He had to smoke today. Today was just a good day to smoke. It was a village that rain constantly, considering the fact that it was sometimes cold and not entirely warm, the thought of him lighting the tip of the cigarette and breathing in the cancerous air into his lungs was a warm sensation. He felt around in his pocket, there was a moment of worry as he realized they were empty only feeling the lumps of lint that had collected itself over the days. His hand slipped back towards his back pockets and felt the small lump that caved in slightly with his palm touching it. He could mentally sigh at this. Hitoshi turned to look at Kyouken who was staring out at the window again. As of late, Kyouken’s eyes just seem to stare off into nowhere looking at the world behind the screen of a window. He wondered if he sees things as crystal clear as some people with doujutsus are able to see the fine chakra within people or the pinpoints of chakra within the body. He wondered what he saw through those eyes of his.

“Mind if I turn on a light” Hitoshi asked “It’s not going to be sunshine and cloudless here. Makes it hard for the newcomers to see”

Not to Hitoshi’s surprise he stood their silently at first before looking up to meet Hitoshi eye to eye “We walk down a path of darkness. Those who are old see the darkness as a comfort rather than a hindrance to the senses. If the new ones wish to see it as a distraction, they can always go back outside this hotel and back onto the streets where they’ll be able to see clearly”

“Just a suggestion dude”

“One I took in and gave you a comment of my own” He turns back to the window “It’s truly a matter of faith with this. I only want to see who is fearful and fearless”

“What does faith have to do with wanting to see better in this room? It’s not exactly a five star suite. It’s pretty-well, you know”

Kyouken turned to him. Hitoshi hated when he looked at him like he wanted to know what he was planning on saying. He turned away from Kyouken’s gaze and towards one corner of the room “It’s not in the best of shape man. This LOOKS like a place for some organization to hide out in. It’s your typical story of where a group of men and women gather together for that sole purpose of KILLING. It has that type of feel man. It makes me want to search for a place to find us”

“Would you rather it be placed in one of the fine hotel rooms of Otogakure? Fine service from staff and food that complements the palate where all the worries in the world are melted away? Would you like a woman to come up, showing her breast and only wearing a loin cloth to bath you in cream made out of the freshest cows?”

“Oh fuck off. Now you’re just insulting me with that shit. I know when you’re making fun of me and it tends to piss me off when you do that”

“If every little thing I said to you didn’t press a button or two, it wouldn’t be as entertaining” Hitoshi balled his hand into a fist trying not to show his noticeable irritation towards Kyouken. He glanced to see Kyouken’s face hadn’t at all changed from that solemn look he had. He wondered if Kyouken ever smiled in his life and if he did had anyone taken a picture of it.

Hitoshi grabs the pack out of his back pocket and hits the bottom of the packet to reveal one cigarette left. He wanted to curse out but tend to find that cursing didn’t solve his problems. It didn’t solve his problem when he cursed Kyouken for his death and it wasn’t going to solve his issue with his lack of cigarettes. He hadn’t notice the flame in front of his eyes till he saw who was holding the flame. It was a lighter, silver in design with an insignia that looked between Kanji and a cross. The blue flame dimly lit the entirety of the room and didn’t leave any noticeable heat. The person holding the lighter was Kyouken who was still staring out at the window. Hitoshi leaned forward letting the tip of the cigarette turn into a red then a grey. He breathed out grey smoke from his nose and onto the window.

“It seems our patrons are a tad bit late” Hitoshi said, this time more in a calmly fashion than before now that he was getting his fix

“Hm” Kyouken answered. Of course that was his answer. That was always the answer to these types of comments. Behind them, the door handle was turning, the door was slowly opening itself. Hitoshi and Kyouken both turn to greet the person who was coming in-


Yuushu open the door to the brightly roomed suite. “Good lord, that’s a damn difference” he said, squinting his eyes from the light that was somewhat hurting his eyes a bit. When his eyes adjusted to the light of the room, he blinked a few times then proceed towards a large sofa-suite couch over by the far wall. Yuushu didn’t sit down rather than flop on the couch setting his feet over the armrest and set his head on one of the pillows. The couch itself gave a good overlook at the village with the window that stretched from the beginning of the door towards the next room which was where the dining room and kitchen were both seated. There was also a path that would back to the original area where the guest can sleep and where the door was. There was a room in-between all of this and that would be considered the master bedroom. The area that Yuushu was in was somewhat of a middle ground between the dining room and kitchen and where the door and one of the beds for a guest to sleep were. Not exactly a living room but it had the same feel to it.

Kyouken and Hitoshi once stood almost a century and a half ago, Kyouken’s blue eyes staring out of the window with every bit of intent of loosing himself within the rain while Hitoshi smoked one of the last cigarettes he had for a very long time. Yuushu was once told of this place not too long ago by a good associate of his. The building was being renovated at the time seeing the changes that Amegakure were preceding itself. They knew it was a battle field of the sort and most political leaders and investors try to avoid the area due to insurance. His associate informed Yuushu of how low of cost this place was now knowing that the high class wouldn’t even dare to touch.

“It’s not worth the money being shoved down the toilet. Amegakure has a tendency of going into war.” His associate said as he wiped down a counter.

Yuushu knew the investment wouldn’t be costly for him. Knowing that competition in this country was slim the humor of it was comical, he decided to make the small investment towards a place that somewhat overlooked the entire village itself. His mind set up four years prior to him completely the hotel with a bit of a twist. He called it a hotel, but it wasn’t exactly what Yuushu called it. Walking down the street past the harbor where the docks sets their boats and the port masters reside, there is a slight change in architecture where some of the buildings looked newly refurbished and lacking the somewhat old industrial look of many parts of Amegakure still kept even during the times of Kyouken’s rule and the wars between the fourth and now. There are a set of housing complexes that are intertwine within this part of the district, although a rare few tends to pay attention to this part of the city where it was damn near cheap to rent. Whenever a new guest wish to rent an apartment, the usual case was for the landlord was to have a adjustable rent that can increase or decrease depending on the value of the property. What made these housing different was the fact that Yuushu made it so that it was inflexible and that each renter could pay towards the rent regardless of the value of the house and because of that, it put people in a place that wasn’t a hard place and it kept Yuushu out of the spotlight with this. If any political leader were to question the actions of this said district by finding out this plan of his, it would surely put Yuushu in a hard place but because rent was paid and taxes hadn’t shifted towards the deep end for the sharks to grab, it didn’t hold much attention. And seeing that the chance of these political leaders and investors trying to take attention to this particular village was as foolish as asking a child what the formula for propulsion was.

Yuushu got up from the couch. He took off his coat and held onto it not wanting it to set onto the couch. Bare chested, he walked over to the other side of the suite to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator finding only empty space on the top and middle shelves. The only thing on the lower shelf was an empty box of baking soda to keep the smell of the refrigerator neutral.

Yuushu closed the door and took the path back to the front room where there was a queen size bed to lay on. He bounced as he fell on top of it and wondered if Suzumi had came into this place, saw that there was no food and decided to get some. He wouldn’t be surprised if she did see it and just shake her head. Then again, everything she does would be a surprise regardless of what her actions were.

“How long ago was this place built?” Yuushu stood over the man, a rotund man of 290 pounds of overhanging fat that swelled the waistline made this start to the conversation a tad bit weird

“What you askin’” the man said in a raspy phlegm voice. It annoyed every inch of Yuushu to hear him say those three words and what was worse was the fact that he’ll have to hear it more. If he can endure for maybe five minutes, he’ll won’t have to punch the man in the head or better yet the throat.

“I’m asking is when was this place built? Do you know? The place seems pretty old ya know. The other buildings around here are simply newer than this one. I’m just wondering”

“I wouldn’t know dat.” He leaned forward and bit into the hamburger with thick drops of grease and pockets of lettuce and tomato falling out. He made soft moaning sounds as he did so enjoying every bit of food that he was consuming “All I know-“ he swallowed ‘Is that the place has some history to it. History like some organization owning it or something. I don’t know and I don’t care”

“I thought you said you didn’t know”

“I don’t. I just know that little tid bit of information. Chew on that fuck sucker”

Yuushu knowledge of slang drew back to his younger days in Konoha knowing the small little lingo his friends had developed during that time period. Intricate as dolphin eating mud bucket or the ever classy and every popular cock driving bass fishing bait, fuck sucker just didn’t come off the tongue right when Yuushu said to himself. He only shook his head telling the man that was all he needed for today. Unbearable as it may be, Yuushu was in no mood in dealing with the liking of his attitude at the time.

Yuushu open his eyes to the latch of the door handle opening. The doorknob twists and the door opens up. Yuushu quickly realized that someone had enter into the room and much to his surprised-he fell asleep when he knew damn well he should’ve locked the door. If he didn’t hear his mother screech in his ear about locking the door when entering into a house then he was hearing it now. With surprising dexterity, he grabbed his red jacket, moving his arms into the sleeves in a silent movement that it was unrecognized by the person who entered into the room. He didn’t have a weapon on him, not to say he was careless in his manner of holding on weapons like that but he didn’t seen the need to hold on to them at all times. He was already carrying a heavy weight with the burden of the jacket. No need to carry more things when he’s travelling. He was sort of regretting the decision.

Then there was his body, mainly his fist. As much open space he was in, he didn’t want to risk too many high and fly kicks to dismantle someone. Kicks would do if he had to necessarily use them for a good purpose. For now, he could only see himself fighting with his elbows, fist and shins. He was better off with that then a kunai or shuriken.

He slowly crept on the carpeted floor towards the corner of the wall. There was a shadow of Yuushu moving in from an angle and Yuushu moved himself close on the wall. His legs hugging close to both the bed and wall. He slowly begin bending his hand together into a fist as he heard the rustle of plastic and paper move on the counter. His foot edged close to the corner.

The movement stop. The only thing left sounding was the pitter of the rain and the leftover crackle of one of the bags. The person knew someone else was in here. Yuushu became even more aware of how this person was moving slowly. Trying not to make sudden movements, Yuushu kept his other hand free and open but he bent it in a way to keep it into a open fist.

“... Who’s in here?” the voice called out. It was female, loud but not loud like a shout. It was just enough to be assertive and tell whoever was in the room that she knew that there was someone else here. Yuushu recognize the voice and had an immediate response for her

“You should know that I have the key to my own place. I’m guessing Saturi gave you the key eh?” Yuushu leaned off the wall and went around the corner to greet his new accomplice. His new ‘crazed’ accomplice. She stood there, chopsticks in hand, with a look that showed complete control of emotion that shinobi show during critical moments. Yuushu could already tell that she was from Konoha which wiped any doubts of her not being from his home village.

“He’s not one to give away keys. He’s worried that someone might find the place and steal things and what not. I put a very heavy burden on him.” He leaned over Suzumi seeing the bags of food “Sorry, I don’t keep food in stock here because I’m rarely here. When I do, I usually buy stuff that’s easily perishable because of the short visits. I’ll pay you back if you want.”

He would pay back to her which is something he decided a long time ago to do with people or clients but looking at her, past her curves of her waist and curvy hips she possessed he didn’t think he would have to. Something else drove her and money was one of those things that didn’t drive her like many of Yuushu’s associates. Yuushu didn’t have the slightest idea of her being entirely bugged out in the normalcy department but he could see within the eyes, the hair, the attire.

“What did you get?” he asked trying not to stare at her. One side of him was being the primal man that wanted his flesh being taken care of. So far, the primal man was winning.

The growl of her stomach tuned the primal urge down just a bit. It was normally enough to come back and pop on him again with a stronger intensity but it was dying away as he saw her open the box of cooked rice. The smell immediately filled the small area with its starchy aroma that Yuushu quickly refreshed his memory of open restaurants, ramen filled stands and open bars at late night. The steam rose from the box, still hot and fresh from the take-out and as appetizing as it looked Yuushu was not in the particular mood to eat.

“Later” he said coolly “I’m still wired from walking around and I haven’t calmed down a bit” He lied about walking around but he was wired nonetheless. A part was from the incident from hearing someone come into his apartment and the sudden pulse of killing filled into blood. The other part-simply seeing her was enough to get him wired and the primal man inside of him fed upon it. “Food, Fighting, Fucking” were the three things that it whispered in his ear and it was God awfully annoying to hear it, especially at this situation. He was prepared to fight that was sure, the other two he wasn’t too fond off at the moment although one of them was surely TRYING to get itself satisfied. He suddenly felt like he was sixteen again. He was at that time younger and much more immature than he was now. He still considered himself more mature than he was when he was sixteen (I would think so) but he had those tendencies that still affect him today.

He walked over the counter where behind Suzumi was a small holster for toothpicks. It was the clear type that is seen in restaurants which is where Yuushu had found-rather stole it from. “They weren’t using it” when one person questioned about it. “What the hell were they going to do? Pick away their teeth with these damn things? They all don’t need this” That was five years ago and the holster was only ¾ full. One can imagine how many times he’s actually been into this apartment. He took one of the toothpicks out and set it leisurely in his mouth chewing the tip of it before setting it in his hand.

“I’m glad you’re hear though. Things really went well in Konoha, well I think. I should’ve brought you along, I think you would’ve really enjoyed the mind fuckery I was giving the Hokage” he grinned at this “The part where he was throwing up, fell into his own puke then threw up again was sick but it was nonetheless priceless. It was downright priceless. Oh man you should’ve been there!”

He let out a sly cackle and looked at Suzumi, cyan eyes and all, with a look of content “I never felt so exhilarated in my life talking to the Hokage like that. I always thought that perhaps I would say some shit like ‘Go piss yourself and fart out your mouth’ or something like that, I don’t know. What was great about it was the fact that I met the Hokage and boldly made the statement of our arrival but it was the fact that someone caused a shit ton of chaos and I didn’t have to lift a damn finger and now-“ he paused to catch his breath “Now, I’m here with in Amegakure with someone I can see make some changes around the world and I’m possibly more excited than I’ve been in a very long time”

Yuushu moved himself to the refrigerator where he lean up against the cool door. He didn’t shiver from the shock of the cool, he just had that smile where it was just irresistible to look way “But we gotta make plans, we gotta make the plans. Of course, we gotta make a few little-sparks in the world. Meaning that we have to-well find something that’ll cause an uproar among the shinobi world. Fire country is more or less in a state of disarray. Konoha being attack and all. It’s a major hit towards the shinobi but it’s not enough to actually cause some outright chaos.” He raised his hand “What we need to do is hit the world with something that’ll cause a big bang” he snapped his finger at this.

“I’m talking big stuff. Assasinations, revolutions, spying, political corruption, destruction, all these things are one clear message to get across to the world and I want that to happen.” He leans himself up and looks at his hand “My body will shape the future. I represent the physical manifestation. I achieve something that’ll cause the body to break, to collapse, to dissolve.” He walked to Suzumi. He softly placed two fingers underneath Suzumi’s chin raising it up slightly so that their eyes could meet and he spoke in with much softness and persuasion “You represent the mind. Without the mind, the body is nothing. Body and mind must act as one, you know?”

He saw the blush in her cheeks; a rosy pink almost seem like a cherry red with her pale skin. He smiled at this, only because his charm hadn’t diminished over the years. It had only refined itself to a certain point. Granted, he could’ve went further than this, the primal man pushing him almost yelling him to react to this but the other side, the general instinct that has kept him sane for the past decade whispered to that side of his mind and calmed it. It was getting himself in control and he was grateful that his instincts did so.

Her hand pressed against his bare chest. They were soft, polished and refined. They were hands that weaved in illusions, hands that did not physically manipulate the world around it. They were cold to him but it did not run shivers down his spine. His chest did tighten from her touch but it relaxed once her palms became warm like his chest. She was close to him, pressing herself so they were face to face, eye to eye. Heiki could smell something faint on her body, a smell that combined both the misty smell of rain from the village and slight perfume. Was it perfume? It felt faintly phenomenal and it was arising from her body like the warmth of his chest. It was something that was desirable and wanting-no, pleading for him to react to her. She wanted him to react, wanting him to move, wanting him to take her, throw her around, rip and tear, do all of those things. In that moment, he was tempted to do so. The slight kiss on the side of his lips made that whispering instinct disappear for just a second. The primal man was yelling again, telling him to move about on her. This was his time to react and move and it would be in his best interest (or rather the primal man’s interest) to take advantage of this.

That few seconds would’ve been rough if he would’ve listened. He didn’t have to envision himself biting on her neck, taking her off her feet and turning the kitchen from a room for eating to a place to fulfill desires. Yes, in that flash of a second he saw himself doing all these things to her and she wouldn’t of stopped him. Why would she? Why would she stop him from taking advantage of her. She was already pleading. Even her soft spoken “Yuushu-san…” helped out more with this plead.

His lips gently pressed against hers; a light and short kiss that could’ve been a friendly peck of the lip. It then deepens as he pressed his lips further. He could taste the rice that she had eaten only moments before and he then had the sudden craving to devour some of that same rice. There was the primal side that, for the moment, took control. His arm had held her waist so she could stay at bay. It seemed as if his arm wanted to break Suzumi’s back but it was controlled just so it felt like a quick jerk of desirable energy. He got a bit careless as he pulled away and drew his mouth towards her neck. His teeth wanted to bite her neck, vampiric in a sense and what made him stop was that the one instinct in him told him to stop. He kissed her neck just a moment and only for a moment

He raised his head so that his eyes met hers and there was the charming smile, devilish as it was innocent “Long time since I’ve wanted to raise hell with a woman.” He wanted to finish saying he never done it in the kitchen but he stopped himself and said “You’re maddening, you know that? You’re like a sweet candy that may be dangerous to consume because you may be poisonous to eat. But the addiction so maddening that you can’t be resisted. Now I see why your title is as such. If that’s the case then I must be the same thing towards you, something that is hard to resist and you wonder why you can’t. It seems wrong but it feels so right”

His arm let loose her waist but it grabbed her hands and held on. He led her around the corner and on the couch where he sat down. He didn’t know whether he would sit down beside him or lay on him. Either way, he placed a small kiss on her forehead, then her nose, then her lips and drew back “Those eyes of yours. Beautiful as they are, they hide something that I see in myself sometimes. Do you know what that is? You know it very well and I know it like the back of my hand. I’ve known it for almost all of my life. That emptiness. It is a thing that holds nothing and it is a void in our lives.

“Loneliness is a bitch. She is unforgiving and merciless. Yet your mind was at ease when I placed that kiss on your lips. It seem to lift for just a moment and you were, for that time, complete.” He did kiss her again and it was deep as the first one was but alas that was all he did. He pulled away and smiled at her “You need to rest Suzumi”