Naruto 1. Have you heard the news?

_Naruto_ © **Masashi Kishimoto**  
_The Ogre's Glow-worm_ © **Hurlstien**

* * *

(_have you heard the news?_ _bad things come in twos_)

* * *

The screech of a woman was shrill.

A girl straightened and stilled at the sound, hot breath curling through the air. The hatchet in her gloved hand was stuck in the tree stump between two chucks of cleaved wood. She didn't let go as she turned to stare down at the tavern, with its dark oak slats and red pot tiling, squatting at the bottom of the hill. Surrounded by crisp white fields, smoke was still chugging from the chimney and curling up into the cloudless sky. It didn't look any different… and yet the tight clenching of her gut told her something was wrong; women didn't scream for nothing around here.

It felt like the world had frozen for a moment as she stilled and listened for anything more. But all she heard was the far off tapping of a woodpecker echo through the trees behind her.

A breeze kicked up and her left coat sleeve flapped ghoulishly as her heart rocked her body. Wrenching her axe from the stump, she descended the hill, boots crunching in the snow as her hand repeatedly squeezed the chopper's handle.

Approaching the back door she'd left ajar on her way out, she slipped through and into the small, stone floored store room. She heard a trembling voice as she climbed the three wooden steps into the private kitchen, her eyes on the door that led into the main tavern. Then a movement caught her eye: to her right across the room, her boss's daughter– _'Anri, yeah?'_ –was sat cowering beneath the sink.

Anri was beckoning to her, shaking her head. Don't go in there. Don't look. Don't even _move; _your very footsteps will give me– _us_, away.

"I haven't s– … –least half an hour, I swea–…"

She turned away from Anri at the strained voice of her boss, Mr Hamada, and her heart bounced off her ribs like a rubber ball.

Slowly, she sidled up to the door separating the kitchen from the bar, and peeked through the crack. For a moment all she could see was blood. Customers lay limp over upturned chairs and broken on the floor like tossed dolls, blood draining down their faces and arms, welling in the dips of their clothes, creating dark, gluey pools. Coloured glass decorated the floor between the bodies, catching stray sun beams and bouncing them into her eyes, telling her it was rude to stare.

Then her gaze fixed on a tall man with white hair just beyond the door. He had on a cloak, patterned with large red clouds, and was stood over her boss, his back to her. Her lips parted. A huge, three bladed scythe was in his fist, and she couldn't help but compare it to her pathetic hatchet.

"Please believe me, I truh– I truly don't know." Hamada's voice was breaking, on the edge of crying. His hands scrambled to press himself back into the wooden slats of the bar, scraping through the broken glass by his thighs.

The man with white hair sighed, but there was a smile in his accented voice as he said: "Sucks for you."

With a wet crunch, the third blade of the scythe had split the man's skull and was being swallowed in his barrel chest.

The girl flinched and fought not to gulp. Her grip on the axe tightened as realisation set in. _'He's a Shinobi…_

'_Leave. I need to l–'_

There was a shift in the air.

'_Chakra!–'_

She spun, swinging the axe. But instead of flesh, it hit what felt like a cement barricade, and was batted out of her hand immediately.

The hatchet flew to the right and smacked the wall, before crashing onto a table of used pottery. She barely felt herself flinch as she locked eyes with a giant of a man. In his right hand dangled a limp Anri, her trachea crushed in his clutch. Her eyes bulged and her mouth twitched like a beached fish, until it stopped. Neither of them moved for a brief moment. Then he released it; the raw power he'd been holding back. It trembled through the air and throbbed through her bones, paralysing her. She felt violent Goosebumps erupt across her skin beneath her coat. It was… awesome – and not in the good way.

Then, as his chakra seeped into the air, thickening it like an invisible fog, there was a certainty that coiled up and tightened around her throat alongside the fear, telling her… that she knew this man.

He dropped the corpse and stepped forwards. His shadow smothered her vision as his green eyes peered at her from under his hood, a dark mask covering the rest of his face. With her neck craned back, she shuffled up into the door and it creaked open as she stumbled through the entryway, the man following her.

"Hey, Kakuzu–"

'_Kakuzu.'_ She flinched when her left shoulder gave a hot tingle.

"– you want me to finish her off too?" there was a smirk in the tone. "I could use another virgin sacrifice."

'_How the …?_

'_Kakuzu; I know this guy._

'_Who cares – how did he know I was a virgin?! Is it that obvious? An' what the Hell does he mean, sacrifi–'_

But as her mind fought itself, her mouth ran away from her. "K-Kakuzu…" Her throat was swollen with fear and her syllables came out warped.

"Huh? You _know_ her?"

The man– Kakuzu, just blinked and grunted.

"Wait a sec."

She flinched as the second male sidled up behind her and moved around her left side. She shifted away and he laughed, throwing his arm around her neck and yanking her back.

"Fucking finally! You don't know how long we've been searching for your sorry ass, seriously." He jabbed her under the collar as she got a look at his face, but all she registered were his pink eyes. She tensed, not saying anything and the Albino 'hmm-ed'. "Blue-eyed, blonde bitch, missing an arm – left one." He poked the corresponding side, digging needlessly hard at her ribs. She hissed, arching away, and didn't miss his smirk. "Fits the description."

Kakuzu bowed his head. "You're right."

"Tch, 'course I'm right."

Unable to take it anymore, the girl spun out of his embrace and backed away from them, the way the man was snickering told her he let her escape his hold. She stopped when she felt her boot step on Hamada's dead hand, pressing in glass. There was silence for a few seconds, then a low groan came from across the room.

The Albino turned his head. "Uh-oh, looks like we got a live one."

"Not for long," said Kakuzu, and he made his way to the groaning across the room. "You get the girl – we need to leave."

"What? But you said I could do a ritual!"

"Don't you feel that?" Kakuzu stopped above the groaning woman, kunai in hand, as he looked back at his partner with what could only be described as disbelief.

"Feel what?"

"There are chakra signatures headed this way; we've been found out."

"God damn it! I'm already behind this month as it is–"

The girl stopped listening at that point as the white haired Shinobi seemed to run with what he had and spouted off some more. It was faint, but Kakuzu was right; there were chakra signatures headed their way from the direction of a small village just a mile north of the tavern. They'd be there any minute.

'_Whoever they are, they won't be enough.'_ She looked to the door leading back to the kitchen and began to edge towards it, inevitably moving closer to the Albino. _'They don't stand a chance against these guys. Especially not…' _She glanced at Kakuzu, recalling the first time she'd ever seen his green, green eyes.

"-telling me I take too much time when it's _you_ that drags our asses to every shithole in the–"

She kept her eyes on the back of the Albino's head, his attention focused on grouching at Kakuzu. But when he shifted his weight, she lost her nerve and bolted. She flew past Anri's body and was at the back storeroom exit in a second. But as she yanked on the handle, a hand slammed the door shut again.

"Hoh – you're a fast one." The Albino was stood beside her, far too close for comfort, and smiling an oddly sinister smile. "Ain'cha? _He-zā_."

The way he leaned down and said the 'Z' of her name, it was like a wasp buzzing in her ear. She felt the urge to swat it away as a prickly sensation shivered through her. But she refrained; slapping this man didn't seem like such a good idea.

The chakra flares were almost upon them and he gripped her arm hard, fingertips digging in as he looked over his shoulder. "Oi, Kakuzu – there's three of 'em. Hurry up and take the kid, will ya? I wanna have some fun."

'_Kid?'_

"You keep her." Kakuzu entered the kitchen. "I don't want to waste any more time with your drawn out rituals; we're late as it is. I'll take care of the interference."

"What? Forget it, I wanna rip these bastards limb from limb an–"

"Like you haven't done enough of that already."

"Che! You know as well as I do this place was pathetic." As he spoke, he yanked Hezā's arm about, bruising her skin.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "Do not test me, Hidan. I'm not in the mood for your bellyaching."

"You never are, you old fart."

Hezā barely had time to wonder what was going on before she was pulled out into the sunlight. It blinded her, and the sudden cold air burned her lungs as she staggered after the Albino. At the sound of clanging metal she snapped her head to the right see Hidan's scythe block a kunai – it bounced off the weapon, flipping furiously, and buried itself in the snow to her left. Between the red blades she spotted three figures running toward them though the white fields, weapons at the ready.

The grip on her arm disappeared and she stumbled out of the way of Kakuzu as he exited the tavern. There was a shout and a cackle but she didn't stick around to watch; noting that both men had jumped into the fight, she ran for the kunai sticking out of the snow. Diving into the frost, she rolled, grabbed the knife, and was on her feet before bolting up the hill for the cover of the trees, snow clinging to the back of her coat.

As she ran, thoughts blasted through her head like freight trains, crashing and colliding and exploding into more confusion. _'What's he doing turning up after all this ti–what could they possibly want with me? It's been seven years sinc–that Hidan guy, I don't remember hi–just, what the FUCK?'_

And beneath it all, her fear bubbled furiously, heated and fuelled by the hard thumping of her heart as she realised the only reason they had to track her down was to kill her.

She leapt into the boughs of the trees and sped on, trying to put as much distance between herself and those people as possible.

Minutes dragged into hours as she travelled, and all the while she felt the horrid, prickly sensation that the two men were right on her tail. She kept checking over her shoulder, unable to help it, but she never saw a thing. Snow crunched under her boots and fell from the branches as she landed and pushed off again, and all too often did her foot minutely slip and send her heart into a thumping frenzy. Fighting a yelp and a curse each time, she would refine her chakra control and keep going. It had been too long since she'd done this.

The sky was darkening when the cold grey face of a cliff broke through the forest, and Hezā slowed her advance until she stopped in the last tree. The branch bobbed slowly from her weight and snow fell from the sides as she fought for breath.

"Shit," she gasped, staring up at the rock hardened with frost. To her right, the ground rose to the west, and to her left it sank to the east, leading toward a small village she knew of.

In her hand the kunai was warm and sweaty. She looked over her shoulder again, half expecting to see that crazed Albino's face come vaulting at her, scythe at the ready, but he didn't. There was no one there. The forest of tall, leafless birches was eerily quiet and dark, and between breaths, she whispered: "Did I lose 'em?"

She swept her gaze back and forth through the shadows and frozen poles, before dropping down into the snow below.

She chose to go left toward the village and jogged along the cliff base, hoping to find some form of shelter before night fell completely. But when she did, she skidded to a sliding and ungraceful halt, because sat there, poking at a fresh fire with a stick in the cave she'd found, was Kakuzu.

She froze as a wave of dread hit her. Then her throat began to try and articulate sounds without her consent. "How di… wheh- you wuh… her-…" But her half-arsed speech quickly died when Kakuzu's eyes tightened at her warbling.

He was sat casually on a rock, the small fire licking the air at his feet as he dropped the stick and rested his forearms on his thighs. Even when he wasn't meaning to be, he was still threatening. He didn't say anything, just watched her with a calculating gaze, the patterned cloak he wore only serving to make him seem bigger. She knew he didn't miss the kunai still in her grip. She had no doubt that if she were to turn and run now, she wouldn't make it two feet.

"It's about time you showed up." Hezā jumped at the sound of Hidan's voice. She looked over her shoulder to watch the man pass her with a small heap of firewood in his arms.

"That won't be enough," Kakuzu said, glancing at his partner.

"You try finding firewood in the snow," Hidan snapped as he dumped his load at the side of the cave. "Ungrateful bastard."

Hezā could do nothing but blink and stare as sparks of caution crackled through her skin. "How… jus' how the Hell did you...?"

"Find you?" Hidan supplied. A smirk twitched at his lips. "Well now, it wasn't that hard; you didn't exactly hide your footprints, you know."

She pursed her lips. "Then what about gettin' here before me."

"We were faster," Kakuzu said. "It would make sense for you to go east once you hit the cliff in order to travel quickly, conserve energy going downhill, and increase your chances of finding shelter and water. Not only that, but with your inexperience–"

'_Inexperience?'_

"–the thought of staying out in the open, trying to hide from and outrun us, scared you; so you headed east, toward Tetsumura."

'_How the…?'_ But then she remembered; she knew this man, and he knew her, of course he would recall her capabilities as a ninja. And now that she thought on it, she remembered he had a great many years of experience on his side. It wasn't too farfetched for him to be able to predict her movements.

"I'm not inexperienced… jus' a lil' rusty."

"You failed to disguise your chakra," he said bluntly. She felt her cheeks flare at that.

Trying to hide the tenseness of her body, Hezā shut her eyes, swallowed, then opened them again. "Jus' what is it you want with me?"

Neither man said anything. Hidan didn't even seem to be paying attention as he sorted through the firewood he'd collected and threw some onto the flames. Her mouth grew dry and she felt her palm twitch against the kunai as she asked: "… Are you here to kill me?"

Hidan scoffed – "I wish." – and flicked a twig onto the fire.

And though his comment didn't sound great, Hezā relaxed a little.

"Our leader wishes to speak with you," Kakuzu said.

'_Our leader…'_ She swallowed again as the ghost of a name danced on the tip of her tongue. A name she'd long forgotten. She shifted her weight and didn't fail to miss the quick turn of Hidan's head when she did. "What about?"

"Orochimaru," he replied.

Immediately her heart went cold, and when she spoke her voice was as chilled as the leafless trunks at her back. "I don't want anythin' to do with that bastard." She took a step away, boot crunching the snow.

"You _will_ help us." Kakuzu's eyes flashed, and in the light of the fire they appeared a smouldering gold, clashing with his testy aura. Hidan's gaze was suddenly sharp. His hand twitched, ready to reach for the handle of his scythe that reared up from his right shoulder. Hezā's pupils dilated and contracted, taking all these little details in, and even though what they showed her spelled DANGER, her heart pumped feverishly, wishing to leave right then and there.

But something coiled around her ankle and, looking down, her heart flipped at the sight of a thin grey wire wrapping around her boot. She tracked it back to Kakuzu's feet where it stemmed from within his cloak's baggy sleeve.

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. "You don't have a choice."

Hidan sneered at the sight, and removed his scythe, placing it by his side as he settled by the fire. He patted the ground beside him, then, in a fake friendly voice, said: "Come on in, sit down; it's pretty cold out there." But his hard eyes and smug smirk didn't match the pleasant tone. She knew her predicament.

Taking a steady breath, Hezā moved forward and entered the cave. The vine around her ankle slithered back to its owner as pebbles, pine needles and cracked seed husks crunched beneath her worn boots. The ground was cold as she sat down opposite Hidan, feeling his pink eyes on her over the pitiful flames between them. His off white hair was dyed a warm yellow-orange in the light of the fire, and the silver necklace hanging around his neck twinkled as it shifted against his chest from within his open cloak.

Kakuzu lifted an arm and more threads slipped out from his sleeve, collecting the remaining firewood and placing it on the dying cinders. The crimson clouds on his cloak rippled as he moved, and Hezā watched them. "You are Akatsuki."

"Nothing escapes you, huh?" Hidan said as he picked at his teeth.

She gave him a sideways sour look which he missed, before looking back at Kakuzu. Her heart shuddered when his gaze clenched hers.

"You remember me," he said.

"Yeah… you're the one who tore off my arm."

* * *

Well here it is; the re-vamped version of my old story The Subordinate, now dubbed The Ogre's Glow-worm,  
inspired by Chinua Achebe's short poem _Vultures_ (which I strongly recommend reading if you want to understand the title).

This new version will follow the old plot quite closely, only I'll be going about it a little differently.  
I decided to re-do this because I was inspired by a couple of stories (_Die Another Day by Delgodess and The Price of Living by LovelyWeather_) to do a better job with Hidan and Kakuzu.

But I have to warn you, **I'm writing this for myself.  
**Right now my career comes first and unfortunately I don't have a lot of time for much else. So please don't expect timely updates.

_Thank you very much for reading!_


	2. With enemies like these

_Naruto_ © **Masashi Kishimoto**  
_The Ogre's Glow-worm _© **Hurlstien**

* * *

(_with enemies like these, who needs friends?_)

* * *

Hidan froze in his teeth picking, a funny look on his face as he glanced at Kakuzu. "Seriously?" He sounded far too happy at that– "Shit, that's hilarious!" –and proceeded to laugh. Hezā looked down at the fire, an unsettling bubble in her belly as she felt her cheeks flush. But Hidan's laughter ceased when a low rumble growled through the cave. He put a hand on his stomach and looked at Kakuzu. "Hey pal, got any food left?"

"No."

"… You're kidding, right?"

"We'll make do until we reach Tetsumura," Kakuzu said, "We'll arrive there tomorrow evening."

"Fucks sake… what about you?" he looked at Hezā. "Got anything?" He expected her to have food with her, after all that had happened? Hezā didn't know what to say. Hidan scowled. "You two are fucking useless."

"Instead of bellyaching, why don't you do something worthwhile?" Kakuzu said.

"Pfft," Hidan squinted at his partner and said dubiously: "Like what?"

"We need more fuel."

Hidan looked about ready to argue again, but then he glanced down at the dying embers flailing in the cold and sighed. "Fine," he pointed at Hezā as he stood up. "You're coming with me." The girl didn't argue. She followed the Albino out into the snow and trailed behind him. A few minutes passed and he stopped, gesturing out at the dark forest and looking back at Hezā. "Alright, go get some wood – and make sure it's dry enough to burn, will ya?"

She resisted a scowl as he sighed and leaned back against a trunk, arms crossed. He looked tired, not that she cared. So far Hidan seemed to be the very epitome of 'don't give a fuck' – a trait she shared to a degree, but resented in others, as was her hypocritical self – but there was something else they had in common…

"That accent – you're from the Hot Springs Country, ain'cha?" she said as she knelt to pick at some dry sticks near the base of a tree. She'd noticed it as soon as she'd heard his voice. His accent surely wasn't as strong as hers, but he still had a slight lazy drawl. "–Same here."

"Yeah," Hidan didn't sound the least bit interested. "I can tell you're from one of those rural shit-tip places."

Her lips pursed at that as she continued her task.

"So what's all this about Kakuzu-chan ripping your arm off?" he asked.

She could hear the smile in his voice again, and her frown turned sourer. "I pissed him off, an' he jus'… went crazy." Hezā said as she slipped her arm through the branches of a fir tree to find the dry wood sheltered close to the trunk. "I remember followin' him an' askin' him why he wore the mask, but after that it gets all blurry."

Hidan laughed. "You're a fucking idiot."

She looked at him. "I was eleven at the time– I didn't know what Hell I was doin'."

The man continued to grin as he watched her. "So how did you get outta that one?"

"… Orochimaru saved me," she said, "'F'it weren't for him I'd be dead." Getting those words out was like trying to swallow poisoned sand, rough and acidic on her tongue.

Hidan gave a lazy groan. "I heard about that guy, you were his pet, right?"

"I wasn't his _pet_," she said, "… I was an experiment."

"Experiment, huh."

"… Don't matter."

"Che."

Hezā returned to hunting down firewood, placing what she'd already gathered in a small pile, as Hidan stared up at the darkening sky through the branches. Minutes passed until she felt she'd gathered enough to see them through the night. But turning and walking back to her pile, she found Hidan gone. The space where he'd been leaning against the tree was empty, footprints still imprinted deep into the snow with no fresh ones to be seen. It was as though he'd simply popped out of existence.

'_If only…'_ Hezā thought as she scanned the trunks around her. If he was gone she could make a break for it.

She opened her mouth, breath curling in the cold. "Hidan?"

There was no answer.

She turned, ready to bolt. But an odd flapping of cloth stopped her. The beginnings of a scream escaped her throat when something dark and bulky fell into the snow from the branches above. She jumped half a step back. The body of a man lay sprawled before her, blood leaking out from beneath his head and melting the snow. She heard Hidan's boisterous laugh from above and watched him leap down and land beside his twitching victim.

"Jumpy, are we?" He grinned as he swiped blood from his cheek then licked it from his finger. He looked down at the almost-corpse. "About time he slipped up; this guy's been following us since the beginning."

"The beginning?" Hezā asked while she watched blood bubble and splutter up from the spy's mouth like boiling crimson tar. It dribbled down his cheeks and into his ears as her eyes skimmed the body, spotting a tattoo of a crescent moon on the back of the right hand.

Hidan scratched his head. "Eh, couple of days before we got orders to find you," he said, then turned to leave. Hezā stayed put, listening to the spy's dying sputters and wet chokes punctuate the silence. "Hurry up, would ya?" Hidan called. "I'm tired, cold _and_ hungry – the faster I get to sleep, the faster tomorrow comes, the faster I get fed."

'_The faster you'll shut up,'_ Hezā thought, but kept quiet and hurried after him. She had a feeling that for however long she was going to be with Hidan, his moaning would be something she'd have to get used to.

The two of them continued back to the cave in silence, but when they emerged through the cold pole trunks to find Kakuzu still sat in his place, reading a book, Hidan spread his arms wide and said: "You can kiss my ass whenever you're ready, Kakuzu."

The man looked up from his book with the most dead-pan stare Hezā thought she'd ever seen.

"I just caught our tail." Hidan said, looking chuffed with himself.

Kakuzu grunted and returned to his book. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Hidan scoffed and walked over to his original spot by the fire. "Well to be honest I would've thought you'd be more pleased than that, I mean, c'mon, he was a pretty slippery guy – eluded you for a good two weeks, right?"

Kakuzu didn't reply, but neither Hezā nor Hidan failed to notice the minute tightening of his grip on the book in his hand. She'd only been with these guys for just under an hour and already her old practised vigilance was returning to her. Small sounds were becoming louder and the details around her were sharper. It was like being on a constant adrenaline rush – at least, it would be until she got used to it again. The popping of the fire was sharp in the silence, and the scent of the cave and men she shared it with was almost overpowering. It seemed her Shinobi skills had never really left her; they'd just been repeatedly glossed over with coats of fear and regret, hardening like layered sediment by years of disuse. But now that covering was being scratched and chipped away, forcefully unearthed, and they surprised her with their sharpness, like biting into a lemon or someone pressing ice to her back.

She sat down in her original spot to Kakuzu's left, and chucked a few twigs onto the dying fire. When she looked up she found Hidan pressing his pedant to his lips and murmuring to himself. She watched him, taking comfort in the warmth of the flames, and found his soft mutters oddly relaxing.

The events of the day had caught up with her and her lids drooped a few times, before she realised Hidan was looking straight at her. "What?" he growled.

Startled, Hezā shook her head, "Nothing."

He narrowed his eyes as the girl looked down, then returned to his mumblings. Hezā glanced at Kakuzu, who was still reading, before holding back a sigh and slowly easing herself onto her side. She shifted until she was halfway comfortable, pulling her coat sleeve down and closing her eyes to sleep.

* * *

The village of Tetsumura was a small settlement perched on the eastern mountainous border of the Rain Country, surrounded by a creaky wooden fence and layered with a thin sheet of snow. A slushy mud road ran through the middle, with smaller side streets branching off leading to quivering shacks and lean-tos. Two small farms flanked the town, while every other building appeared to be a house, each in varying states of disrepute.

In silence Kakuzu led them through the streets, muddy slush splashing up and running in-between the Akatsuki's toes as they walked. The few people dotting the roads watched them in silence as they passed, somehow knowing there was nothing right with the two men in the red patterned cloaks. Like a sixth sense they could feel it; danger, destruction, death.

Kakuzu took no notice of the gawping villagers, and headed for what was likely the only inn in the village. Inside he ordered a double room and three basic meals to be delivered within the hour, informing Hezā she would be sleeping on the floor with the spare bedding.

The room itself was pathetically ill-looking with its flimsy curtains and two thin futons. A single wardrobe stood in the corner appearing miserable with one of its sliding doors broken off and leaning against its side, while the bathroom wasn't much better with grime on the mirror and rust around the toilet.

Hezā stared around with a grand mixture of disbelief, disgust and disappointment, and wondered if, even with her meagre funds, she'd ever stayed in a place quite like this. Hidan on the other hand removed his scythe and flopped onto his futon, a thin cloud of dust erupting from it as though it had just coughed.

"You've outdone yourself this time, Kakuzu," Hidan said, "I never thought I'd be sleeping in a _shed_."

Kakuzu didn't say anything as he entered the room and took off his coat. He folded it neatly beside his futon, then moved over to the window to observe the street below.

Hezā glanced at them, noting how normal they seemed now they were contained within a room. Like wolves in sheep's clothing. "How did you guys find me?" she asked. She'd stayed silent all day, not feeling a need or want to interact with the two criminals – a feeling that appeared to be mutual.

Hidan grunted. "We hunt bounties for a living – tracking down your sorry ass was cake walk in comparison," he said, then sat up with a smirk as Hezā found the spare bedding at the bottom of the wardrobe and pulled it out. "But about a week ago we were in some backwater village and there was talk of a girl who turned into a monster in broad daylight – almost killed someone too, as I recall."

Hezā frowned, wrinkling her nose at the mouldy smell of the duvet as she kicked it roughly into place. "Tha's kinda odd… don't y'think?"

"Mm." He lost his smirk, but kept his lazy purple gaze on her. She felt it and looked up from her bedding. The way she breathed, her gaze, her stance and her scent confirmed everything he already knew.

A hand on the back of Hezā's neck startled her as it shoved her head forwards while warm fingers yanked down the collar of her coat.

"What's odd is you thinking you could fool us." Kakuzu's voice came from above her as he observed a Curse Mark scarring the skin of her right shoulder.

He pushed her away and she stumbled, pulling at her coat's collar to hide the marking. She dropped her gaze.

Hidan scoffed. "An' here I thought that bastard only picked people with potential."

"What happened?" asked Kakuzu. But Hezā heard no hint of concern in his voice.

She stayed silent for a moment. She remembered it being busy and hot, the sun blinding her. Then she recalled feeling the chakra of the Sound Four's Tayuya, and that's when things got bad. Being close enough to feel Orochimaru's chakra running through another was enough to make her self-control slip and she'd turned right there in the street. People screamed as she'd launched herself at an innocent bystander, busting ribs, rupturing organs and dislodging his jaw before managing to stop and flee.

She shrugged and finally looked Kakuzu in the eye. "I jus' lost control… that's all."

No one spoke for a moment, then Hidan scoffed. "Well don't expect any mercy if you lose your shit with us, kid."

* * *

(_abandon hope all ye who enter here_)

Rain poured from the sky in sheets as they approached the gates of Amegakure. Cold stone pillars, chipped and war-torn reared up either side of them as their feet slopped through the last of the boggy marshes and onto solid wet concrete. Each building blended into the next in differing shades of drab grey and not a soul was in sight.

The trio remained quiet as they navigated through the puddled streets and up narrow stairways, the wet smacks of their steps mixing with the drone of drizzle. Hezā's feet ached and she could feel the exhaustion pulling down on her lids, but still, she couldn't help but get a sense of loneliness as she followed Hidan and Kakuzu. This place just seemed so… forgotten. But just as she thought it, a flash of white caught her eye through the rain. There hanging beneath an overhang was what appeared to be a paper angel.

It looked so odd dangling there, but like a candle in a dark room it drew the eye.

She'd seen one before, a lifetime ago.

"_It's about time you showed."_

The voice was calm, male and lacked a spine. But when Hezā turned to look, she took a step back at the sight of a black and white man encased in a large Venus Flytrap. His eyes were unfocused and dull gold, and his hair matched the green of his leaves. He was dressed in the same cloak as Hidan and Kakuzu and nothing else, but unlike herself, this man didn't seem bothered by the rain one bit. He was stood with his shoulders slightly stooped on the other side of the wide street, and despite the distance, the girl could sense something odd about him. Something unnerving in the curl of his lips and how his eyes didn't blink.

"_The Leader's been getting impatient,"_ he said.

"The Leader can go fuck himself," said Hidan.

Kakuzu didn't say anything, and instead turned to carry on walking toward the tall building at the end of the street. Hidan scoffed and followed. And Hezā too, turned on her heel to trudge after them. As she walked she felt the gaze of the plant man as his eyes glowed after her like she were a piece of meat, while a name she'd known all along swam around and around in her head.

_Pein_.


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Hurt-Comfort