving today."

Itachi and Kisame immediately erased their presence as they hid their figure behind the closest pillar. Mitsuki nonchalantly looked out as she extended her perception. "Chakra, and quite a great amount of it too," she thought to herself as she looked into the source of the voice earlier. The two figure just outside the inn were standing in the shade, both of them wearing a mask with the same marking as on Kisame's forehead protector. Mitsuki looked out, then back at the duo who she travelled with. Looking at the tense expression plastered at their face, Mitsuki put two and two together. "Those people are danger to both Itachi-kun and Kisame, and seemed like they were going to board the same ship as ours," Mitsuki concluded. Now that was unfortunate, she thought.

"Yeah, if we missed this one, there will probably be no more ship to the Land of Fire until the Chuunin exam is over. I heard that the security over there will be tightened as well since all the daimyo will be attending," the masked girl responded to her partner's statement.

"Chuunin exam?" Itachi thought in his head. "Thinking about it, it's about time. By what they are saying, it's going to be held in Konoha?" he thought to himself, an image of his little brother becoming a chuunin popped in his head.

"Hhhhhh, why are we sent on a cross border mission at such a sensitive timing." The other masked guy complained.

Mitsuki looked at Itachi's face, then Kisame's. "What should we do?" A vine came out from Mitsuki's pocket and write the sentence on the air. Itachi and Kisame looked at each other, considering their option. "It's so unfortunate, creating ruckuss would only create more trouble for our discretion. I'm sure that Itachi-kun and Kisame is stronger than them, but I bet it will still draw too much attention if a fight does break. Seems like it will be not good for further discretion as well." Mitsuki thought of the situation in her head. An idea popped on her head, and she grinned. Mitsuki waved her hand, and the vine reformed the sentences.

"I guess, it's my time to shine, huh?" Mitsuki grinned as the vine wrote itself on the air. Itachi and Kisame looked at the words, then back at her, with unsure look plastered on their faces.

"I'll make sure they miss the ship," Mitsuki smirked mischievously. "I'll distract them away, then both of you should take the chance to go ahead and board. Oh, don't forget to get my ticket too." The vines continued to write itself, before going back to Mitsuki's pouch after finishing her last sentence. Itachi and Kisame glanced at each other.

Mitsuki frowned. "What are you guys hesitating about? I can do it, just consider it my repayment for the futon," the vines came back out as it wrote Mitsuki's frustration clearly on the air.

Itachi beckoned towards Mitsuki and put out his hand with the palm's up towards her as she approached. Understanding the signal, Mitsuki put out her hand on top of Itachi's palm.

"Those are hunter-nin," Itachi wrote with his finger onto Mitsuki's palm. "They are dangerous," he added soon after. The name ring a bell on Mitsuki's brain. If she's not mistaken, a few days ago, Kisame told her about them and how they hunt missing-nin like Itachi and Kisame for Kirigakure.

Mitsuki frowned as she pointed her other hand up towards the rewriting vine, "I can see, and I can see that they are weaker than both of you as well. But we require secrecy, don't we?"

Itachi frowned. As his finger started moving across Mitsuki's palm again, Mitsuki put her other hand on top of Itachi's to stop him, and pointed back toward the vine once more.

"They don't know anything about me, I can fool them and lure them into a trap. I won't face them head on," added Mitsuki with a confident smile. "You taught me, remember?" she added.

As Itachi didn't let go of his frown, Mitsuki let out a bitter smile.

"If you are that worried about me," Mitsuki wrote again, "Next time you see me, you should call me by my name," she continued, mischievous smile on her face. Kisame couldn't help but grin as he saw Mitsuki's word and Itachi's baffled face. He signalled towards Itachi to let Mitsuki go.

Itachi lowered his hand, his face as if making inaudible sigh, frown still etched on his forehead. Mitsuki did a tiny spin and made a pose, as if saying "leave it to me," before dashing to the other end of the hall without making a sound. Fruit of her training, as she called it.

Then, a few seconds after...

"HUAAAAA" a familiar voice cried from outside the inn, just at the end of the hall that Mitsuki dashed toward, surprising Itachi and Kisame.

Then loud, clumsy footstep follows as it rushed towards the two masked figure.

"Brother, Sister, you two are shinobi right? H…Help me.. My papa… My mama…" The girl voice begged in uncontrollable sob, her hand covered in blood. Kisame peeked slightly outside the window. A familiar girl was covered in blood, mud, and tears as she continuedly sobbing uncontrollably, wiping her tears.

"Unbelievable," Kisame thought as he held in his chuckle, wondering how did she even got that much blood on her.

"What is it, young lady?" The masked girl asked. She seemed to be the gentler among the two.

"Papa, Mama, in the mangrove.." Mitsuki continued sobbing.

"Calm down, girl, what happen?" The man asked impatiently.

"A tall man in the forest.. Attacked my parents," Mitsuki stuttered as she wiped away her tears. "He had same symbol in his metal plate as your mask, and he was holding a giant, metal sword."

Kisame grinned as he heard Mitsuki's lie. It was only few days ago he told her about that other member of Kirigakure's seven swordsman, and he recognize the description she gave them.

"!?" The two shinobi turned to face each other.

"Could it be, that Zabuza?" Said the female shinobi.

"Wait, something's off. I heard Zabuza died just recently?"

"Oh shit," Mitsuki thought in panic, as she tried to not letting it show on her face. She didn't thought about that possibility of her lie getting uncovered so fast.

"But can you really believe it senpai? That Zabuza, defeated by a team of genin?"

Realizing the situation, Mitsuki had to stop herself from grinning. There's doubt, then.. "It's my chance," Mitsuki cheered in her mind.

"Hey, believe me? Please be quick, if not.. Papa.. Mama.. HUAAAAA" Mitsuki bawled as she finished stuttering.

"Let's go check it out, senpai," said the female shinobi as the girl's cry shook her heart.

"What if it's a trap?"

"She's covered in fresh blood! And, even if it's a trap, it might still be another target of ours. You heard what she said!"

"One more push," Mitsuki smirked internally,

The two masked figure argued. Mitsuki's sob soften as she wiped her tears and put on an angry and frustrated look on her face, feigning dissappointment. Tears still lodged at the corner of her eyes.

"Fine! If you guys don't believe me, I'll go back on my own." Mitsuki shouted in frustration as she turned and started running towards the mangrove, stumbling and tripping along the way.

"Wait, missy!" The female masked ninja shouted as she swiftly followed behind her.

"Hhhh, I don't know if anything goes wrong, OK?" The masked man sighed as he turned and followed his partner's footstep.

Itachi and Kisame waited a bit more until the three figure is out of sight. As soon as they felt the presence had gone far enough, Kisame chuckled.

"Hahaha, that was something, huh?" Kisame said to Itachi who was still standing in silence, looking throught the window.

"It's likely she had familiarized herself so much with lies by observing people's behaviour and emotional reaction," Itachi answered as he let his inner thought leak.

"In a way, she's a bit like you," Kisame smirked as he responded to his partner's word. Itachi glanced towards Kisame, not sure what to say. Somewhere in his heart, he felt unexplainable pang of sadness after witnessing the other side of the seemingly innocent girl.

"It's this way, quick!" Mitsuki shouted with a sense of urgency. The three of them have now entered the mangrove.

".. something's weird." The male masked figure said in soft voice.

" What is it senpai?" The female shinobi questioned.

"We have runned so far, yet she doesn't seem to be out of breath. And, she had stopped stumbling the moment we were out of the village." The masked guy whispered warily.

Mitsuki smirked hearing the two figure behind her conversing. "It's already too late," she thought to herself as she walked towards the muddy water. Instantly, steam rose from the muddy water and covered the two masked figure as the wind blew the steam towards them.

"!?" The two shinobi covered the front of their body as the steam blew towards them. When the mist lifted, the girl figure had disappeared from their field of view. Baffled, the two shinobi extended their chakra to figure out the girl's position, to no avail.

Wind blew strongly, creating a circling wall around the two. The two, still unsure of what hit them, readied their kunai for battle as they assess the situation. Suddenly, thorny vines grew interconnected from all around them, threatening to shred their screen with a moment's movement. Somehow, the body of the two shinobi grew heavier and heavier as they breath.

A creepy, sinister laughter echoed around them, carried by the wind. The two tenses up, their breathing hastened. Something wasn't right. Their visions grow blurred, and power was leaving their body.

"!? Could it be, this mist? But there's no chakra, how?" the masked male figure looked around, as his partner lost the strength on her legs and collapsed.

"You're too late," a soft, female voice echoed through the wind in a chilling, playful tone.

In front of the masked figure who tried his best to retain his consciousness, the wind carried the mist as it congregated, creating a faint shape of a beast as he began to pass out.

"It's been a while," Kisame muttered as he stood besides Itachi on the ship's deck.

"Has everyone come aboard? We'll be departing soon!" The ship-hand announced.

"What should we do, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked. At this rate, the girl might be left behind.

Itachi kept his silence as he recalled the previous conversation between him and Mitsuki.

"If you are that worried about me, Next time you see me, you should call me by my name," in Itachi's memory, Mitsuki said with a mischievous smile.

"She noticed," Itachi thought to himself. As she had said, Itachi has never called Mitsuki by her name before. Not just on her case, all her life, Itachi has been maintaining distance with the people around him, with only a few of them had the honor of being called his friends. Responding to his coldness and indifference, people around him would usually end up keeping their distance from him, which is perfect for him as he prefer to observe things objectively from afar. Somehow he felt like, by calling her, or anyone by their names, he would be letting them past the wall that he had crafted carefully around himself. It surprised him how she was not deterred at all by knowing that fact, as she confronted him with the piercing look on her eyes that seemed to be continuously digging through his mind. "Thinking of it, Kisame too…" Itachi added in his mind, recalling how his partnership with Kisame has grown so far, thanks to Kisame's relaxed attitude and their mutual respect. One could even say, that within Akatsuki, they were among the closest pair.

Reminded of their situation, Itachi pulled his mind back to reality as he observed the dock. "Still no sign of the girl," he thought. Itachi started to feel worry brewing in his heart. It was true that the girl has special skill that was ideal for this purpose, and he did teach her on how to maximize her advantage against another shinobi. However, things often wouldn't always be as smooth as various shinobi with various skill exist, and the girl still lacks experience in dealing with such cases. Idea of what could have happened to her surfaced in his mind.

"Was it my misjudgment?" Itachi asked himself. Maybe he shouldn't have let her go alone, he thought. The idea of the girl dying plagued his mind. If she were to die, it will be because of him, he thought. Itachi dreaded the idea of bearing another regret as he recalled their meeting and short journey together. As more and more memory flashed inside his head, his worry grew deeper. Seemed like in the short time they were together, he had grown to care about the girl. The girl followed the duo because of him. He didn't stop her and kept her around due to his own interest, yet he still keep himself distant and failed to stop her when it might have mattered. Maybe, he was the reason the girl pushed herself to such danger, to gain his approval and close the distance between them, Itachi thought.

Looking at his partner lost deep in thought, Kisame smiled bitterly. "Since you're worried, should I go and fetch her?" Kisame offered, interrupting Itachi's train of thought.

Itachi turned his gaze to face his partner. Did he accidentally let his emotion be shown on his face? Sometimes he felt like his partner has a knack in figuring people out as well.

"We are departing!" The ship-hand announced as he commanded the crew to lift the anchor and widen the sail. "It's not the time to dawdle," Itachi thought, realizing the press of time. However, before Itachi could open his mouth to tell Kisame his decision, a familiar voice shouted.

"WWWWAAAAIIIIIITTTTTT" Mitsuki shouted as she traversed quickly using the dock's pillar, and jumped onto the ship. As she landed right in front of Itachi and Kisame, she spun her body and did a cute pose as she waved her finger into a peace sign, mischievous smile plastered on her face.

"I've come back~* Miss me yet?" Mitsuki asked teasingly as she chuckled.

"Hey kid! You can't just climb onto the ship like that!" The ship-hand rushed toward her and shouted as he broke through the surprise of her dramatic entry.

"I'm with them!" Mitsuki replied with a smile as she pointed at Kisame who waved the three tickets on his hand in conjunction.

The ship-hand scratched his head as he turned back, he was utterly confused by the girl's entrance as well as her messed look.

"How did it go?" Kisame grinned, asking the happy looking girl in front of him.

"Hehe, easy peasy! Ah, don't worry, I didn't kill them, it will be troublesome if someone came to investigate some hunter-nin disappearances right?" Mitsuki answered as she shifted her gaze between Itachi and Kisame as she explained.

"…." Itachi kept quiet. He didn't think about it previously, but there seems to be quite a lot amount of blood on her body even just when her deceit started.

Noticing Itachi's gaze, Mitsuki smiled gently at him, as if to calm him down. "Remember what I told you about healing fast? This blood is nothing much, I just sliced my palm a bit to let out some blood to convince them better. I healed immediately afterwards since it was shallow."

Somehow, her words didn't make Itachi feel better. Kisame was baffled to hear that as well.

"So, what happen to do hunters?"

"I put them into delirium. Do you know, there's some plant endemic here that can work both as recreational drug as well as painkiller? I just made sure they inhaled a lot of it's essence." By scattering the muddy water as mist, and finely powdered essence that she had extracted and worked on based on Hazuki's information into the mist, she had managed to cover both the plant smell and her escape while delivering the drug effectively to her opponent's body.

"I just scared them a bit, make them tense, then their breathing immediately got faster. Oh, and I did a final touch and created an illusion by shaping the mists with wind. If we are lucky, they will think that it's the working of a ghost, or Youkai." Mitsuki giggled as she explained while sitting atop the ship's fence, as the ship slowly drifting away from the dock. "I'm amazing right? Praise me, praise me!" Mitsuki said cheerfully as she put on a mischievous, villainous look on her face. Kisame couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahahah, but really, your acting took me by surprise. What's with that helpless girl look?" Kisame teased.

Mitsuki grinned proudly as she heard a panicked voice called.

"Mitsuki-chan!"

Mitsuki turned around to find Hazuki standing on the edge of the dock as she pushed some people away, out of breath.

"Hazuki-nee!?" She shouted in response.

"Take care on your journey! I wanted to give you these as well! Can you catch?"

Mitsuki nodded as she gave a big OK sign with both of her arm. Hazuki threw the bundle on her hand as strong as she could. As the bundle lost its momentum half way towards the ship, Mitsuki's controlled vine went and catch the bundle mid-air.

"Thanks, Hazuki-nee!" Mitsuki shouted in cheerful voice as she waved her hand as wide as she can.

"Come visit again whenever you can, ok?" Hazuki waved back with a smile.

"Sure! See you again Hazuki-nee!" Mitsuki shouted back as she grinned with her best smile.

Confused, Kisame and Itachi was left speechless by the unfolding event.

Still baffled, Kisame asked as he glanced towards the bundle that is now hanging on Mitsuki's controlled vines, "What is that?"

"I don't know, hehe, a gift?" Mitsuki grinned as she pulled the bundle closer to her from the air.

"How do you even make friend in such a short time, I thought you were busy training?" Kisame scratched his head as he added.

Mitsuki turned her head towards Kisame, with fake cute and innocent expression plastered on her face. "With my cuteness? Just kidding hahahaha," Mitsuki laughed mischievously, leaving Kisame annoyed due to her senseless answer.

Seeing both of his travelling partner be in such a light mood, Itachi felt like breathing a sigh of relieve. Somehow despite their weird circumstances, Itachi felt a weird warmth in his heart. It's as if he was really among his teammates somehow, even though he shouldn't be feeling that way. Kisame had been a very good partner for him and they understand each other more than what people might conceive by looking at them. And now, with the recent addition to their party, things had started to light up even more. Somehow, there's something about the girl that just seemed to bring joy upon the party, despite her quirk and darkness that showed up from time to time. They had even start to eat together frequently now because of her presence and insistence. At the very least, he was glad that she was unharmed.

"By the way, Itachi-kun~" A playful voice called Itachi, dragging his thought back. Itachi turned his gaze to meet the source of the voice head on. "Your promise?" Mitsuki grinned mischievously.

"I don't remember him promising you anything?" Kisame frowned at the girl's mischievous grin.

Itachi sighed, he couldn't help but give in to the girl's request in return for her sincere effort and hard work. She had truly made things easier for them this time, without him and Kisame having to lift a hand to help. Maybe, it's time for him to truly accept her as a part of their journey, and in that case, if he were to make sure she'll be safe, the distance he was keeping was nothing but an impediment. "Good work, Mitsuki," he said, as he turned his back away from the other two. Mitsuki smiled gently in response, satisfied with the fruit of her effort.

Immediately, Mitsuki turned her attention back to the bundle she received from Hazuki. "Whoaaaa it's another sets of clothes!" Mitsuki exclaimed as she opened the bundle that Hazuki passed her.

Looking at the content, Kisame opened his mouth in horror. "Seriously? Are you sure you're not scamming someone here? Those couldn't be cheap right? I'm at a loss for word.." Kisame added in confusion as she saw various colourful clothes inside the bundle.

"Fufufu, of course not," Mitsuki replied with a gentle smile ,"Hazuki-nee is just a really nice girl, that's all.."

"Hee.." Kisame muttered, with unconvinced look on his face.

Edit:

Added in additional details that came to mind ehhehe

Author's note:

Hehehehe finally left the Land of Water, and closer to Konoha hehe… I can't wait for things to pick up and Mitsuki will slowly learn more about ninja world and herself, as well as Itachi's complicated situation :3

Anyway, this time, Mitsuki showed her manipulative side (even tho she already had bits and pieces everywhere before), what do you guys think about this little devil so far? Hahaha, don't hate her please she had a hard life x'D I want to make her slowly gain weight too so she no longer looks malnourished and extremely skinny anymore :3

BTW I made an X specifically for this story, if you guys would like to follow, I'll be posting some illustration for the story there :3 I'll also include the illustration in other side that allows it!

the handle is ance_moondemon

Extra notes:

Mitsuki used *modori-kaerimashita here instead of tadaima in an exaggerated tone, emphasizing her hero landing :3