Stitched || Kakuzu

Ch. 1 - The Great Idea

His eyebrow twitched as he looked down at her. "Why are you so close to me?"

She stared back up at his oddly colored eyes and bit her lip, trying to pull away from him. She winced as she tried a little harder to pull her left wrist away from his right one.

". . . I'm stuck."

This isn't how it started. There's much more to the story that happened before this point. Taking it back, it all started a couple of days ago.

Her name is Nozomi Shidou and she's almost twenty-two. She'd lived in the Hidden Leaf Village for the first five years of her life, since the day her mother gave birth to her. When she was almost six years old, Kurama, the nine tails, attacked the village and killed her mother by stepping on her as she pushed her daughter out of the way and to safety.

Since then, Nozomi's father moved himself, her brother, and her to the Hidden Mist Village where her brother trained and became a hunter-nin in the ANBU. Whenever he came home from a mission, he would teach his sister basic jutsu and fighting skills so when he's out, she could defend herself. She never could become a ninja because her chakra capacity was too low.

Their father left on a trip and never came back, leaving she and her brother to take care of themselves for the last three years. Last year, her brother was sent out with a group of ANBU to hunt down Orochimaru of the Akatsuki.

The woman sat in her house, making dinner as she hummed lightly to herself. A knock on the door sounded and she finished the rice before heading to the door. She grinned from ear to ear as a familiar man stepped in and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"Welcome home, Hideki."

He grinned as she hugged him back. "Did you get taller, Mimi?"

"Ah..." Nozomi looked up at her brother and wrinkled her nose in thought. He only laughed and pet her head before going upstairs. Realizing he was joking with her, she pouted and went back to making dinner. 

Over dinner, they talked almost the entire time, barely touching their food. Hideki told his sister funny stories about the mission without giving out too much information. As they shared memories and laughed to their hearts content, eventually the good times came to an end and the conversation became serious.

"Did you ever see him?"

Hideki looked at his sister's face which showed signs of hope and sighed, shaking his face. Her face felt and she looked down at her half-eaten food. He stood up and sucked in a breath, contemplating whether he should have told her yes instead.

"Nozomi."

Nozomi looked up at her brother, wiping at her eyes. Her father had been missing for three years now. He had told her that he needed to go on a business trip and set off to Kumogakure, never coming back.

"Dad's using you to reincarnate Mom."

The woman paused for a mom, then burst out laughing at her brother's statement and wiped a tear from her eye. "You're funny, Hideki. Dad's not a ninja anymore and you can't bring back the dead."

"I'm not joking." Hideki snapped at her, causing Nozomi to stop laughing. Her brother was actually serious. "I shouldn't be telling you this because it's top secret information. While my team was in Kumogakure, I was called out after dark for my watch shift. It was Dad in disguise and he's serious in using you to get Mom back."

Sure, she and her father weren't on the best terms since her mother's death but she never thought he would escalate it that far. Her eyes widen and she looked up at her brother, worried.

"I can't do that! You have to help me, Hideki!"

Hideki sighed and looked away from her. "I have a mandatory mission tomorrow that I have to go on. I don't know when Dad will come get you, but don't trust him okay. I'm sure your friends will be able to help you for now until I get back."

With that, her brother went upstairs to get ready for tomorrow, leaving his sister to tend to herself and clean up. She dropped the plate on the floor and it shattered as she tried to hold herself together. Her father was trying to kill her to bring back his wife - her mother? How was that even possible? But when it came to serious situations, her brother never lied to her.

That night, she couldn't fall asleep as she curled up with her pillow pressed tightly against her chest. What was she going to do? She didn't have that many friends and the ones she did have her ninja, having been able to attend when she couldn't.

An idea popped up into her head and she sat up. If her father came, maybe she'd be able to fend him off. Her brother had taught her basic ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. Mentally slapping herself, she sighed. Her father used to be a ninja. There's no way she can be that stupid as to think she had a chance when her skills weren't even close to being genin level.

The next morning, her brother left bright and early and she went to see him off. After he disappeared, Nozomi came back to the empty house and a wave of fear came over her. What if he was in there now, just waiting for her to open the door? Picking up a stick from the ground, she edged over to the house and opened the door cautiously, peeking in. Deeming it safe, she closed the door behind her and looked around the small house before sighing.

This was ridiculous. She knew she was beyond paranoid. Suddenly, another idea popped in her head and she smiled to herself. Running upstairs to her brother's room, she looked around his closet and drawers before finding what she wanted - his emergency pouch with a few kunai and shuriken, some medical supplies, and an escape scroll.

Pulling one of her brother's pants out of his closet, she cut it up and tailored it so it became easy, movable shorts. The bandage on her right leg from being burned by oil was still there and she let it be. Putting on her sandals and a plain t-shirt, she placed the emergency pouch securely around her waist and looked in the mirror. A pair of scissors went up and hair came down as her sandy blond hair went from waist-length to shoulder-length in a matter of minutes. Finishing the outfit with a black cloak, she locked the house and left the key under the mat with the spare for when Hideki came back.

She knew exactly what she was going to do. From now on, she'd just have to deal with the matters herself.