Wandering Heathens

Present

"What happens now?" Ryuu asked Orochimari. "Whatever you want to have happen. You can warn Shinjo or you can break the Akatsuki. Or... you can forget what you've just seen and make your own path" she said, cupping his cheek and raising his head to look at him.

He looked at her with dull and tired eyes, his head drooping in her hand. She guided him to his bedroll by the fire and laid him down to sleep. "Watch him" she ordered the kunoichi who nodded and sat next to him, watching his eyes move beneath his eyelids, his fingers clenching, teeth gnashing. "He'll be fine," Orochimari said to the worried kunoichi, "he just needs time and rest."

Shinjo stood in the entryway of Ryuu's room. He couldn't sleep and he thought maybe Ryuu had left clues to where he had gone. After searching his room and finding nothing, he sat heavily on Ryuu's bed. Sighing, he cradled his head in his hands, purple strands falling around his face, and mentally berated Ryuu for disappearing. Pein has a mission for them but since his partner was gone, Shinjo was paired with Kakuza and Hida.

"No word from him?" Obita asked from the shadows. Without looking up, Shinjo muttered a simple "no." Obita moved to sit on the window ledge across from Shinjo, crossing her ankles and looking at the moon. "Do you miss him?" Shinjo asked. Behind her mask Obita smiled sinisterly but she answered "yes. Very much so." With a noncommittal sound, Shinjo stood and began to leave the room. He turned to say something to Obita but she was already gone.

"You ready to go?" Kakuza asked him, Hida standing nearby with her scythe on her shoulder. With a last look at the empty room, Shinjo sighed and nodded, closing and resealing the room. "Then let's fucking go! People won't die unless we kill them!" Hida said, throwing an arm around Shinjo's shoulders, causing the man to smile. They left the base and Ame, headed to Kusagakure to disrupt Kiri's supply lines and base. They were getting too close to Ame's borders for Pein's comfort so she ordered them to wreck havoc.

By the end of the mission, several divisions of shinobis lay dead on the field. Hida killed the wounded, Kakuza searched the bodies for money and riches and Shinjo stood amidst the carnage, clutching a Kusa headband in his hand. They had thought they were fighting Kusa shinobi but once the water based jutsus had come out, they knew they were really fighting Kiri. The deception angered Shinjo and reminded him of Ryuu's abandonment. He crushed the headband in his hand an curtly commanded Kakuza and Hida to return to Ame with him. Another successful mission...out of how many? He had lost count over the decades and wondered if there was ever going to be an end to the killing.

"Just a second...AH HA!" Ryuu yelled happily as his two chakra systems merged into one. Since Orochimari had lifted the seal, his power had grown exponentially. "Show me" she demanded and Ryuu responded by cloaking his body in a fire that burned red at the base but black at the tips. "Excellent. Now try the final Kinjutsu."

He focused, searching for sage energy in the environment. The fire crackling nearby gave him a ready and constant source of compatible energy. He closed his eyes tightly, drawing the energy towards him, seeking the signature of a Tailed Beast. He found no signature but the sage energy exploded in his body and he snapped his eyes open.

Orochimari knelt down close to him and examined his eyes. They were golden with black crosses for pupils. She could barely contain her glee and her womanhood began leaking her juices at the presence of power in the room. Ryuu closed his eyes once again and when he opened them, they were back to their normal shade of green.

"You're ready," Orochimari said, "it's time you chose your path. Return to Shinjo or not; if you don't, you can always return to me" she said seductively. Strapping his pouch to his body Ryuu gave a wry laugh. "I'm not a fan of snakes so I doubt I'll be returning to you. But thank you for your help" he said, bowing to her. She tilted her head in return and watched him leave her temporary lair in the Land of Snow.

After several days of pushing his body to its limits, Ryuu rested against a grassy knoll in Yusagakure. He wasn't far from Ame's border and he felt conflicted about returning to the Akatsuki. He now knew Kakuza was responsible for Zuko's death and their imprisonment which coloured how he saw her. He had to be wary around her and try to get Shinjo away from her clutches.

"Come with me" Kakuza ordered Shinjo, holding out her hand. Taking it, she lead him out of the base and away from its concrete jungle, to the sparse woodlands that dotted the landscape. She smiled at him and pushed him against a tree before kissing him passionately. His hands went to her hair and enmeshed themselves in it as she bit and nibbled his lips. He always lost himself in her, his chosen woman, and wanted more of her, her taste, her body. He wanted to claim her as his own.

Ssshhhhh thk! A senbon whistled by his ear and buried itself in the tree's trunk. Instinctively, Shinjo pushed Kakuza behind him and unsheathed his sword. "Step away from her" Ryuu warned as he leaped down from tree branches, landing lightly on his feet. "Ryuu?! What the hell?!" Shinjo yelled as Ryuu readied a paper bomb senbon. "Step. Away. From. Her" he ordered. "Where the fuck did you go?!" Shinjo countered, not lowering his blade or moving from Kakuza.

"I'll tell you later but for now I need you to get away from her. She's the reason Zuko died and we were imprisoned! She's the one who paid Orochimari to maintain the seal! She's the reason why our lives are fucked up!" Ryuu screamed at Shinjo, begging him to see sense.

Shinjo hesitated and turned to look at Kakuza. She stared fixedly at Ryuu, shock evident in her eyes but she didn't deny his accusations. "Is it true?" He quietly asked her. "See for yourself" Ryuu said and he touched Shinjo's forehead with his fingers. "Kaihō suru!"

He caught Shinjo's body as it collapsed and he was sent to the seal's world. What felt like days in that world were really only minutes in the present. After several minutes, Ryuu guided Shinjo back to the present. He looked around, confused, and at Kakuza. "You! Because of you!" He spat.

"Oh dear! Are we having a lover's quarrel?" Obita asked from the trees. "Will one stay and one go?! Interesting. Interesting" she mused as she looked at everyone's faces. "The fuck do you want?" Kakuza growled. This night could not get any worse.