Disclaimer: The answer is no.
Oh, my... Is that romance I see? Or is it Suigetsu just being... himself?
Reviews are currently my favorite things. Just saying. :)
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Chapter Five
Just as the sun was setting, we found a quaint hotel that would suffice for the time being. My mind was still swirling, and the amount of unanswered questions I had for Suigetsu was enormous, but I resolved to save them for later. After listening to his to-do list, I inferred that we would be together for a long time, so I would have plenty of opportunities to interrogate him.
"One room," Suigetsu requested, taking out a small coin purse and pouring some coins onto the counter of the lobby. Unnervingly, the amount of money was only barely sufficient enough to play for the room. When the person behind the front desk gave us our key, I eyed the nearly-emptied coin purse in Suigetsu's hands.
"Why are we getting a hotel room when you're nearly broke?" I questioned as we proceeded making our way down to our room on the second floor. "We could've... I don't know... slept in a nearby forest or something."
Suigetsu sighed. "Money's the least of my worries. I get money from other people easily... That's how I got all of my money when I was joined up with Sasuke."
It bugged me how he was able to discuss stealing so nonchalantly, but I remained silent as we reached our room and opened the door. I could tell that a long journey laid before me, so I resolved to get as much sleep as possible.
...And there was only one bed. Of course... I should have seen that coming.
A faint trace of a bitter smirk made its way into my expression, for I was about to spend a night (and many more in the future) with a guy I had only met a few hours ago. And not only that, but I was basically dedicating my life to him for who knew how long.
Despite my vibes of awkwardness, Suigetsu acted as if we were close friends having a sleepover. Kicking off his shoes, he flopped down on the left side of the queen-sized bed and rested his head on his arms, thoughtfully regarding the ceiling. Based on his actions thus far, it seemed like he spent most of his time either lost deep in thought or showing off his supposedly-awesome skills. It seemed like we were polar opposites.
Noting that this could possibly be the last chance to take a shower for a long time, I temporarily left Suigetsu to his own devices and took a short shower.
About ten minutes later, I turned off the shower and picked up my clothes from the floor. Ugh... Would I have to sleep in these? It's not like I wasn't used to sleeping in them... That was basically all I did when Ruga held me captive. Still, I thought it would be refreshing to sleep in something else for once. Just as I unhooked the satchel of shuriken from my pants, a plain, white robe folded on the counter caught my attention. Breathing a sigh of relief, I gratefully slipped it on and made up my mind to look for a new outfit in one of the dressers in the main room.
As soon as I opened the bathroom door, a flash of movement to my left caught my attention. In the nick of time, I discovered that it was a shuriken zipping towards me. Luckily, my reflexes kicked in at the last moment, and I jerked myself to the side. Merely a second later, the shuriken pinned itself to the wall with a thud. A flash of realization told me that the shuriken could have made contact with my head instead if I hadn't jumped out of the way.
And it quickly became pretty apparent to me where the shuriken came from.
"Why the hell did you do that?!" I shouted, glaring at the man lounging on the bed. The fact that he wore an expression of boredom only fueled the flames of my anger.
"I was just seeing if your reflexes are really as rusty as you say," Suigetsu answered. "Since you'll be in a lot of fights in the future... you know?"
"No, I don't know! What you did was completely unnecessary. You're acting like you didn't do anything wrong! What if I wasn't able to dodge the shuriken in time?"
Suigetsu lowered his gaze to a spot on the bed as if he was set on examining the individual threads in the comforter. "I guess I was taking a chance there," he nonchalantly replied. Suddenly, his eyes flicked up to me with such intensity that I almost jumped in surprise. When he spoke once more, he sounded almost... mocking. "But I'm not all at fault here, aren't I?"
"What? Of course you are!"
At my retort, Suigetsu's amusement seemed to grow. "You said that you couldn't really do much because of your imprisonment, but that dodge couldn't have been any better. Are you sure you aren't lying to me?"
"No! Why would I?" So what if my reflexes weren't complete mediocre? My training sessions with Karashi didn't hone my reflexes at all, so I had the satisfaction of knowing that the latter hadn't been much affected by my imprisonment.
"Ninja lie all the time," he claimed. "I have no reason to believe that you're not."
Oh, he didn't trust me? How ironic, considering the fact that I had no one I could trust. And I could definitely relate when he implied that I had an ulterior motive.
"Well, you keep on believing that. I'm not one to lie." He didn't respond, but I could feel his eyes on me as I shuffled to the wardrobe and picked out comfortable night-wear. But after I changed? I headed straight for the couch at the foot of the bed.
Because under no circumstances was I going to sleep in the same bed as a guy who threw a shuriken at my face just to test my reflexes.
Apparently, Suigetsu wasn't expecting my attitude. "Are you really going to be like that?" he questioned with a sigh. "I'm not going to molest you, you know."
"I wouldn't put it past you." I knew I was being catty- if he actually wanted to do something like molest me, the small distance from the bed to the couch wouldn't stop him. But still… the notion of sleeping in the same bed as him gave me shivers- probably because of his strange and mysterious vibe.
"Fine… suit yourself," said Suigetsu.
I made no response, and after turning off the lights, I sprawled out on the couch.
After a minute of trying to fall asleep, Suigetsu's soft voice broke the silence.
"Kisara, why are you so pissed off at me?"
"Gee, I wonder why."
"I was telling the truth, you know. About seeing what your reflexes were like."
Telling the truth or not, he still threw a shuriken at my face. "You could have killed me."
His short laugh filled the air. "Oh, I really doubt that." After a moment of silence, his next words startled me. "I notice a lot of things, Kisara… I can tell that we're very alike."
That idea was so sudden and out-of-context that I could only ponder about it before finally falling asleep.
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When I woke up the next morning, a soft blanket was draped around my body. The person behind the act was undoubtedly Suigetsu- he was probably trying to ask for forgiveness or something, but it was still naive of him. Nonetheless, my anger had already ebbed, and all that remained was a slight annoyance for his behavior last night.
Groggily, I sat up and peered over the bed frame. My eyes rested on Suigetsu oddly sleeping without any covers. If I hadn't met him yesterday and been exposed to his snarky attitude, I almost would have thought that he looked... innocent. Intrigued and somewhat fascinated by this spectacle, my gaze shifted to the bangs of light hair partially obscuring his closed eyes. Now that I thought about it, his eyes andhair were pretty unusual...
It wasn't like me at all, but I somehow became absorbed in my observation and lost track of time. After a while, I realized with a jolt that at some point, Suigetsu had opened his eyes and returned my gaze.
A smirk formed on his lips as he sat up. "You were watching me sleep, weren't you?"
I immediately turned away from him and frowned. "No way. I just woke up."
Suigetsu completely disregarded my comment as if I hadn't said anything. "You had this dazed look on your face... am I really that hot?"
I didn't even know why I had been looking at him for that long... this guy was already messing up my life. "Well..." I answered with the first excuse I could come up with. "You were staring at me, too."
Suigetsu jumped off the bed and flashed me a lazy grin. "Well, yeah. Unlike you, I'll admit to checking out an attractive girl."
Once again, I quickly looked away as an unfamiliar and uncomfortable heat spread over my face. That comment shouldn't have even gotten to me... he only wanted me to forgive him for the shuriken incident.
"I can't admit to something I don't believe," I hastily replied as I began to gather my few possessions. When I dared to glance back at Suigetsu, his smile told me that he thought otherwise.
After grabbing a bite to eat down in the lobby, Suigetsu and I visited a few general stores and used up the last of his money to stock up on food. I still wondered how we were going to find more money, but he shrugged me off and acted like it was no big deal. Just like everything else.
"Do you at least know our next destination?" I stiffly demanded. Ever since the shuriken incident, my impression of Suigetsu had been dropping lower and lower.
He absentmindedly kicked a people along our path, sending it skittering to the side. "Of course," he replied. "I'm planning on finding the twin swords, Kiba, which are in Konoha."
Surprisingly, I actually knew about the twin swords from Karashi. Thinking about him after he betrayed me caused a sharp pain in my chest, but he did provide me with useful information... in more ways than one. According to him, the leader of the cult that took over Katabami Kinzan wielded Kiba before some Konoha ninja swooped in and saved the day.
But were we really going to set off for Konoha now? The Land of Rivers did border the Land of Fire, but we were still in two separate countries. "We can't just waltz into Konoha and take Kiba," I pointed out. "The swords are the property of Konoha now. And besides... aren't you classified as a rogue?"
"Heh... I guess you could call me that. But I have a plan."
It seemed like he always had a secret plan. "Well, what is it? If we're going to team up, you need to tell me these things."
Before responding, Suigetsu grabbed my wrist and sharply turned into a quiet area behind a shop. Stopping and facing me with an excited gleam in his eye, he said, "We're going to pose as ninja from Kirigakure."
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"What?"
"You said it yourself... we can't just walk in and take their swords as we are. That's why we're going to-" he formed quotation marks with his fingers. "-go on a mission. You get me?"
I pondered over his words for a moment. "So, what you're saying is that we're going to pretend to be Kirigakure ninja."
He nodded.
"Supposedly on a mission from "our" Mizukage."
He nodded again.
Ugh... why did I even agree to tag along with him? I wanted to distance myself from rogues, and becoming one wasn't much better at all.
"Suigetsu, I really don't think I should do this," I confessed, looking him straight in the eye. "When you offered to team up, it sounded intriguing. I thought I could use the extra protection. But this... this is going too far. I'm not going to become a rogue ninja for the sake of your precious swords. I'm not like you."
For the first time, I had the honor of taking Suigetsu by surprise. His expression flickered, and it looked like I had rendered him at a loss for words. But it only lasted a second, and it was soon replaced with an annoyed frown.
"You can't do that," he said in an almost childish tone.
"Um, why not?"
"I promised you protection and abandoned Taka for you! You didn't even have to do anything… you only needed to tag along. You'd have to be pretty stupid to refuse an awesome offer like that."
"Maybe," I admitted, "but you're not telling me all the parts of the deal."
He raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"
"Don't play dumb with me… I've had my suspicions about you from the start. First, you try to recruit me into your team without telling me about Sasuke Uchiha, the most notorious rogue in the shinobi world, then you almost kill me with a shuriken, and now this. Oh, and that's all in two days, too. Forgive me for having my doubts, Hozuki-sama."
Suigetsu's scowl deepened as he folded his arms in irritation. "I know some things might seem a little weird," he explained (to which I laughed dryly and rolled my eyes), "but it'll be worth it for both of us… you'll see." When I didn't spit out a snarky response, his expression grew softer- something I would have never expected from him. "I give you freedom, and you give me competition. And tell you what- I'll even let you carry and fight with Kiba once we get them."
...I did tell him about my preoccupation with ninja tools, didn't I?
"And I won't just be following you everywhere?" I asked.
His usual smirk made its way into his expression, although it looked a little wary. "Deal… We'll be comrades on equal terms now. If I had known that you were so feisty, I could've saved myself all this trouble."
"Compared to you, I'm nothing."
"See? You're only proving my point."
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Despite Suigetsu's insisting on leaving as soon as possible, we ended up lingering around Katabami Kinzan (the random village I used for cover was Katabami Kinzan, much to my luck) for a few more days and using Suigetsu's "connections" to prepare us for our fake mission. The more I hung around him, the more I realized just how feared he was throughout the shinobi world. His connections consisted mostly of lowly ninja who, when in his presence, referred to him as Kijin no Sairai, the Second Coming of the Demon.
Considering his underlings' great respect and his arrogance, Suigetsu must have had pretty advanced skills. But I had yet to see what he could do.
And I also had yet to see of Ruga.
The entire day after my encounter with him, my nerves were on end. Every time I set foot outside, my eyes were constantly roaming for the familiar face I saw in my nightmares. But when I hadn't spotted him after those few days in Katabami Kinzan, I allowed myself to slightly let down my guard.
Having Suigetsu constantly by my side also helped calm my nerves. I wasn't going to admit that to him, though… it would only inflate his already-huge ego.
Three days after my arrival in the village, said person appeared at our new hotel room grinning with two sets of outfits in his hands.
"I finally got them," he rejoiced. "You have no idea what I went through to get these."
I looked away from the small TV in the corner. Nothing interesting was on, anyway. "What did you get? Clothes?"
"Not just any clothes," said Suigetsu as he walked over and handed me a pair. "They're authentic Kiri uniforms."
Now that I actually stopped to think about it, we really did need uniforms if we were going to pose as ninja from Kirigakure. I had given little thought towards our attire for the trip and had merely assumed that we would show up in our current clothing. "Oh, of course," I replied. "How did you get these? You really weren't kidding when you said that you had your ways- Hey!"
Suigetsu paused in the middle of taking off his shirt, giving me a small look of surprise. "What?"
What did he mean, 'what'? "What are you doing?"
"Changing. We need to leave as soon as possible, right?"
I continued to stare at him unabashedly. "That's not what I meant. Why are you changing right here?"
He paused and looked at me thoughtfully before fully taking off his shirt, much to my surprise (okay, maybe I wasn't really surprised). "Heh, why not?"
Immediately averting my gaze from his bare chest, I leapt up from the bed with my uniform in my arms. "Well, if you're going to change here, then I'm going to the bathroom."
Although I wasn't looking at him, I could feel his sharp-toothed grin through the back of my head. "You're really funny when you're like that, you know."
I stopped after a few steps towards the bathroom. "When I'm like what?"
"You're always so blunt and unashamed when it comes to most things. But as soon as I do something like this, you get so flustered… It's hilarious."
Besides that same heat rising to my cheeks, I didn't feel much different. "You're stripping in front of me."
"Like I said, why not? We're teammates now, so we shouldn't have any boundaries. You don't even need to go to the bathroom… you could change right here-"
I was already in the bathroom with the door locked before he could finish his sentence.
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After changing into the Kiri uniform, I stepped out of the bathroom to thankfully find Suigetsu fully clothed. He gave me a smirk that carried the mood of our recent conversation, but I blatantly ignored it and picked up my satchel along with my belt of scrolls I had acquired during my time with Karashi. "I'm ready… let's go."
When we exited the lobby and rounded the corner of the hotel, a man who looked like an ordinary villager approached Suigetsu with a meek expression. "I have your paperwork ready, Hozuki-san," he said, holding out a stack of papers.
Wait… Suigetsu even pulled strings to get us fake paperwork for our mission?
"Why, thank you," replied Suigetsu in a mockingly polite tone. "But didn't I also request for something else?"
The man frowned and nervously wrung his hands together. "I don't think that was part of the agreement-"
Suigetsu appeared behind him in a flash, holding the point of a kunai to his neck.
"I made that part of the deal very clear," Suigetsu murmured, his voice dropping to a menacing chill. "Do I need to remind you of what happened the last time you messed up?"
"N-No," the main cowered, his eyes widened in fear. "Forgive me, Hozuki-san! Here, take it!" He reached into his pocket as much as his position would allow and pulled out a thick wad of money.
"Good," purred Suigetsu as he lowered the kunai. "I'm glad we could come to an understanding."
As the man bolted away, I also experienced a revelation. "So, this is how you never run out of money."
"It's pretty convenient, don't you think?" inquired Suigetsu, his carefree attitude back into place.
"Convenient for you." To be honest, he was kind of intriguing. I could tell just from Suigetsu's blackmailing that he had joined Sasuke's team for a reason. But despite my small fascination, there was something about his sadistic demeanor that bothered me, too…
It was, I realized during our journey, the high probability that Suigetsu had murdered countless others with that same manner.
How could I expect anything different? I should have immediately come to that conclusion when I discovered about his affiliation with Sasuke… All of his teammates were probably murderers. But like usual, I only noticed what I saw in him at the time.
Although I had come close, I had never actually murdered anyone in my life. It was rather unsettling to tag along with someone who would kill without even batting an eye.
But that uncomfortable subject was pushed to the back of my mind, because I finally got to see Suigetsu in combat.
It took us a total of two days to reach Konoha. It would have taken us only one if Suigetsu hadn't stopped so frequently for water breaks… and if we hadn't run into rogue ninja along the way.
We were about halfway to the village when I caught a sudden flicker of movement to my right. I immediately threw a handful of shuriken towards the general area, and the ensuing grunts informed me that I had hit my mark. Two missing-nin from Iwagakure zipped out in front of us, and I felt a small pang of sadness upon seeing people from my former village.
"Damn," drawled Suigetsu with a grin. "Your reflexes, Kisara. What'd I tell you?"
"Now's really not the time." I slipped into a fighting stance and eyed the two men in front of us.
The rogue ninja didn't say a word, instead remaining silent as they lunged towards us. The reason for their attack didn't become apparent until several minutes in, after they continuously attempted to corner me away from Suigetsu. He and I seemed to both realize it at the same time- they had most likely sensed my chakra and proceeded to hunt me down.
But I didn't have to worry about a thing because oh, man.
Suigetsu could fight.
Although I could fend off the ninja's attacks fairly well with just a kunai, the fight would have been so much different if Suigetsu hadn't been involved. He really wasn't kidding when he said he would easily take down anyone who challenged us- his taijutsu skills were amazing, to say the least. He blocked every kick and punch the ninja threw at him, and he didn't even have to activate any Jutsu or use the sword strapped to his back. Despite the threat in front of me, I soon found that most of my attention was absorbed in the way Suigetsu fought our enemies.
At one point, however, one of the rogues had Suigetsu entirely occupied. I was left to spar with the other, but he eventually found an opening and threw a shuriken at Suigetsu, who currently had his back to us. Since I was too far away to intercept the shuriken, a jolt of fear ran through me. What would I do? What would he do? It was headed straight for him… there was no way that Suigetsu could avoid it even if he had noticed-
And it was then that I witnessed Suigetsu liquify into a puddle before my very eyes.