Ojos Asi [[private -- nyrax]]

"I don't think it really matters how they planned on killing you," Kakuzu said as he jumped down from his spot on the tree. As he did so the red clouds on his cloak began to reappear, showing that he was a member of the Akatsuki. If this wasn't evidence enough, he also moved his hand from his sleeve and allowed the ring to be shown to the men.

"You men have dishonored the name of the Akatsuki and used it for your own gain," Kakuzu said as his eyes narrowed. His anger was clearly beginning to seep out as he confronted the men in front of him. "Now, return the ring to me or the consequences will be far more severe than you can imagine," Kakuzu said as he stared at the men.

Of course these men were going to be punished either way, but there was no sense in telling them that.

The men moved to their leader, as if for protection, but he only laughed. "So, Akatsuki has sent one of their new little pups to retrieve a ring then?" One of the men asked. He was an older gentlemen, and appeared quite strong. however, he wasn't at all intimidated by Kakuzu, at least, not in the form he had currently taken.

"I doubt they're just going to give you the ring, Kakuzu, you're going to have to start kicking in some skulls for that." She said, rather simply.

The men started to mutter about the name they'd just heard, because all of them had heard it before.

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed as the leader soon laughed and spoke, casting insults at them as if he believed that he was going to win this encounter. "Pup?" Kakuzu repeated as he looked towards the man. This man had no idea who he was talking to, and the level of disrespect was not something that Kakuzu was going to take sitting down.

The moment that the men started to mutter to themselves, Kakuzu suddenly had his tendrils extend his hand, directly launching his strong hand directly in to one of the men's faces. He did it to hurt them, but also to show that he really was Kakuzu. These tendrils only belonged to one man after all.

"You have no idea how painful this is going to get for you," Kakuzu said as he started to advance upon the men.

Kaliegh sighed and leaned on her sword, which was now in teh ground. Well, that sorta blew her chances of fighting. "Are we sharing?" She asked, not too far behind him as he advanced on the men, having knocked some of them down. They stood, with broken noses and bleeding faces, seeing the shinobi that was rumored to have died at the hands of Konoha. His eyes matched, but his body and face seemed completely new. How could he be standing here before them, the band seemed to wonder.

But, Kaliegh had no interest in their fear what-so-ever. She just wanted to fight them. "Kakuzu!" She called. "Can I have like... two of them? Then you have have the other four."

"Yeah two seems fair!" Kakuzu shouted as he dealt another blow to one of the men's faces. He was striking them viciously, aiming his powerful blows at key areas like the back of the elbow, of kicks at the knees, and so on and so forth. The most powerful blows were being sent at the leader though who Kakuzu had turned his attention towards. Large sword or not, the man was still a nobody as far as Kakuzu was concerned.

Kakuzu ran at the man, punching his stomach to try to break several of his ribs before leaping up and delivering a kick right to the man's face. "Come on you, show me the power that you've threatened all of these people with! Let me show you how meaningless it is against a REAL Akatsuki."

The older man didn't seem at all intimidated by Kakuzu, having seen what he was doing to them. A smile met his lips as Kakuzu ran for him. "This is nothing compared to the power I've seen you display in the past. You have lost considerable strength somehow with this change of appearance. You did die and through some miracle have returned." The man yelled, darting forward, moving with superior speed to swing his blade right at the center of Kakuzu's body, attempting to cut him in half.

"So we have met before than?" Kakuzu asked as the men began to charge at one another. "I don't remember you at all, not that I'm very surprised by this fact," he admitted as he looked directly at the man. "You're nobody, and soon I'll leave you in an unmarked grave," Kakuzu said before suddenly stopping at the man swung his sword right at Kakuzu. The Akatsuki ducked under the blade before suddenly his chest opened up and the tendrils flew out of him in order to wrap around the man's arms, hopefully restraining future use of the sword.

Kaliegh picked off two of the shinobi, isolating them from the group in order to make it so they could fight her and only her. A grin met her lips and she moved toward Kakuzu.

- I hate my professor. She is the ultimate crazy professor. -

( ^ dat epic timeskip)

Whereas three of the men had been killed in battle, two had been seriously disfigured and escaped along with their leader, who had been relieved, by Kakuzu, of some of his organs, bones and parts of his throat, which rendered him unable to speak. However, in his escape, the leader had not given up the ring.

"Damn it," Kakuzu muttered as he rubbed his eyes. The battle had been a good one and he had hardly given the leader any wiggle room, but he had gotten away with the ring. "We're going to have to move to pursue," he said as he turned towards Kaliegh. "they're weak and injured, I would bet my soul that we can catch and overtake them within the hour. We will need to move now though."

Kaliegh leaned against a tree, wiping some blood off her face. It wasn't her blood, of course. "Naw, we don't need to follow. We've got plenty here that we can celebrate over." She added with a cheeky grin. There was only one time that Kaliegh got close to the leader and that was when he attempted to use her as a deterrent to stop Kakuzu from killing him. Kaliegh escaped on her own, breaking his jaw and shoulder.

It was amusing really, since she could care for herself. She pulled a wallet out of her pocket and opened it, starting to count money. "Why are you so tense?"

Kakuzu just watched as Kaliegh proceeded to pull out a wallet and count up the money. Cute, but not why they were here. He just rolled his eyes for a moment before looking in the direction that the men had left in. "Yes well we're not here for money or to stop them from ever fighting again. I promised Leader I would get that ring back, and that is what I intend to do."

Kaliegh ignored him, putting her hand back in her pocket and pulling out another wallet. This time, however, when her hand came out of her pocket, there was a ring on her hand with a slate blue cover and the kanji for the word sky (or void). She opened this wallet and started to count it as well, as if she didn't notice that the ring was on her hand. The smirk on her lips however, was testimony contrary to this fact.

Kakuzu just watched Kaliegh as she ignored him. However, his eyes showed him that something was off upon the second wallet that she pulled out. The ring was placed gently on to her finger, a clear indication that she had required it. Kakuzu smiled and shook his head. "Always full of surprises aren't you?" he asked before extending his hand. "I'm afraid you can't wear that unless you officially join," he pointed out. He also wanted to carry the ring since it was his responsibility to bring it back.

Kaliegh shrugged and pulled it off her hand. She tossed it to Kakuzu. Normally, without chakra, the ring would shrink in size after being on the man of a man. However, since it had just come off a woman who had rather long and thin fingers, the band stayed the same size. She pushed herself off of the tree and turned to the tent that wasn't far from them. With an explosive tag, she set it afire and had removed all the money from the wallets of the men and tossed them into the fire as well.

"Come on, we should give this back to that town, considering that's likely where it originated from in the first place."

"I'm in agreement," Kakuzu said as he caught the ring and pocketed it within his cloak. "As much of a fan of money that I am, it isn't ours and these people have suffered long enough under the strong arms of these men," Kakuzu said seriously before giving a nod in Kaliegh's direction. "Who do you plan on giving it to specifically? We have no idea who has struggled the most in this situation."

Kaliegh smirked at him as she slid the money into her back pocket. "Well, you don't." She said, winking at him. She made a handsign and through an extra ordinary feat of chakra, she turned a piece of the ripped tent into an Akatsuki cloak. The sleeves were long enough that it hid the fact she didn't have a ring.

They went into the village and it didn't take her long to find a young woman who couldn't have been much younger than Kaliegh. Of all of the women in the town, she was dressed the nicest, a sign that she was the daugther of the village headman. She handed the money off to her and smiled. Those that saw it, seemed utterly shocked, including the headman's daughter. She bowed to both Kaliegh and Kakuzu as they left the village. Once out of sight,s he pulled the cloak off and it turned into the same ripped tent piece. She burned it and let the dust drift away in the wind.

"Figured it was better to give Akatsuki the credit."

Kakuzu stood at Kaliegh's side as he watched her turn the tent in to an Akatsuki cloak, even going as far as to return the money to the daughter of the village head. It was an act that everyone saw and that everyone would remember. Kaliegh continued to impress Kakuzu by the moment.

"Well, I might have to ask how you figured that one," Kakuzu admitted as they began to walk back home. "For you not being a part of this organization, you seem to act more like a willing volunteer everyday. You have initiative, it's a good quality."

Kaliegh shrugged her shoulders simply. "Well, yeah." She said, rather simply. "I'm not stupid, Kakuzu. I know how much reputation means to organizations like the Akatsuki. To know that a fake member stole money from this area and the real thing showed up to fix it would be valuable to anyone. Just because I'm not a real member doesn't mean I don't know about the Public relations stuff that goes into an organization like this."

She was silent for a moment. "Are you offering me an invitation, or are you just one for flattery?" She teased, walking beside him.

"I know that you understand, that doesn't mean that you had to be the one to do it. You could have told me to do the same thing, and yet you went out of your way to volunteer. It's remarkable is all," Kakuzu said as they kept moving back towards the hideout. It wouldn't be a long journey, but they could take a day getting back if they wanted. There wouldn't be any further complication on this mission.

"And no, if you wish to join you'd have to speak to Pein.......all I can give you is a recommendation."

Kaliegh nodded slowly, but knew the truth. "A dog isn't allowed to serve two masters." She told him with an almost sad smile. And, they both knew that to be the unfortunate truth. Pein would never stand for her to serve Youki and himself; and Youki would never allow her to serve Pein in combination with himself. And Youki would sooner kill her than let her go. Kakuzu might not know that, but with all he knew of Youki thus far, it wouldn't be surprising.

"I think I'll keep my place as Akatsuki's hostage. I really have no value aside from that."

"We both know that you're no dog, even if that is what Youki wishes you to be," Kakuzu spoke plainly as he glanced at Kaliegh. "You are far more than that, and much more capable," the Akatsuki elder said as he put his hands in to his pockets. He felt for Kaliegh, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of life she would have had if she was free to make her own decisions. She would have made a difference somehow, Kakuzu was certain of that.

"You have more value than you credit yourself with Kaliegh. Don't let your brother allow you to drag you down."

Kaliegh laughed, glancing to kakuzu. "I'm fine eith who I am, and my worth. I just thought it was a good metaphor, not to mention its true. Shinobi are dogs to their villages, serving them faithfully, asking for nothing in return. That's what happened to you, right? You're village wronged you and you left." She rubbed her shoulder as they walked. "i need a wet stone for my sword." Many of bonus weapons were made in classical style, requiring old forms of maintainance.

"I suppose that you make a point. My eyes were only opened up because of what happened to me though," Kakuzu stated as they kept moving. Things were quiet for a moment before he looked over at her. "I meant what I said earlier though, it was good work that you did. You kept your cool the entire time and came up with a good plan that saw us through. If you didn't wish to stay with your brother, I'd recommend you for the Akatsuki."

Kaliegh stopped walking for a moment, surprised. She stared at Kakuzu for a moment, without blinking. Finally, she blinked several times and ran her hand through her long black hair. She looked away and smiled. Somehow, she never expected someone to tell her something like that. To hear that one of the oldest members of Akatsuki thought she was worthy was quite a surprise to her. She nodded her head to him and started walking at his side, biting on her pinky nail softly. She wasn't sure how to take this, but she... she was honestly flattered and overwhelmed that a shinobi of Kakuzu's skill would say such a thing to her.

"Thank you." She finally managed to stay, her hands still at her lips. She did really appreciate this. More than he could ever understand. Worst comes to worst, she had an out from Youki, even if it wasn't what she'd originally wanted.

Kakuzu glanced over for a moment as Kaliegh seemed to get extremely quiet. Had he said something that offended her? She seemed to be distracted, as if contemplating everything that he had said. He had meant nothing bad by it, he just believed her to be extremely talented. Along with that she was loyal, even to her brother when she didn't fully believe in his cause.

When she finally uttered out a thank you, he merely gave her a nod. "Think nothing of it. I merely speak the truth," he said as he set his sights for the distance. "Come on, I think we should pick up a bit of speed."