When Money Isn't Good Enough (Kakuzu Story)

Chapter 28 (The End)

It was like she had snapped out of a trance.

Ryoshi relaxed, as if a weight had been lifted off of her, looking around the room with entirely new eyes. She felt so much more in control of herself and her emotions, and all that anxiety had dissipated. She felt almost stupid for getting herself into that sort of state to begin with—but it didn't matter now. Now she knew better, and she wouldn't let herself go back to the way she had been. That shadow of a doubt was gone. The worries, the problems? They were nothing anymore. Not now she'd seen what she had—or heard, for that matter. It was because of hearing something that she had been so affected; that she had ended up in this cell. Yet it was also because of that that she felt this free—that she had broken out of the stupor she'd gotten herself into. Why had she even thought that? She'd always prided herself on the fact she could look at situations in life analytically and not get illogical about these things. Yet instead she had been sitting there like an idiot for the past few days.

Then again...that had been before Kakuzu.

But she understood now; she'd been concentrating too much on the extremes of things. She'd tried to act one way or the other—but had never considered the idea that maybe a mix of the two might work. She wasn't about to trust everyone in this world; but trusting one was enough. It was through the trust that Ryoshi could finally see the truth of this whole situation, and there was no point testing it. If you spent all your time testing that trust, then there would be no point to it. For once she felt as if she could rely on it; and so there was no need to wait anymore. She stepped back from the cell bars to roll her shoulders, clicking her fingers and building up her chakra within her; readying herself for a fight. She'd been holding in her anger lately—it was about time she let it out.

Kakuzu was facing Ketsu, his own anger evident in his eyes, and glared even more viciously as he noted Ketsu attempting to get away. The hole he'd made in the wall was the perfect opportunity for this, and Kakuzu growled at the idea, not about to let him go—not helped with the fact that the guards now finally decided to act, stepping in front of him to keep him back. It wouldn't exactly work; but it might just give Ketsu enough time to get away. The Akatsuki were there, but they were on the other side of the room, and considering the amount of contacts Ketsu had, and the amount of tricks up his sleeve, it wouldn't surprise Kakuzu if he was able to vanish into thin air if given half the chance to.

But clearly he didn't need to worry about that.

A second later a metal bar was straight through his upper arm, skewering it to the wall behind him. Several more followed to pin each of his limbs to the wall, leaving Ketsu stuck there—even if he could get free, the pain was too much for him to do a thing. As for the guards, they received the same treatment; except this time the bars went through their heads; their hearts. Overall, it was a few seconds before everything was taken care of, giving everyone the chance to look over and see Ryoshi standing on the edge of her now bar-less cell. With a few raised eyebrows and the fact she was able to get out so easily even having been here a couple of days, the Akatsuki soon shook it off; after all, they still had work to do.

With the amount of trouble that had occurred during this mission, the Akatsuki were then given permission to utterly destroy the building and the guards within it—which they all did with glee. Ryoshi was more than happy to help with Ketsu, getting the information out of him, collecting the money once more and making sure he didn't cause any trouble, before joining in with the destruction a little at the end. After a couple of days sitting in a cell, she was more than ready to wipe the place off the face of the planet. It was only now that the Akatsuki got to see the offensive side to her abilities, rather than just the tracking jutsu she was so famous for. And the more he saw it, the more interested Pein became. The tracking in itself was something he had been particularly impressed with, and now with what he had seen she could do with so many other facets to her abilities...abruptly it seemed he had some things to think about.

Though it wasn't quite that way for Kakuzu when he was finally relayed the news. Things had changed a lot during this mission; and although it would be good when they got back to normal, there were certain things he wasn't about to change. It was why he offered for Ryoshi to join him as he stated he was taking Ketsu to the nearest collection office, and smirking at that fact, she accepted. For the most part they remained in a companionable silence for the journey, but it was one they enjoyed. It allowed them to think, but still be in each other's company. There were still many things about their emotions they didn't understand, and probably never would, considering their personalities. But having dealt with this mission; somehow things made more sense than before. Kakuzu had felt that his connection to humanity had faded as time had gone by; but it didn't always have to be that way—it wasn't that way with Ryoshi. They were similar; they understood each other. And both of them had to agree that that was definitely a good thing.

Then abruptly the collection office appeared ahead, and coming back to reality for the moment, they both entered, Kakuzu placing Ketsu's corpse on the table for the bounty officer to look at. Still they stayed in silence, watching as he flipped through the bingo book and confirmed Ketsu's identity, turning to pick up the briefcase and hand it over to him. Kakuzu did so, and after counting the money, agreed it was all there, and finally left the collection office. It was only then, however, that they stopped and turned to each other, knowing that silence could no longer reign—there were things they needed to talk about, and seeing as they were alone and wouldn't be disturbed...it was the perfect time to do so. It started with Kakuzu holding out the first case—the one Ketsu had tried to give him, explaining simply,

"Here; it's your bounty money, after all."

"Don't worry about it; about either of them. I am a bounty hunter; I get enough briefcases as it is," she quipped in response, only to halt as Kakuzu shot back,

"It doesn't have to be that way."

Narrowing her eyes at his words, not quite understanding what he was talking about, she questioned softly as to what he meant, once again hit by surprise as Kakuzu admitted bluntly, as if it was the most casual thing in the world,

"Leader would like you to stay."

For a moment, Ryoshi didn't have a clue how to reply to that. She'd always enjoyed being a bounty hunter, had a reputation as one and liked the fact she wasn't tied down to anyone. But working with the Akatsuki and she could see that it wasn't as if any of them lost their freedom while working there—they didn't even have to share the organization's goals. Kakuzu still got to do bounty hunts, and her reputation wouldn't exactly disappear. She'd get to be with Kakuzu, too. Was it really such a bad idea? She considered all that had happened over the last few days, and said absentmindedly,

"That cell wasn't really a prison for me; it wouldn't have taken much to get out of there. It was what I thought I heard that stopped me. I've never been one to trust people or let them get close; I've always done things on my own. It meant I automatically doubted you when the possibility of your meaning could have been bad; when you were holding the money—but I know now that I shouldn't have done."

Finally looking up at Kakuzu's face, she smirked, walking over to stand in front of him, the smirk still evident as she added softly,

"Now I know I trust you."

Reaching up, she tugged his mask down, not hesitating to lean forward and press her lips against his. For a moment Kakuzu halted in shock; but soon pushed it aside. He'd known it all along—what was there to be shocked about? As such, he simply dropped the briefcases to the floor, using his arms to wrap around Ryoshi instead, growling softly in pleasure as she explored the stitches on his face with her tongue. It was her turn to moan a moment later, however, as he turned and met his mouth with hers, sucking gently on her tongue and roaming around inside—and for now, she let him, undoing his cloak to get closer to him, in the same way he did as his fingers slid up underneath her shirt and traced their way over her skin. Shivering with pleasure, Kakuzu doing much the same, Ryoshi couldn't help but smirk into the kiss.

If this was what you got when you trusted someone...

She had a feeling she was going to like this.