Meeting

"What a bother..." Fuu said when Yoro told them to stop. Her mind was still wandering in the pleasant memories of the past few days spent at the Chunin exam Center. She never met and befriended with so many people before and, deep down, she was fighting the anguishing feeling of solitude she would return to back at the village. But she knew they had more important things to deal with that there at the moment. They had been followed for almost half an hour by two strange people with an awful quantity of chakra which didn't promise anything good.

" We don't know who you are... But we've been onto you for a while now", Yoro said as he looked towards the place the their trackers were hiding.

Two tall figures suddenly jumped out of the shadowy forest and came into view.

"I told him to stop since not being able to kill you is such a pain." A tall, silver haired man spoke first. The pearled necklace hanging on his neck was harbouring strange symbol, and something about him was putting her at unease. The fact he was carrying a giant scythe didn't help improve her first impression, so she turned to examine the other man, and the symbol on the fore-band protector he was wearing caught her attention.

"Hey Mister, are you a former Takigakure-nin?" He looked familiar. She was certain she had seen those eyes somewhere. And the village didn't have a history for missing nin... Of course!

"I know you! After the failed assassination attempt at the First Hokage, you killed and stole the hearts of the elders. You're Kakuzu-sempai!" Fuu was carried by a wave of excitement. She was standing in front of Kakuzu - a living legend, and the only thought was giving her goosebumps.

The 'Monster of Takigakure', the man who carried the Earth Grudge, the only Shinobi from a small country who had faced the First Hokage and made it alive - the protagonist of her favorite tales. The version she liked the most was saying that Kakuzu had felt betrayed by his corrupted superiors, but he took his revenge and made a deal with a spirit that turned him into a monster that had to nurtured his being with the hearts of criminals that had never ever get punished for their crimes.

Kakuzu had always intrigued her. She empathized him for some reasons. She thought that she had been just been lucky to have people who cared for her and was feeling this emptiness inside that gave her the strength to keep going on. But what about him? How would she have reacted if the only people close to her turned out to be just exploiting her for their own business? Would she have made the same choices? Many times she fantasized about meeting him and developing a grandfather-granddaughter relationship. It wouldn't have been that strange, they were from the same clan after all.

Yet, this time the 'real' Kakuzu was here, right in front of her. She couldn't let such an opportunity slip through. She was pretty sure that, for whatever reason he was following them today, they could discuss it and find a solution. And since they were from the same village AND the same clan, he had no reasons not to talk to her.

But she was soon pulled back to reality when the man that came with Kakuzu started asking him if she was stupid. Why people had such a hard time understanding her? She just wanted to solve things in a civil way. So what? Because he was an infamous criminal and murderer she should be scared? That was what people like to say, but then, if what people said was true, Chomei was a malicious spirit and she was as instable as someone possessed by a malicious spirit. Okay, reality was usually far from ideal, but there was nothing to lose either. On the contrary, if he really was dangerous, they would better have him on their good side. That was what sh told herself to fight her embarassment. She looked down to avoid meeting his gaze and walked straight to Kakuzu much to everybody's suprise.

"I always wanted to meet you. Maybe we could start like casual acquaintances around a cup of tea?" she said as she gave her hand over for a handshake. She bowed slightly but it was more to hide her shaking features than out of respect. But instead of taking her hand, he stepped back slightly and answered "I didn't come to here today to become friends with you."

It means no then... "Well, that's too bad."

*****

I'm so stupid, I'm just so stupid. Fuu felt the strength of her body leave her and her knees hit the rocky floor as the cocoon was formed. Yoro placed Kegon on an inner wall and and tried to stop the bleeding as best as he could. Kegon's arm was lying next to them, but none of the present people had the skills to fix it. Fuu glanced in their direction, but quickly turned her head to the side. How could she look them in the eyes after what she did.

If only she didn't act so sheepishly.

She had immediately attacked him so he wouldn't have had any way to escape her hit. That was what she had thought. If he was a danger to the village, she needed to fight him and to get rid off him straight away. She had been optimistic and some would say naive, but she wouldn't have known until she tried. Unfortunately, it seemed that he was who people said of him. In normal times, she considered missing-nin not deserving forgiveness, because betraying its own people was the worst choice one could do in a lifetime. She was eager to think it was different with him, because back in the days of the formation of the villages, the leaders were still attached to values inherited by the Period of Darkness, and Kakuzu could have as well been the victim in the whole story.

Things could have been fixed. She had no doubt that Shibuki would have welcomed him arms open, and the village currently needed great shinobis like him to make their country important again. But he turned his back to the hand that was outstretched to him, and that hurt.

She threw hit after the other with as much strength and speed as she could. And because she was too focused on Kakuzu, she hadn't noticed his companion coming from behind. That's why Kegon intervened, but lost his arm in the process. Then everything went blur. Yoro somehow managed to occupy them while taking her and Kegon behind a rock, and when she had been able to focus a little, she had made the cocoon as she was asked.

She felt her being shiver. What people had always told her was true. That she let herself carried too much by her emotions, and that one day it would have consequences.

The sound of sandals cracking on the floor pulled her out of her thoughts. Yoro was standing up, with a severe look in his face. He was watching a point above Kegon's head that was sickly pale, and after seconds that lasted forever he said: "Get ready to attack. We're leaving now".

*****

He always dreaded the moment he would have to confront his former village again. There hadn't been a single day he didn't reminisce the past, and wonder about the consequences it had in years and decades it followed. However, as much as he dreaded the moment, he was also longing for it to happen as soon as possible. So, when the chief asked him to capture the seven-tailed beast, he was somehow relieved. He didn't have much time left. He was getting close to the final account. Moreover, what happened to the child was also his fault. Freeing the child from a life lived as a military tool, even if it that meant her death, would be his way of fixing his past mistakes. Too focused on his internal turmoil, he didn't notice he was then rushing until his stupid partner started complaining once more.

"Oih, easy man! We can't even kill her so why're you in a hurry, uh? Seriously, it's such a pain! I'll have to double the prayers to ask Jashin-sama for forgiveness..."

If the imbecile didn't stop complaining, he would find a way to get rid off him, it didn't matter if he was immortal, as long as he stopped yelling like a goose. As if that day wasn't already a bad one...