When Money Isn't Good Enough (Kakuzu Story)

Chapter 12

There was no sound in Ryoshi's room—not even her breathing.

But it felt like it was as noisy as a crowded room, with all these thoughts running around inside her head. They had gotten back from their little 'mission' a while ago, and had both headed to their rooms—and after a while, Ryoshi had opted to go to sleep. But as she lay staring at the ceiling, eyes blank and frustrated, it was clear her plans hadn't quite gone how she had wanted them to. Only it didn't seem like there was anything she could do about it. A while ago and things had been absolutely fine; she had been gathering the information she needed in order to do the tracking, talking with Kakuzu...knowing she would be coming back and eventually heading to bed to sleep peacefully. Things had evidently changed from then, and changed quite quickly—and she hadn't a clue what to do about it.

She never blushed!

The sudden thought screamed out in her head, quietening everything else for a moment. It was true, however. In all her life, she couldn't remember a time when she had ever blushed at something, whether it be something that had embarrassed her—not that she let a lot of things do so—or from something someone had said. So the idea that it had happened tonight was not something Ryoshi liked to think about. It made her seem weak and feeble; like a little teenage girl who couldn't do her job properly. For the majority of her life she had had to fend for herself; she had been independent and had survived on her own. She couldn't appear clumsy or incompetent, so she made sure she was always at the top of her game and never let herself get embarrassed. Not that it truly mattered; she didn't care about what other people thought of her, and didn't get overly affected by what they said. Yet when Kakuzu had said that...it changed everything.

He'd complimented her before, and she hadn't reacted like that. Why had that sentence been different? Ryoshi knew for certain she couldn't let it happen again; she was working with the Akatsuki here. If they saw her acting like a giggly little child, then what she had worked for all her life would be useless. She had to stay calm and focused on the task at hand—but in order to do that, she needed to figure it out—to comprehend it. Then she could prepare herself and make sure it never, ever, occurred again. It had been when they had been talking about her tracking Ketsu. He had said he didn't want her to do it in her room alone—that he wanted to be there and watch her do it. Instantly her heart rate had increased a little, and she tensed, while at the same time she felt a light, fluttery feeling in her stomach. A combination of nerves and happiness at the idea. But why? She got on with Kakuzu, and she'd done the tracking jutsu hundreds of times before with people watching. He shouldn't change anything.

But then, she'd never cared about someone's opinion the way she did about Kakuzu's.

Like she'd said—she got on well with Kakuzu. That meant she felt closer to him than she had done with most people she had met in her life; and that meant she got more affected by his actions—his words. She could try and fight it, but considering she couldn't stop the similarities between them, and the connection they shared, it wouldn't do her much good. The consequences still remained. But...when it came down to it...she didn't want to get rid of that connection. She hadn't missed it or longed for it—how could she, when she didn't even know what to long for? But now she had experienced, she liked the idea of it being there. She wanted it to stay. Was it so bad to care about what he thought of you when no one ever stopped to do the same? Ryoshi could deal with the consequences—they were mostly internal, and it was because of the surprise of someone getting that close to her that had caused the blush; of wanting to be around her, and now she understood, it wouldn't turn up again. Being around Kakuzu made her feel as if she had truly done something with her life—she could handle what came with it; she could handle him. With that, a smirk appeared across her face, and raising her hands up in a handsign, she opted to get this done before she went to sleep.

Kakuzu had had a lot on his mind too. But the unusual sensation of the feelings he'd received lately—the smile that hadn't appeared to fade upon seeing Ryoshi's reaction to his words...it had overwhelmed his need to comprehend what was going on. He could think about that later. There were more important things to be concentrating on. He slept peacefully—for the most part, at least. It was a little later on that things began to change, and abruptly he felt as if he were awake and conscious, and although everything was black around him, he looked down and saw himself—he was standing there, solid and real; or so it seemed for the moment. Naturally, something wasn't quite right, and there was still a dream like edge to this situation—but he got the feeling he'd find out as Ryoshi abruptly appeared in front of him, nodding in greeting. He did the same, but had to raise an eyebrow, silently questioning as to what this was all about.

"I told you I can enter people's dreams, right? This is an example. I figured I might as well do this now—it will make the mission easier. I'm making a connection between us, and I won't have to use the jutsu to talk to you if necessary, and it's two way. If you need to talk to me, you can do so. The easiest way is through just before you're asleep, as you might have guessed, but if you go into a deep state of meditation, then that can be possible too. Oh, and also...I'm thinking around 6 and a half million (around £50000)."

Smirking at how methodically she dealt with all of this, Kakuzu nodded, thinking it over, slightly surprised at the amount, having almost been expecting her to ask for more. But he knew she wasn't one to cheat someone out of their money—she was a businesswoman in her work, and Kakuzu replied simply,

"For the tracking, yes—we can sort out the rest of the money when the mission's over."

Returning the smirk at how, even with the cheap status he was no doubt given by the rest of the Akatsuki, he was actually willingly saying he wanted to pay her more, Ryoshi nodded in acceptance, throwing him a goodbye before she faded into darkness. Feeling that pull of sleep once more, Kakuzu gave into it—opening his eyes the next morning feeling no different in the amount of rest he had gotten, only in the experience he had had during his sleep.

Not getting up for the moment, Kakuzu remained in his bed, turning to look out the window. He had never had this kind of reaction to a person around him before. He had kept to himself, and that was the way it had always been—even to a smaller degree in Takigakure. Then again, no one had shared the same sort of personality as he did with similarities in many different things. Maybe that was why Ryoshi found it so easy to dodge past the obstacles that got in the way of most people getting close to him and get reactions out of him that he had stopped thinking were possible for him—maybe that was why it was such a surprise to be feeling the things he was in return. Not that they were unwanted, exactly...they were just something he wasn't used to, and wasn't sure he was quite able to accept. He wasn't about to push them away, even if he wanted to. Because in a way, he enjoyed them, almost reaching a state of ataraxia because of them. They weren't affecting the way he worked or how he acted...just how he was as a person. Yes, he had to focus on the mission, he knew that—that was of most importance and of high priority.

But he was getting Ketsu's bounty, too...and he could at least enjoy that part with Ryoshi, right?