Chapter 9

Nozomi and Hidan stood outside the Land of Fire Bounty Station. It didn't take long for Kakuzu to return with the funds from the bounty, along with a seal of alliance from their employers. Now that their bounty was done, she wondered what they would be doing next. Were they going to return to Amegakure?

"Hey, blondie! Let's fucking go!"

"Coming!" Snapping out of her thoughts, Nozomi looked to see Hidan and Kakuzu already walking away from the station so she ran over to meet them. The trio started the next part of their journey, Kakuzu walking between Hidan and Nozomi. She looked up at the tall male, who was holding a sack of his earnings from the bounty. "Where are we going now?"

Hidan put his hands behind his head. "To fucking kill someone, in Jashin's name of course. I've been waiting on some damn free time for a while now."

"I've been wondering this for quite a while now, but why are you a bounty hunter, Hidan?" The female raised an eyebrow as she looked around Kakuzu at the Jashinist.

"I'm not." He rolled his eyes. "If I had my way, this old, money-hungry ass-backwards bastard-" He was cut off as he jumped back to avoid a black eye. "Ha, bitch, you missed!"

Kakuzu ignored him. "We're going back to your house."

"Why can't we ever do anything I fucking want?" Hidan crossed his arms. "We always have to follow your bullshit. How do you know if the bitch wants to do that?"

"Wait, why can't you just call me by my name?" Nozomi frowned. "I don't mind going back to Kirigakure because I still owe Kakuzu-san and it's only right that I pay him for his services."

"Are you satisfied now?" Kakuzu turned to Hidan.

The silver-haired male let out a huff of anger and started walking again. "Fucking hell. You don't even know if there's actually money there, but of course you would fucking take his side. What a load of bullshit, I tell ya,"

"What if we go back to the hot springs first? I think it would be nice to-"

"I'm not going to that pacifist shithole."

"Since you want a say so bad, your options are Kirigakure or Yugakure."

"I swear to Jashin, I fucking hate you."

In the end, Nozomi got her wish and the group stopped for the night at an inn by the border of the Land of Hot Water and the sea. The mix of hot water from the spring and the slight breeze from the sea felt serene against her skin as she relaxed. Finally, she was able to see why all the tourist books said the springs were so magical. It may not have been in Yugakure, but she couldn't complain. Her bruise was healing from her previous fight and everything just felt nice. It would've been nicer if her family was here to enjoy it with her.

Frowning, Nozomi got up and went to go change; she'd been soaking in the water for a while now anyway. Although things ended with her father and brother on a note she could've never imagined, it didn't change the fact that she missed them and thought about them a lot. She wanted to believe that there could've been a way where their relationship would've been better.

Her room was a short walk from the springs so she started on her way. Distracted by her thoughts, Nozomi almost didn't hear a discarded twig break behind her. Eyes widening, she pulled out a kunai from her pouch and turned around. There was nothing behind her, but as she looked from side to side, the surrounding forest started to look less and less familiar.

There was a bird sitting on a low branch in front of her and, weirdly enough, it looked as if it was staring directly at her. Out of curiosity, Nozomi cautiously moved towards it. Where did it come from? As soon as she got too close, the bird jumped and flew away, its feathers flying everywhere around her. Suddenly, it was like her consciousness shut off; she saw a flash of red, then everything went dark.

Groggily, Nozomi woke up leaning against the doorframe inside a room. She wanted to reach up to her head but it felt like her wrists were tied behind her back. Her legs felt like jelly when she tried to move so she opted to look around instead. From what she could see by the dim light of the moon and stars outside, in front of her was an empty room with stairs on the left side in front of a door and behind her was another empty room, but it all felt familiar. Was this… her home?

"You're finally awake. You were out longer than expected - almost a full day to be exact."

Nozomi nearly jumped out of her skin as someone spoke. Turning back around, she came face-to-face with a male in a straw hat crouching down in front of her. Through the strands, she could see part of a face that was pale blue. She'd seen skin like this before.

"Were you on a boat that was leaving Kirigakure a little while ago?"

"You have a sharp memory. I like that.." The male chuckled out of sheer amusement. "I knew I recognized your face from the paper, shrimp. You were the flighty babysitter."

Nozomi's eyes drifted to the male's cloak and she automatically recognized the clouds. This was bad… Maybe he was different from the plant person, but could she afford to give him the benefit of the doubt?

"How does someone like you end up in a bingo book?" The male continued.

"A bingo book…?" She tilted her head in confusion. Was he talking about the book that Kakuzu always carried around? That meant that her picture was in the same book as the bounties Kakuzu was always going after.

"Leave her alone, Kisame. We already did our part." Another voice spoke. From the back corner of the room, another person emerged. His voice sounded younger than the man in front of her, but he didn't put her any more at ease.

Kisame grinned at Nozomi, showcasing his rather sharp teeth, before standing up. "You could at least let me have a little more fun. I wasn't going to do anything to her."

"Why did you kidnap me?" Nozomi looked between the two. "Someone's going to come and find me."

"And who would do that, little girl?"

Nozomi's breath hitched in her throat as she heard the next eerily-familiar voice. Everything in her body screamed to run as a third person emerged from the ground. The yellow eyes and flytrap surrounding his body looked exactly the same as she remembered. Hurriedly, she tried to use any strength she had to inch her way as far away from him as possible.

"S-Stay back!"

"Aren't you going to answer my question?"

She could hear her heart beating loudly out of her chest. They all had the same cloak, which means they had to all be working together. That also meant they were a part of that 'Akatsuki' thing she heard before. When she was brought to that unknown place, she could hear voices. She knew that she couldn't go back on what Kakuzu promised and compromise him and his partner.

"My friends…"

"That's what you call Kakuzu and Hidan?" Zetsu began to laugh hysterically. "There are no friends in this line of work."

"Wait… that's some hefty information to just leave out." Kisame turned to Zetsu. "Don't you think, Itachi?"

Itachi stared at Nozomi, who was showing a mix of fear and panic across her face. It was clear that she had faced, or at least seen, Zetsu before and from how easy the kidnapping had gone, she was quite defenseless. "You mentioned that she owes someone, which means you must have been referring to the treasurer."

"No offense, but isn't that his business?" Kisame shrugged. "I'm pretty sure getting his merchandise from her would've been like taking candy from a baby. She's no shinobi."

Abruptly, everyone got silent as the door to the room opened. In walked a male with orange hair and peculiar purple eyes, even more stoic than Kakuzu's. His eyes connected directly with Nozomi's and the female froze in her place.

"You all are free to leave. I would like to talk to the girl alone."

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

Post Credits Scene: (The Night Before)

"So let me get this crap straight… I left you two alone, put my life on the line for that bullshit, and you didn't do anything?" Hidan stood, glaring at Kakuzu, who was recounting and organizing their last reward. "For fucks sake! Did you get cockblocked or something?"

Kakuzu placed the last stack down and proceeded to store the bills in a scroll, not even once looking in his partner's direction. "Do I ever ask you about your personal endeavors?"

"You just talk shit about them in front of my face." The silver-haired male rolled his eyes. "Fucking dick wad."

Ignoring him as always, Kakuzu continued what he was doing. In his mind, he was still processing what Nozomi was to him. He'd been asked before if she was more than just a servant, and in all honesty, she was. He'd grown to expect her to be by his side, as complicated as that would be for him. Now he had something to dedicate himself to besides this organization, but that idea in itself was dangerous. Now that he was thinking about her again, she should've been inside by now.

"Blondie must really love the water. Taking this long, she probably passed the fuck out." Hidan yawned as he laid back on the tatami mat. "Hey, greedy old bastard, are you-" He opened one eye to where his partner was sitting, only to find the space empty. In fact, he was the only one left in the room. "Damn it, how long have I been talking to myself?"

Kakuzu stood outside the inn, looking for any sign of Nozomi. The springs were in plain view of where their room was, which was just beyond a couple of trees. Usually, he could sense the little presence she had, but there was no trace of her, which meant something was wrong. Just as he was about to disappear and find her, an annoyance rose out of the ground in front of him.

"Hello, Kakuzu-san. I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time." The vermin smiled. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes as he heard the amusement in Zetsu's voice.

"I'm busy."

"Obviously not busy enough." Zetsu shrugged. "Leader-sama has another task for you to do near Sunagakure. You'll find the dry heat to your liking, I presume?"

"Fucking Suna?" Hidan groaned as he stepped outside of the room, overhearing the conversation. "The fucker couldn't assign anything closer?"

In an instant, Kakuzu held Zetsu off the ground by his neck. Unfortunately, he only brought his white side, which meant this one was nothing more than a clone. Nonetheless, clones still held information. "You can tell him I'm not doing anything without the girl."

"My, my, what a grip." The clone choked out, never losing his composure. "Fear not, Leader-sama never goes back on his word. The girl will be returned in due time."