Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Hidden Spies ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter Sixteen: Hidden Spies

 

“You're saying WHAT?” Kira was beside herself in fury. She'd left her house for scarcely ten minutes, and now one of Kabuto's henchmen, the stupid one, the one who liked to look at her from behind corners and thought she didn't notice, and was now the reluctant bearer of bad news. “Kisame LOST her? How could he? He's a beast, remember, there's no way he could've…you know what, I'm losing brain cells talking with you, so put Kabuto on the line. No, I don't care if he's busy or not. Put him on the line or next time I will personally see to it that you get both your ears cut off…no, not just the lobes! The entire ear! Now get him on this line this instant!” After tilting her head slightly to rest the phone on her shoulder, she let out a theatrical sigh, deep and heavy, like all skilled actresses should.

There was a slight scuffling sound on the other line, and some agitated cursing as well, but when Kabuto started to speak to her, his voice was smooth and unhurried, the epitome of a cool-headed leader. She almost laughed. Kabuto was anything but cool, and his act was easy to see through if you tried hard enough. “Kira, my dear! What a wonderful thing it is to hear your voice again, and so soon!”

She considered this a moment before answering, “Yes, it would be, if it was a happy circumstance to call on. It's hardly been three hours since I've talked to you last, and now I must wrangle the information from you? Truly despicable, Kabuto, you should know better than to play with me like that.” She could barely keep the hate and anger out of her voice, but, luckily, he didn't sense those two emotions—only annoyance, since he was blinded so by love.

“I'm sorry, Kira.” He said, plaintively, sounding almost like a captive pleading for his life. “I didn't mean to surprise you like this. None of us realized something like this could happen. All possible precautions were taken, but it seemed that luck was on her side this time. She learned a few new jutsu, it seems, and Kisame, in his beastly state, simply does not have enough chakra or brains to figure out how to counter them.”

“Her? Learn new jutsu? I think not. Are you sure you're not just covering up for that beast? Or is he covering up for someone else?”

“I'm not covering up anything, Kira. This matter has gone out of my hands already, and there's nothing can do about it. Kisame got in touch with us a few minutes earlier, and told us he'd lost her. Needless to say, we were very angry with him, but there's nothing more we can do but wait. He has a keen sense of smell, and good hearing, and now that he's a beast, both senses should be amplified by at least fifty times as much.”

“No, having a good sense of smell won't do any good.” Kira said thoughtfully, trying to remember the qualities of the pink-haired girl she'd met a week or so ago. “She has this spray that eliminates her smell. I went through her bags when she wasn't looking, when she was watching my double fight alongside Sasuke. It took me a lot of energy to separate myself from Ikimono, even if it was only for five minutes, but I do think it was worth it. That bitch loves Sasuke, and that should be helpful. She packed light for the trip, but she brought quite a few weapons. I would've taken them from her, but I believed that you and Itachi would take care of it.”

“I couldn't take anything—I needed her to trust me, then and there. I couldn't have done anything. But I did manage to plant a tracker on the lining of her bag, and I'm going to activate it soon.”

“Why didn't you activate it earlier? It could have saved us a lot of trouble!”

“There was no need, Kira dearest. We had Kisame, and the tracker has a life span of only two hours; and hour and a half if there's a great distance. No, we needed to use everything possible first—then resort to emergencies.”

“Well, all right…keep on that, and when you find her, torture her, beat her, show her no mercy. Carve that pretty little face until no sane man would want her. Shave her head bald, starve her till she's a stick, give her enough water to keep her alive, do what you like with her, and no matter, what, do not let her get away. She's brought us enough trouble, so give her all the trouble she can stand. Don't kill her…no, don't give her that blessing.” She narrowed her eyes and played with the ends of her long black hair. “I want her to suffer, both physically and psychologically, until she can't possibly be what her Sasuke-dearest desires. Oh no. No, no.” She smiled, her eyes suddenly alive with a burning light. “Make her pay.”

There was dead silence for a moment on the other line, but then it crackled to life and Kabuto's voice, sounding serious and grave, answered stonily, “It will be done, my love, it will be done.”

And Kira, smiling, suddenly happy, deliriously happy, whispered her thanks to him, and did not notice the long haired boy with white eyes peering at her, horrified, from the bushes by the road, or the pale girl with black buns on either side of her head, clutching her kunai like she wanted to throw it at the girl on the road with all her might. But no one saw the black shadow squatting in the trees, watching all three of them, and writing something down.

 

 

Her heart felt like it was about to give up and burst out of her chest. First she was chased by Kisame, then miraculously eluded him, and just as she woke up from the most terrifying dream ever, a band of black ninja had appeared out of nowhere and one of them was heading towards her, and called her name and had thrown an arm around her, probably trying to capture her, like they could see her! But that was impossible, since she was invisible, and she had managed to throw the person off, but the rest of them threw themselves at her and held her down until she'd managed to ask the ring for a smoke bomb, but it seemed the ring had reached its limit for the past hour or so, because her invisibility failed to work, and she was visible again. The ring had become fiery hot, and she had taken it off and put it in her pocket. Maybe the ring had limits, too. She leaned her head against a tree trunk and looked warily around. Then she closed her eyes and focused all of her energy on her ears. She was positive she was far away from anyone, even Kisame, which was the only reason she had closed her eyes—otherwise, she would have asked the ring to grow her thirty more eyes, to better see her surroundings. But she trusted her ears better than her eyes, since hearing hardly bears illusions, while sight can trick the brain into believing almost anything. Suddenly, she perked up. There was a river near here!

She immediately got to her feet and rushed in the direction of running water. She stopped suddenly about a mile later. There it was! And a more beautiful sight Sakura had never seen. The water was crystal clear, with soft murmuring sounds and brightly colored fish weaving in between the rocks, and mosses and plants growing around it. She dipped her head low into the water, and was instantly refreshed as she took long gulps of the cool, refreshing water. As the ice cold water hit the bottom of her stomach, it grumbled angrily, as if being tricked that it was water, not food, and she realized suddenly how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten or drank for nearly two days, and it was only her fear and determination that had kept her going. Carefully, she fished out the ring from her pocket and winced when it burned her skin. She plunged the ring into the water and it cooled down considerably, until she felt it safe to put back on her finger. She asked for a large, impenetrable bubble, that people could not sense or feel anything inside it, or see the bubble itself, or suspect that there was anything there at all, except for herself. She also asked that anything inside the bubble be like a ghost, so everything foreign would pass through them. That way, Sakura could do whatever she liked, and there would be no one to disturb her.

That done, she waded into the river, and shivered when the water reached her thighs, and plunged her hand deep into its muddy banks, searching for shellfish or crabs or anything edible that she couldn't see. Presently, she pulled up some oysters, and dumped them in the sand inside her personal bubble. She broke off some dead tree branches, along with a few twigs and wood shavings, and started a small fire, warming herself beside it. She made a sort of stand over the fire, tall enough so it wouldn't burn, but short enough so that the fire could cook whatever stood on the stand. She looked for a large leaf, found it, and cupped it so that water could stay inside, like a pot. She carefully put that on the stand, and tried to fit the oysters inside so the water could boil and cook them. She failed twice and nearly put out the fire once, but, biting her lip and scrunching her brow, she finally succeeded and watched, satisfied, as the water started boiling. It was a trick her friend had taught her once, when they were camping out. If you take a leaf and put water in it, you can boil it like a pot, and the edges of the leaf will burn down and smoke, but it would only go down to water level, so everything would be all right. Granted, it would be easier with a real pot, but she didn't want to exhaust the ring's power with such petty things.

Next, she climbed a few trees, looking for a branch with a fork in the middle, like a two-pronged spear, that she could use to catch fish. Naruto and Sasuke were skilled at catching fish with their hands, and she could do it with a partner, but she was utterly helpless in that field when alone. Presently, she found it, just in time to see the water boil, and added a few oysters, and went off to the river and stared at her glassy reflection before scowling and stripping down to her underwear. She was probably going to fall in the river for her efforts at catching fish, and she didn't want to get all wet. Night was falling, and soon it would be freezing cold. After maybe twenty unsuccessful attempts, she headed back to the riverbank and found her oysters almost completely cooked. Smiling, she dug through her bag and found some packages of salt and pepper she had nicked from the restaurant she had been to a while ago. She washed another large leaf, carved a large branch into chopsticks with her penknife, washed that too, and had an almost proper set of cutlery, with handmade chopsticks and a leaf for a plate. She found some wild garlic and parsley growing in the rushes, and after inspecting them for bugs or anything else unappetizing, washed them thoroughly and added them to the bubbling broth. While she waited for them to cook, she poured out the contents of her bag onto the ground. There were some feminine products there, and the usual junk, but to her surprise and delight, there were spices and packets of soy sauce and some herbs and sugar and salt and even some light snacks, probably left over from when she went over to Hinata's house to cook. She'd also brought some spare clothes, and some weapons, and thanked her lucky stars she was so disorganized and too lazy to pack and repack after every time she went out.

The oysters were done, smelling absolutely wonderful, and she could feel her mouth watering. She let them boil a little longer, just to be on the safe side (she didn't want to die from food poisoning after coming this far), and rummaged through the rest of the junk in her bag. And as she puzzled over a pair of furry pink things that had mysteriously appeared in a side pocket, another dark shadow glared at her from the trees. Sakura shivered a moment later when another shady figure joined the first and glanced at her malevolently. But she didn't look up. Why should she? No one could see her anyway…right?

 

 

A blonde haired creature sat at her desk and stared at her radio. The radio beeped. Slowly, but surely, with all the movements of a self-satisfied mogul, the woman reached for it. Her voice was low and dangerous when she answered, and there was no expression on her face.

“Yes.” She paused for a few moments while she got her answer, and thought it over for a few moments more. “Yes, I think so. Tell me all about her.” She was quiet for a few more moments. “No, I don't think you should do that.” She toyed with a grain of sand on her desk, the only giveaway to her indecision. “Yes, that's true.” She flicked the sand off of her desk, making a curiously loud sound against the metal floor, echoing menacingly off the walls. “No, that would be most unwise. We're this close. We can't afford to lose it now. Yes, we've got to keep going.” After listening for about two seconds, she clenched her fist angrily. “No! No, I won't!” Her fist tightened and tightened, her long nails digging into the fleshy part of her palm. “I can't do that, and you know it. I won't let you do it, either. It would be murder. I'm not interested in the girl, only in what she has.” The tension in the room seemed to reverberate off the metal walls, making the air heavy and thick. A drop of crimson blood appeared in the crease of her pale skin by her pinky. “Yes. I'm perfectly aware of the circumstances. I want it too. But it would be just wrong…” She said tightly as she was interrupted, unclenching her fist and staring at the blood wonderingly. “Yes, you do that. But don't say I didn't warn you.”

She pressed a button and the radio was silent. Reaching behind her, towards the small, hopeless window, she took another, chrome colored object and pressed the red button. A standard away message greeted her, and at the beep, she took a deep breath and started talking.

“Hello, Karumi. This is…this is Vixen.” She paused for a moment, as if mad at herself for stumbling, but wanting the listener to digest what she had just said. “I'd like to request a favor. I want the death of Mitsubi Harashi. And tell him who wanted his death. I want you to photograph the horror on his face before he dies. And make it slow. I'll give you the usual amount. I'll be expecting the picture by tomorrow morning. Goodbye, Karumi. Make sure you don't fail.”

She pressed the red button again. She swiveled towards the window, twisting her chair along with her. As she faced the window, the cold rays of the sun massaged her pale face, running along her smooth, fair eyebrows, and gazing into her sharp blue eyes. Her reflection caught in the glazed glass, and, for the first time since the operation started, her blood red lips parted in a lethal smile. Vixen was a beautiful girl.

 

<Hey all, sorry for updating so slowly—with school and all, it's been hard to write at all! Hope you enjoy this chapter!! ♥Cat>