Chapter 7

Risa quietly followed the guards as she walked through the underground cave network underneath her village. Of course she was aware of how extensive the pathways were since they were the only way in and out of the village, however she couldn't confirm that she'd traveled the entire maze. The new twists and turns she was walking through served to be unfamiliar ground.

"We're here." One of the guards spoke gruffly.

The bluette frowned and let out a slow breath to prepare herself before approaching the bars a little ways in front of her to the right. The guards didn't follow her, making them just out of earshot, but they kept watch of her movements. Facing the cell, she looked in to see Kakuzu sitting against the back wall with his head down in the dim light. He still had on the tattered clothing she last saw him in and it didn't look like his wounds were getting any better.

"Kakuzu…" She didn't know how to start as she was at a loss for words. It broke her heart to see him in this state. "I'm here."

The male didn't answer her, nor did he move. She didn't know what he was feeling, but she guessed it was most likely a mixture of anger, disappointment, and possibly some embarrassment. Shifting closer to the bars, Risa squatted down so she could try to look at him at eye level. The cell wasn't that big, but it was large enough that if she were to reach her arm in, she still wouldn't be able to touch him.

"You're innocent until proven guilty." Risa spoke up. "I know you're more than innocent. All of these petty bystanders are just jealous of what ya can do and the opportunities Lord Tatsuo gave ya. I'm going to do whatever I can to help ya, I promise."

She placed her hands on the bars to steady herself while she was talking, which alarmed the guards. They immediately came over to restrain her and reinstate the rules of visitation. Before Risa could react, something black rushed past her through the bars and created a barrier between her and the guards. Standing up slowly with wide, shocked eyes, she traced the black tendrils back to Kakuzu, who was now standing at the bars in front of her. The guards, knowing better than to take on their prisoner based on abilities alone, decided against their assault and left to report the incident.

Risa could get a good look at him now. He looked like he hadn't slept in days with how red his eyes were. She could also tell that he wasn't eating properly since he looked smaller than she'd last seen him. Contrary to her statement of his innocence, she was shocked to see the tattooed bands that adorned both of his wrists as they signified that he was now seen as a criminal.

"Go home, Risa."

"This is home."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes as he looked into equally stubborn ones. "Stop joking around and leave."

"You're my partner, Kakuzu. There's nothing more like home than that." She spoke calmly although her own irritation with his attitude was growing. "Ya should know better than anything else that pushing me away doesn't work."

The male retracted his tendrils once the guards were out of sight and turned away from her to sit back down and brood. That was the most he could do since his chakra had been siphoned. It was about time the warden came to redo the seal since he could feel himself getting stronger.

Reaching through the bars, Risa grabbed a hold of his shirt sleeve so he wouldn't run away. There was no door he could hide behind now. The tugging revealed a lot more stitches than she realized he had. Concerned with the size and amount, she didn't hesitate to question him.

"What have ya been doing to yourself?"

"It's none of your concern."

"The village doctor will tell me any and every medical treatment you've received if I ask. I don't want to do that, so I'm asking ya. Not to mention that technique ya just did. When did ya learn that?"

Kakuzu turned around, seeing red with anger, and yanked his sleeve out of her grasp. Grabbing her by her neck, he held her up so her feet were barely touching the floor. Contrary to what it looked like, his grip was loose and non-lethal. It was nothing for him to toss her onto the floor along the other side of the tunnel walls. As he did this, the two noticed the guards were returning along with the head warden.

"Ya fucking prick!" Risa spit out as she brushed the dirt off of herself. "Here I am sticking my nose out for ya and this is the thanks I get?"

"Visitation is over, little lady." The warden spoke. "The guards will escort you out."

Standing up, the bluette eyed Kakuzu then the warden for a moment before following the guards out. She was going to chew her partner out later, even though she knew he was only trying to protect her, but she did call him a prick, which may have been uncalled for. Regardless, she was going to return after she had a conversation with the village leader. The look the warden gave her only fueled her suspicions that something wasn't right.

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Risa hadn't been sleeping. She'd tossed and turned the past few nights before foregoing sleep all together and settling with her thoughts. She'd promised not to get involved with Kakuzu's investigation but the past few days had been nerve-racking. The village was in an uproar over him, so much so that her confidence in his innocence was starting to get overshadowed. It felt like regardless of whether he was or not, it just wasn't going to matter.

In the morning, she decided to head over to Tatsuo so she could speak to him and get an idea of what was going on. The village head had been so busy lately, it almost seemed like he was avoiding her. The villagers greeted her normally as they always did, however the shinobi wouldn't as much as glance in her direction. She figured as much since they were the only ones that knew she was on Kakuzu's side.

"Risa. I'm glad you're here." Tatsuo smiled the moment she arrived. It wasn't normal for her to run into him at the door of the main hall. Before she could say anything, she noticed an older gentleman standing behind him. "This is Jiro Otsuka. He'll be your new partner."

"Great. Can I talk to ya for a moment?" Risa asked.

"We can talk later. I have a meeting to attend."

When Tatsuo disappeared, she sighed before turning to her new partner. The male sported tanned skin with a big, black beard, but no hair on his head. His frame seemed to swallow hers as he was more than twice her size. Honestly, he looked old enough to be her father. Not wanting to make their meeting seem awkward, she held her hand out for him to shake.

"Risa Okamoto. I hope we can work well together."

"How's your father doing, Okamoto girl?" Jiro ignored her gesture and stroked his beard. "I gotta pay my respects to a legend like himself. I'll have to do it before you tarnish his good name."

"That's where you're wrong. That has nothing to do with me." She rolled her eyes and dropped her hand to her side. She'd had her fun dealing with attitudes, but she wasn't going to bother with a narcissistic pig. If the only thing they could talk about was mission work, then so be it.

The two traveled to the training grounds to assess each other and figure out any tag team techniques they could do. From the beginning, it was obvious that they were a randomized pair as they had nothing in common and their battling styles had no connection; this was a disaster waiting to happen.

"I'll be taking the lead on every mission. You can just stay behind and come out when I think it's necessary." Jiro shrugged. "You should be capable of doing that since you've been that person's shadow before. You should be happy I'm helping you keep your job title."

"We'll see." Risa crossed her arms. "I'm nobody's shadow. Maybe I'll make it so, just like your name, you'll always be second place."

"Maybe you're all bark and no bite."

She shot her kunai at him so quickly that it nearly sliced his fingers open when he caught it. A wicked smile came across his lips as he returned the weapon with the same amount of force and she stepped to the side to let it make a dent in a tree trunk. No sooner had she done that, he was in her face with a barrage of taijutsu. His foot came in contact with a side of her face, launching her a few feet into a tree after she dodged a few of his punches. Wiping the blood from the side of her mouth, she stood up and re-entered the fight.

He could pack a punch throwing his weight around, but she was nimble and swift; only throwing hands wasn't going to do anything. With another heavy handed swing, Risa disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Jiro to turn around in a circle to figure out where she'd try to surprise him from.

Suddenly, a vine flew out from the surrounding forest, followed by another one, and another one. Jiro drew up a rock barrier to shield himself until he could figure out her position, but the vines darted through the rock as if it was nothing but loose sand. As he fought off the nerve-ending greenery, more vines shot out from the ground until he was restrained with his arms, legs, and head stretched like a starfish.

"You've been nothing but a lackey, but now you want to try and show out. How pathetic." He sneered, his pride getting ahead of the situation. "Face me like a man, coward!"

Risa accepted his challenge and stepped out of the tree base she had camouflaged with. Walking up to his bondaged body, she looked up at him. Deciding she didn't like the position she was in, she forced him to his knees so she could look down at him.

"Nothing I can do will make ya see me as a worthy adversary, so maybe it'll be better if ya can't see at all."

Holding his eyes open, she sprinkled some mushroom spores in his eye sockets, causing the male to scream and cry out in agony. "You fucking witch!"

When she was done, she thought about letting him go, but her irritation with the whole ordeal got the best of her. Finishing off with an unnecessary roundhouse kick to his ribs, she left him to suffer with his thoughts and head back into the village. The watch would find him and let him go.

Back in the main hall, she sat outside Tatsuo's office door, deciding she'd wait there the rest of the day if she had to in order to speak with him. Hours passed before the male she was sitting patiently for showed up. He sent her a deep frown before letting her follow him into his office.

"Lord Tatsuo, I need-"

"I'm suspending you from shinobi service for the rest of the month as well as assigning you to community service with the reserves. It could be longer depending on the answers you give me with my next questions." He interrupted her as he sat down in his chair. He didn't give her a chance to respond as he continued on. "Why was I notified that the partner I just assigned you to was found severely injured and blinded at the training grounds, especially when you know we're at such a critical point? Actually, I don't want to hear that. How are you going to fix this?"

"The symptoms aren't permanent. He'll recover after a couple of days with constant eye flushing." She told him honestly. He should know that she'd never hurt a comrade with the intent to kill unless that threat was made against her first. As much as she wanted to protest her judgment, she let it go because regardless of her reason: 1) she did it and 2) she wasn't sure of her placement within the village.

Tatsuo rubbed his temples in frustration as he closed his eyes and contemplated his thoughts. "Risa… You're so bright and intelligent, so how could you be so stupid and childish? I never thought you'd be one of the ones that I have to keep watch on like this."

"I don't have anything to say on the matter." She responded curtly. "I'm not sorry about what I did because he deserved it and, respectfully, that's not why I came here to speak with ya."

He didn't understand what had gotten into her. She was one of his best shinobi and he wanted to keep it that way, but it seemed like her loyalty was elsewhere. He'd seen her like a daughter over the years as he'd seen Kakuzu as his son and he guessed it was only his rite of passage as they were the two causing him the most trouble at this point.

"As long as you accept your punishment." He finally looked at her. "What did you need from me?"

Risa already knew her list of requests so she was going to keep it short and sweet. "You need Kakuzu alive to testify for his trial, right? Since no one else will do it, let me give him basic medical care and food. When I saw him, he didn't look good. Regardless of what you think about him, he still has basic human rights."

"Fine."

"That's it? You're not going to put up a fight with me?"

Tatsuo clasped his hands together on his desk and gave her a serious look. "There's nothing more I can say, Risa. You're helping a dead man walking. Nothing you can do will resolve the situation. If you want to groom him up to die, be my guest."

Furrowing her eyebrows, she frowned. "What do ya mean by dead man walking?"

"His trial has already happened. Kakuzu will be executed for his wrong-doings towards the village. The decision was made earlier today, but an execution date hasn't been set yet."

The room was silent for a moment as the bluette processed the information she was just given. It felt like she couldn't breathe, like someone had taken the air out of her lungs. She could feel the emotion bubbling through her exterior, but she couldn't let the tears out just yet. She couldn't give him that satisfaction. Her frustration, however, easily slipped through the self-made barrier.

"Ya lied to me. Ya had me step away so I couldn't testify towards his character. Ya know that, besides ya, I'm all he has. Ya couldn't defend him like I could have."

"That was not what happened, Risa. I raised Kakuzu as my own and always tried to see the light in him-"

"Ya never wanted to see him as innocent because ya can't think past your own desires. The only reason ya took care of him all these years was because ya wanted to use him for his potential."

"Watch your mouth, Risa. That's your last warning."

She was flabbergasted by his response to say the least. "You're only saying that because ya didn't think I'd speak up about it. I have no respect for ya anymore. I'll dismiss myself."

Leaving the office, Risa made a beeline for Kakuzu's home to see what she could do for him regarding food and medical care. Her mind was spinning from the news and she just wanted to focus on Kakuzu and nothing else for right now. As she approached his hut, she couldn't even be shocked by all the vandalism. The front door had been smashed, furniture overturned, and bedrooms ransacked. Standing in the living room, everything finally hit her and all she could do was sink to the floor and cry.