Rise From The Ashes (Kakuzu Story)

Chapter 4.

She continued to give Kakuzu information, not stopping to let herself consider why she was so set on doing this. There was no point wondering about it now, anyway, taking the fact that she'd already said she'd help him out into account. It was done, and all she could do now was go along with it. It wasn't as if she hated the idea that she was helping him out like this, and she couldn't deny the fact she wanted to learn more about him. With that being the case, she'd just leave things be—though pushing her curiosity to the back of her mind. That wasn't what mattered right now, and she wasn't particularly proud of the fact she was thinking about it so much. As such, she focused on the path ahead of her, not glancing at him at all as she walked swiftly forward, telling him about what she'd been hearing lately and where she'd seen Takigakure ninja over the past few days. Kakuzu was glad of it, however; he wasn't sure what to think of this whole situation, or the fact that he was wondering if he might learn a little more about her in the meantime, trying to force himself to think only of what she was telling him.

As Kakuzu did so, it occurred to him that it was night time, and he needed a place to sleep, and that, though her information was helpful, she was still leading him off in a random direction in which he had no idea of the destination. He might not feel entirely mistrustful towards her, it was true, but that still didn't mean he wasn't going to be on his guard. He had just defected from a ninja village and had ninjas on his back—ninjas she'd helped him escape from. There was no reason he shouldn't be careful of everything that was going on around him. So shaking off everything else he'd been thinking about, Kakuzu questioned as to where she was taking him and that he couldn't keep wandering around when he needed to get some rest for tomorrow if he was to be setting off straight away. But raising an eyebrow at how straight to the point he was, liking that fact, she nodded at his concerns but replied simply,

"I know—but there's a place up here where you can stay for the night. You won't need to worry about anyone coming to search here—no one comes here at all. Outside of the village, no one even knows it exists." Seeing Kakuzu's questioning gaze as she talked about it, she hid a sigh and answered his silent question, "They're all afraid of it. It's bad luck; supposedly evil with who knows what kind of creatures living in it, and of course an evil curse around it that will get you the moment you step inside."

"Is that right..." Kakuzu retorted dryly at the so-called legends about this place, and smirking at that, she responded,

"Yeah—I know. As you might have guessed, it was just a genjutsu that was used one time when ninjas were staying there and wanted people to stay away. But the village isn't full of ninjas living there—simply those passing through. Back then it was even less than it is now. As such they'd never seen or heard of the likes of genjutsu like that, and it really spooked them."

Just as she finished her explanation, Kakuzu spotted something through the trees, and as they got closer and came out from the cover of the trees he saw the building in its full glory. It wasn't as dilapidated as he thought it would be—or as big. From the way she had talked about it, Kakuzu had imagined it would be this big ominous building, like the typical haunted house. Yet instead it was small and unassuming, a typical hideout to use while passing through. Then again, in a way, Kakuzu couldn't help but think that could be as scary to the villagers as the usual dark and threatening building—you think it's normal, that what could there possibly be to be worried or scared about? But if the villagers knew that something wasn't right about the place, then it would still be frightening, because then they wouldn't know what to expect.

Leading him inside, she pointed out the few rooms there were; the kitchen, which was just about functional to make food, the living room, which would only be good for sitting in considering there wasn't exactly anything to do in there, and then she led Kakuzu to his room. It was basic, in a sense that there was a bed, a bedside table with a lamp and nothing else. Leaning against the doorframe as he took a few steps inside to look the room over, she eventually spoke up to say,

"It's not great, but then I doubt you need it to be."

Something abruptly occurred to Kakuzu, and so turning round, his eyes narrowed, he questioned bluntly,

"How do you know about this place?"

"I've been staying here the last couple of days."

The comment had been so casual and unimportant that Kakuzu just wasn't prepared for what she did next—finally pulling down the hood of her cloak that had remained up for the entire time he'd known her. It took him a while for that fact to fully hit him, until his eyes automatically began taking her in. Her deep red hair hung down past her shoulders into the depths of her cloak in feather-like layers, her bangs falling to just above her eyes as well as framing her face. Her golden eyes were cat like, her features striking but delicate—feminine, with full lips and pale skin. The look in her eyes was just as intense as it had been the first time he looked into them, but it only seemed heightened now that he could see the rest of her face. Why she had felt this moment was right to do this, Kakuzu didn't know, and he wasn't quite sure what to say or what to do in the situation. He wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but it had sort of caught him off guard, meaning he stayed silent and leaving her to take control of the conversation, declaring simply,

"I'm Suzaku. It's about time we were introduced."

This, however, managed to knock Kakuzu out of the stupor she had somehow gotten him into, and shaking it off, he responded bluntly,

"Kakuzu."

Her eyes remained on him a little longer, as if analysing him for something, or waiting for him to do or say something, and Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, unsure what she was doing. Was it some kind of inspection? But then again, that would have been more appropriate a little earlier on, before she had brought him into the building and given him a room. So what was it Suzaku was after? A few moments later and Kakuzu was beginning to get annoyed, and it wasn't helped at how intense her gaze was—as if she could see more than what was on the surface, but details he hadn't even revealed to her. As such, Kakuzu gritted his teeth, and growled defensively,

"If you're expecting me to reveal my life story, you're in for a long wait."

"No." her response was straightforward and calm, and frowning in confusion at how blunt she had been; Kakuzu was unable to reply as she went on, "I don't need to know about your past. Your past is your past, and who am I to intrude? I don't want you to question about mine, so just calm the hell down already."

Automatically Kakuzu relaxed a little without even noticing, though he kept eye contact, and Suzaku merely nodded in return, knowing it was his way of thanking her for it. That didn't mean to say the conversation was over, however, and thinking over everything that had happened that day, Kakuzu blurted, half aggressively and half confused,

"But why? Why are you doing all of this?"

Though once again found Suzaku's reply was level, however he noticed a bit of confusion in her eyes as well as she gazed back into his stare and responded, a little to herself as well as it was to him, uncertain as to how to word it,

"I don't really know; to be honest...something about you interests me."

With that, however, she broke their contactdismissively as a way to end their conversation, turning and heading out of theroom and down the corridor without another word.