Wandering Heathens

Past: Part 2

The cold grey stone walls of Taki prison came into view. Zuko landed on a parapet and signalled for Shinjo and Ryuu to take cover. He clutched a kunai in his hand and softly moved behind the patrolling guard. With a quick motion, the guard was decapitated and his body and head tossed off the wall. Crouching, Zuko motioned for them to follow him and the three moved silently along the prison's walls until they found a door leading into the prison itself.

Here we go. Down into the bowels of hell itself. Ryuu followed the three into the prison, keeping up with them as they killed their way down, down, down into the depths of the prison. They reached a double steeled door with many deadbolts and seals placed on it. Ryuu and Shinjo stood on either side of the door and nodded to Zuko who kicked the door open. A strong smell of stale air and mold came from the room and the drip, plink of water could be heard. She wasn't there. That was warning number one.

Zuko entered the cell, noted the fresh scratch marks on the wall shackles, as if someone had recently unlocked the shackles. He looked around, knelt down and felt the slime on the floor. He concentrated and sent out small tendrils of chakra from his finger tips, that spread out on the floor, searching and seeking. "She's still here. Let's go" he said as he abruptly got to his feet.

The group continued their search for her and after climbing several flights of steep stairs, they reached a door. From their side they could hear yelling, screaming, pleading and cursing. "Ready yourselves" Zuko whispered and threw open the door. The teens burst through and fell into fighting stances but the hallway was empty. She was here and now she's gone. That was warning number two, he thought as he looked at the mangled corpses around him.

"Keep searching" Zuko whispered and they continued to follow the trail of gore she left behind. They eventually came to an ornate door, decorated in golds and blues, with a trail of intestines leading under the closed door. Screaming and begging could be heard as well as a woman's voice yelling and cursing. Zuko quietly opened the door and they all took in the scene.

A tall, toned and tanned woman covered in stitches and blood, stood in front of an Elder who was on his knees, praying for his life. The corpses of the other Elders lay around the room, their chest cavities mangled beyond recognition. Red and green eyes pierced the Elder's soul and she judged him unworthy. Kakuza.

"You sent me on an impossible mission," she spat, "and set me up for failure. When I came back, you THREW ME INTO PRISON! I was young! I could've been saved! But you worthless men decided that I wasn't worth saving. You left me to die! Now, you shall DIE BY MY HAND!" She roared as her black tendrils pierced the Elder's chest cavity violently, cracking his sternum and causing him to screech from the pain. With a sickening tearing sound, Kakuza pulled his heart from his body. The organ pulsated in her tendrils as she slowly pulled the heart towards her and into her body.

"There she is!" Ryuu yelled and ran into the room. "RYUU! WAIT!" Zuko called out but the teen wasn't listening. Zuko pulled out a flash bomb and threw it onto the ground, the bright light blinding everyone. Kakuza stumbled back, her hand shielding her eyes, her tendrils flailing around her. "COME TO ME IF YOU WANT TO DIE!" She yelled at the room.

Zuko grabbed Ryuu and shoved him behind him, next to Shinjo who was rubbing his eyes so he could see. Kakuza looked at him, "Zuko" she said lowly. "Kakuza" Zuko acknowledged, his hand on the sword hilt at his side. Kakuza laughed, brokenly so as to not cry, "so Konoha has sent you against me." Zuko nodded and Shinjo peeked around his sensei to get a good look at their target. Aaaaaand that's when he fell in love... Or was it lust? Does it even matter? This is when Kakuza fucked up everything for us.

"I don't want to fight you. You showed me kindness once" Kakuza said quietly. "Correct and that seems to have been my mistake. You've stolen Taki's Kinjutsu and murdered the Village's Elders, not to mention you've laid waste to the prison and try to kill the Hokage. Am I missing anything?" She shook her head no and their silent standoff continued. Shinjo moved to unsheathe his sword and the soft shhhhk of the hilt leaving the scabbard snapped Kakuza out of her trance.

She launched her tendrils at Shinjo, intent on taking his heart, but Zuko stepped into their path. The tendrils sunk into his chest and he made an odd groaning sound. "NO!" Shinjo yelled as he watched his sensei collapse to his knees, blood pouring from his chest while the tendrils slowly tore his heart from his body.

"Jo...Ryuu...come...here" he gasped out. The teens, forgetting about Kakuza for the moment, knelt by their sensei. He smiled weakly at them, "my sons. I'm sorry that I've failed you. I wish you...peace" he said as his fingertips touched each teen's forehead and a stinging pain entered their heads. Kakuza wrenched his heart out and absorbed it into her body. "Lightning style...perfect" she said. Both boys looked at her in confusion. "Who are you? What're we doing here?!" Ryuu asked, panic creeping into his voice. Barely sparing a glance at them, Kakuza ran from the room and escaped the prison and into the night.

A minute later armed guards stormed into the room, followed by an impressive looking man, and captured the two teens. The case was open and shut in Taki, the teens charged with the murders of the Elders and with Kakuza's escape. Zuko's body was unceremoniously tossed from the prison walls to be picked over by the large reptile like birds that inhabited the island the prison was on. In shackles, Ryuu and Shinjo were led to their cells to serve out their sentence. They had no release date; their punishment to go on "indefinitely".

I've seen enough. I can guess what happened from here, Ryuu thought. He felt an odd sensation of his mind being pulled out of somewhere and the memories faded until he was back in the cave, facing Orochimari. "What happens now?" He asked the snake woman.