Boulders

Remain

In which Toph stays with the Akatsuki until the end.

▪▪▪

"WHOAH!"

Strong hands pried Tobi off of her, practically throwing him aside. Kisame-sensei's familiar weight crouched down besides her as she hacked and coughed on nothing at all.

"Toph, you okay?" He asked. She felt his hands take her pulse and lever her up into a sitting position.

"Tried to kill me," Toph wheezed. "Wants to kill-"

Her words dissolved into a coughing fit.

"Kisame," Tobi chirped, an abrupt change from his previous demeanor. "You should move! She's a threat to the Akatsuki."

"She's not," Kisame growled.

"This isn't your call, senpai."

"She's my student. It is only my call. Now, you will move aside and let us through now, or I will kill you and tell Pein exactly why. You don't get to touch her."

"Kisame, move."

"NO!" Kisame roared.

The cavern echoed with the reverberations of his voice.

"I am going to take her with me," Kisame said, voice deceptively calm. "And she is going to forget whatever it is that made you think you had to kill her. Is that understood?"

Silence.

"Am I understood?" Kisame raised his voice, not quite yelling.

"Okey dokey, senpai!" Tobi saluted him. "If she forgets, I don't see any reason to hurt Tau-chan!"

Toph flipped him the bird. He gasped and stumbled back like he hadn't just tried to kill her.

"Come on," Kisame grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet and dragging her past Tobi.

"But he's-"

"Are you strong enough to defeat him?" Kisame asked lowly.

"Wha?"

"Could you take the twerp in a one-on-one?"

Toph thought back to the fight. She'd been relentlessly overpowered. It had been entirely one-sided. "No."

"Then shut up about what happened here until you are." Kisame's grip on her arm tightened. "Got it?"

Toph ducked her head. After a long pause, she nodded.

"Good."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

That night she tried to call for the onryo.

But no matter how many times she whispered the ghost's name, a reply never came.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph stabbed down with her weapon, heating the wet squelch as her blade entered her victim's body, killing him instantly.

"Hey, Kisame-sensei," Toph asked, pulling her sword free and giving it a decisive flick to get the blood off. "What are we going to have for dinner tonight?"

She felt her mentor turn to look at her from where he stood amidst a pile of bloody bodies. "Soba, probably. Why're ya still callin' me sensei? You graduated five months ago."

Toph shrugged, sliding her sword into her sheath. "Kisame-sensei is Kisame-sensei. What else am I supposed to call you?"

"Somethin' else," Kisame insisted, hopping over a disemboweled corpse and hoisting Samehada onto his shoulder. "Ya look too... too..."