Stitched || Kakuzu

Ch. 6 - Keep Your Enemy Close, Keep Your Hunter Closer

"Surely you must have had a good reason to come out here..." Nozomi mumbled to herself as she followed Kakuzu around in the forest. She sighed and looked around. It was getting to be sundown and Nozomi was most definitely sure that the forest was not a safe place at night.

Kakuzu, on the other hand, wasn't paying attention to her at all. He kept his senses up as he looked around, trying to spot anything in his radius that moved. There was something watching them and he was going to find out what.

"Will you..." Nozomi started out before Kakuzu covered her mouth again, signalling for her to hush. She pried his hand off of her mouth and glared up at him. Deciding to whisper this time, she stood on her tiptoes and leaned towards his head to where she thought his ears were... if he had ears. The man doesn't listen to a word she says anyway.

"Will you at least tell me why we're out here?"

Kakuzu ignored her and pulled her along. Nozomi, deciding to be stubborn, dug her heels into the hard forest floor, refusing to go anywhere. The male turned back at her with his red and green eyes narrowed. He stepped closer to her and looked down at her.

"Your life is in my hands, runt. I have more hearts than you ever will."

Nozomi looked up at him, trying to match his angered look but her eyes were faltering. She was still scared of him, and everything could back that up. No matter what, she didn't think that was ever going to change.

"I want to go back to the inn and sleep, using the room I paid for to the fullest. I'm not moving anymore."

Kakuzu's gaze softened slightly and almost held some humor. So she wasn't going to move? Using his other arm, he picked up her, slung her other his shoulder, and started walking again. She looked the same as she weighed - like nothing. For a moment, he could barely tell that he was holding something. Maybe it was because he was so used to carrying dead weight.

"Put me down! Put me down and take me ba-" 

Nozomi tried to yell at him as she kicked her feet. Kakuzu, annoyed by her, finally used his stitchings and tied them around her mouth and ankles so she couldn't move. Nozomi, who was quite annoyed as well, continued to hit him with her free hand until that too was restrained.

"Are you done?"

"Mm!" Nozomi glared at him, continuing to squirm until she got tired and her wrist hurt from the movement.

Kakuzu looked around again. He'd heard the rustling sound once more and stood still. Nozomi, who had heard it as well, became still and looked around with fearful eyes. It was finally night time, so it was heard to see through the darkness. Nozomi felt drops hit her cloak so she assumed it was starting to rain.

As Kakuzu stopped looking around, assuming that the ninja had moved away again, a large sound interrupted the silence. The Akatsuki male jumped out of the way as a boy exploded near where he was standing. Nozomi screamed, although it came out in muffles, and squeezed her eyes shut.

Tension in the area was on high as Kakuzu's attention remained focused on the crater in front of his feet. There was no sense of chakra anywhere as the assumed ninja had fled. Kakuzu's eyes narrowed and he looked around again before putting Nozomi down. The crater was too big to jump and there was no telling what was around the area.

Nozomi, who was finally free of bindings, stayed very close to Kakuzu, burying her face in his cloak. Kakuzu looked down at her shaking figure and sighed inwardly as the downpour of rain began and it was quite heavy.

The male started to walk in the opposite direction of the crater with Nozomi walking close to him. There was a cave not too far away that could give them shelter for the night.