Ojos Asi [[private -- nyrax]]

"Myself and Kiba fought him head on just like you have. Without all his well-laid plans, his allies, and his other resources, he's just like everyone else. He's still mortal and can be killed with enough power. He just never confronts anyone for long enough directly. Kiba severely hurt him when he challenged Youki on his own", Shino recalled as he readjusted his glasses back completely over his eyes. "Well.......sounds like we are all at a complete understanding than", he said as he glanced at everyone gathered.

Kiba wrapped his arms around Akiko and held her tightly, feeling warmth go through him at her words. She was too nice to him. "Yeah Akiko, that's what love is", he said as he held her tightly for several moments. He pulled away to look her in the face. "I promise I won't lie to you anymore Akiko. I don't want to hurt you anymore"

Sasuke grinned. "Youki thinks a lot like the way Orochimaru taught me to think. He uses distractions and other people to do his dirty work because he can. He takes on orphans to do what he wants because no adult would do what he wants. Praying on the desperate is the mark of men like Youki and Orochimaru. Assuming that he doesn't try to single us out into a direct confrontation, we should be fine. He wants us to make a mistake and give him an opening." Granted, Shino most likely already knew this or noticed Youki's intentions, but Sasuke felt the need to say it anyway, in case he hadn't. "But I can tell you that he did have some kind of deal with Orochimaru."

Akiko smiled at him. "I have the feeling that you're telling me you won't lie to me, but you'll do it again anyway." She shrugged, knowing that there was no way that he could tell her the truth always. things just didn't work that way. At least, not reality. "It's okay though. I understand that there are things you can't tell me. I still love you." she kissed his cheek and looked over at Sasuke.

"I've been meaning to ask you something..." She said slowly, seeming uncertain of Kiba's reaction to what she was going to say.

Sasuke looked away from Shino and at Akiko. "What's that?"

"Why does everyone hate you?"

The Uchiha grinned and walked over to her, resting one of his hands on the top of her head. "You worry too much. And my answer is the same as the last time you asked."

Shino nodded to Sasuke's words. While he had not vocalized or given much thought to what Sasuke had said, he had to admit that it made complete sense. Youki and Orochimaru were more like one another than Shino had originally guessed. Naruto had once mentioned that Orochimaru had lost his parents at a young age and that it had done thing to him because of it. Shino glanced down. Had Konoha not caused his family to die, would Youki have continued to be a powerful ally? Perhaps, but that did not give him the right to destroy the village. They stropped Orochimaru, and now they'd stop Youki. Shino raised an eyebrow at the last comment. "What kind of a deal? Do you have any idea?"

Kiba frowned at Akiko's comment. He supposed that he'd be kidding himself if he thought that he'd never lie again. People lied to one another all the time sadly. He'd just have to do his best to share what feelings he could with her, that was all that he could do. At Akiko's question he merely put a hand on her shoulder. Sasuke didn't want to answer the question fully, and Kiba couldn't help but wonder why. "Well.........thanks Sasuke, you've been really helpful"

"They were both interested in the same thing. Orochimaru's plan to break into Konoha and kill the third Hokage was done on information that Youki attained from a man named Danzo. Youki then handed over that information to Orochimaru. The two of them wanted to obtain immortality. Considering Orochimaru's experience and practical achievement of that goal, Youki sought him out. I don't know what he knows, but considering his ability to live through hell, I'd assume that he has at least something that works for him."

Granted, that was more than Sasuke wanted to share with them, but he still knew more about Orochimaru's experiments and how things would be made immortal with the right ingredients. One of orochimaru's experiments was a snake that he killed in multiple ways. he removed it's organs, stabbed it, cut it apart, and even poisoned it. However, the snake would in a few days or weeks regrow what it had lost and attempt to slither away.

The Uchiha grinned at Kiba. "Don't be jealous." He stated, his hand still on the top of Akiko's head. "Despite the fact she asks too many questions and is rather childish, I don't mind having her around in comparison to all the other woman that find me interesting."

Shino bit down on his lip as he heard this news. Immortality, Shino should have suspected that he would want something like this. And now things were making sense. No matter what happened Youki always lived, he was always able to get up from every attack, recover and heal from any wound. Had he already achieved it? "But Orochimaru did end up dying correct?", he asked as he looked over at Sasuke. "So he must not have ever fully succeeded, there must have been something that he didn't see right?"

Kiba just narrowed his eyes but kept the same tone of voice as Sasuke made his comment. "Of course, I understand", he said. That was all he could afford to say. Anything more and he probably would've ended up shouting and trying to tear Sasuke's head off. Why should they trust him anyway!? For all they knew Youki was new master now that Orochimaru was gone!

Sasuke shook his head. "Orochimaru's form of immortality was different than most others. He instead would jump into other bodies and turn them into his own. But his soul started to grow old and it started to kill his bodies. His intention for me was to obtain Sharingan because he was unable to take Itachi's body. That's why he quit Akatsuki." Should be be telling them this? Oh well, not like it mattered anyway.

"He also wanted Suigetsu to be his body's host because his body could not decay. He abandoned this plan because Suigetsu was too strong willed and the watery form could not sustain his soul of his DNA." He elaborated. "And he only died because he attempted to take my body, but failed to do so in the time he had available. He was weak and near death in the body he had stolen, that lead the likelihood that I would win. And he's not completely dead. Part of him left my body and got into Kabuto's. I haven't seen either of them since that happened, but for all I know Orochimaru has a new form."

Shino nodded. "Well that's......rather upsetting news", he remarked to himself. "And I thought that for all these years that Orochimaru was dead the entire time", he freely admitted. "And now you admit that for all we know he could be alive and well and getting even stronger than before. That is troublesome news", he remarked as he scratched his chin. He stood up straight and turned to Sasuke. "well, let's deal with one problem at a time I suppose", he added before crossing his arms in his usual position. "Thanks for your information"

Kiba glanced down at Akiko. He didn't really feel like continuing this negative conversation. "Wanna head home Akiko? Or is there something else that you wanna do tonight? Up to you"

Sasuke shrugged. "Tsunade didn't seem to interesting in hearing what I have to say, so I didn't bother to tell her. She insists on being a bitch to me no matter what I do. Personally, I'd assume it's her unresolved sexual tension with her own team in combination with the fact she wanted her apprentice to end up with Naruto." He didn't seem interested in this anymore. "Keep this in mind." he told Shino before he could walk away. "It sounds stupid, but don't trust anyone." He said this quietly so no one else but the four of them would hear it. "Even that girl you're so found of. Whenever you meet up with someone, make sure that it's really them." It felt stupid to have to say that, but he said it anyway.

Shino would most likely understand this, but Kiba... not so much. He was a fast talker and didn't usually pace himself.

Before Kiba could walk off with Akiko, Sasuke pulled her over to him, whispering something in her ear and then walked away.

The girl looked up as the Uchiha walked off, a confused expression on her face. She seemed lost for a moment before turning to look at Kiba. She smiled at him, trying to put him at ease before he could ask. "Let's go home."

Shino listened to Sasuke's closing comments, not entirely sure what to make of them. He knew that Sasuke was telling the truth, but the idea of seeing someone that was Aaliyah and having it not be her, that was terrifying. He couldn't imagine someone that could have more power over him than that. He gave a singled nod of his head. "I understand", he said simply. He didn't want to doubt Aaliyah if it was really her, but he'd have to make sure that it was her. She'd want him to do it as well. She'd understand. "I'll see you all later", he said before turning and heading off to the Aburame estate.

Kiba raised an eyebrow as Sasuke whispered something into Akiko's ear. He was just about to ask what before Akiko said that they should go. He just smiled and gave a nod, not wanting to press to far in already. "Yeah, let's go", he said as he squeezed her hand. "So what do you want to do tonight?"

Akiko smiled up at Kiba and took his hand as they walked, lacing her fingers between his. "I dunno. I hadn't put much thought into it." She brought her other hand to her face, her thumb sliding across her lips. "Is there something you want to do? I'm just glad to be back in Konoha." She smiled at him happily and moved closer to him, kissing his cheek.

It was around midday and the entire village was alive, people were moving around and the crowds were huge. It was an average day, but that just made things worse. Anyone there could be a potential spy, a potential enemy.

Kiba glanced around, smiling only when Akiko placed that single kiss on his cheek. "Can't say that I put a ton of effort into it either", he admitted as he kept moving forward through the village. "We could just head home, or we could go out and eat or something", he said as he thought about whatever came to his head first. "I can't really say that anything's sticking out", he added before glancing at Akiko. "Sure you don't want to do anything in particular?"

Akiko was worried that Youki was watching them from somewhere not far away. It made her think that something bad was going to happen and that they needed to just be alone somewhere safe. If Youki was watching, he'd be waiting for her to say something stupid and mess up, ruining the plan they were coming up with to beat him.

She couldn't do that. She couldn't hurt Kiba and Shino that way. "Well, we could just go home and I could make us something to eat." She wasn't hungry and most likely wouldn't be for the remainder of the day. She was too nervous to eat anything. Kiba on the other hand was always hungry and she had no problem making him happy-in whatever form that took.

Kiba glanced at Akiko as she made that comment. "Alright, well we can wait a while to eat since I had lunch just a little bit ago", he admitted with a tiny smile. "But going out and just hanging at home would be alright with me", he said with a happy smile as he squeezed her hand around his. "Hanging out with you will always be my ideal day"

Akiko brought her hands up to her face to cover her giggling. She leaned closer to him and smiled, moving upwards to capture his lips in a very short, but forceful kiss. "I love you too, Kiba-kun." She teased, her body partially pressed against his. Despite what everyone seemed to think about them, she did love him and knew that he loved her too. He was the only man that she was sure she could live with for the rest of her life.

Kiba pressed his lips back softly against Akiko's, feeling the warmth that always came from them. He opened his eyes as the kiss ended, hugging Akiko for a soft moment. He loved the love that they shared, it was so true and peaceful. He knew that she really loved him, and he knew that what he had was love as well. It was perfect, absolutely perfect. "Come on, let's head home", he said as he took her hand once again.

Akiko laughed softly and nodded, following him back toward the Inuzuka estate. "Hey..." She whispered. "Kiba-kun?" She asked. "Do you remember how your clan said that we have to wait until I turn seventeen before we can be mated and you can be clan leader?" She asked, looking up at him. "Does that mean that we're not mated now?"

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