Short filler ^-^

I watched as a blast of water propelled towards me so I weaved signs summoning an Earth wall protecting me. I jumped out from behind the wall weaving more signs. The wind started to pick up violently making my opponent slide backwards but he stood his ground. The man I was facing was named Tokichi. He's known for hunting bounties and also working under the Akatsuki which I found out from overhearing various shinobi conversing earlier.

"He's pretty big so he's probably a lot stronger but I have speed on my side." I thought as I glanced over at the crater he made in the beginning of our fight.

He lunged towards me engaging me in taijutsu. He wasn't that fast which made it easy to block his attacks and land a few myself. I found it strange how he's fighting close range but he's a long distance fighter. He pushed me back further and further towards a clearing. I activated my eyes but it was too late, I tripped on a hidden wire activating his trap. I took out my sword deflecting the many shuriken and kunai flying towards me but a few embedded into my skin.

I clenched my jaw in pain when a kunai stabbed my left thigh. I prayed it didn't hit my femoral artery but since the bleeding wasn't as excessive, I guess it just missed it. I looked up seeing he was smirking as he approached me, I tried to stand but my left leg gave out causing me to fall. I was at a disadvantage.

"How could I have fallen for that?! Stupid! Stupid!" I thought as my eyes shifted trying to figure out how I can win in this state. "I'll have to fight long distance,"

"Looks like you're trapped little girl," Tokichi chuckled as he walked closer towards me.

I tried to drag my body away, but he reached out gripping my hair pulling me off the ground. His face had a smug look which matched his yellow eyes. I responded by spitting in his face which made his face twist with anger and threw me towards a line of trees. Chakra poured into my good leg as I flipped around placing my foot on the tree sticking to it. As he ran towards me, I took out Sinju knowing this was the only way I will stand a chance. He was a bit surprised to see Sinju cackling as she flew towards him.

He took out a sword blocking Sinju's. My fingers moved a mile a minute as they fought with their blades. He swung his blade knocking hers out of her wooden hands then kicked her neck sending her back. I twitched my left pinky making her jaw drop releasing a smoke screen. I pulled her back disconnecting my strings and placed my hands over my arms summoning various weapons throwing them towards Tokichi. I reconnected myself to Sinju twitching my right index releasing all of her weapons from her arm. They flew towards him and I could see he knew something was coming but he still couldn't see.

Tokichi deflected as many as he could even throwing a few back which embedded itself in Sinju's neck. I made her fly towards him twitching my left ring finger activating the poison in her but nothing came out. Her jaw didn't drop like it was suppose to making me pull her back to the branch I was on. I pulled out the shuriken in her neck seeing it hit the piece that makes her jaw drop; I had no time to fix it so I rested her on the branch. He grunted in pain as they landed in his flesh in his torso and limbs. I made a clone who picked me up and moved me to another branch to the left.

"Use me as a puppet to help me move," I ordered.

I could see him pulling out the weapons as the smoke cleared then lunged towards me. My clone jerked me away dodging his fist which obliterated the tree; I could tell this fight was personal to him now. I poured chakra into my right foot as I lunged for a kick. I saw he created a clone to take his place but my clone didn't have my eyes to see it.

"Stop!" I shouted to her but it was too late.

I kicked the clone as the real Tokichi came down from a tree hitting my thigh with brute force. Shearing pain ran up form my leg to my torso making me scream in agony. My clone pulled me back to her in a far tree. He lunged towards my clone and I so she jumped forwards attempting to delay him as I inspected my injury; I already knew he broke my femur. Both of my legs were out of commission now and I didn't have time to heal them. My vision was already getting blurred making me squint my eyes in order to see Tokichi destroy my clone. I was a bit relieved and excited though to see help was on the way. Weaving signs once again, I held out my arm.

"Wind style, air palm!" I shouted as air shot from my hand pushing him away from me.

I repeated the jutsu over and over desperate to buy myself some time but only wasted chakra in the process. Before I knew it, he was in front of me going for a punch. I managed to block it but couldn't dodge his kick which sent me downwards towards the ground. I managed to do my air jutsu again to break my fall. When I hit the ground, my legs screamed in pain making me bite my lip to hold back my scream.

Finally, I saw my rescuer arrive but was hiding to observe the situation. I took out my sword as my opponent came at me again.

"Constrict him!" I ordered which he did and used his chakra strings to hold Tokichi in place while I poured chakra into the sword.

"What the?" He questioned as he struggled against the almost invincible force.

"Wind style, slicing blade!" I shouted as he tried to dodge the attack but it had already sliced him in half making the top half of his body slide off at the torso followed by his lower half fall forward.

Once my opponent was finished, Kitty rushed towards me as I fell forward from exhaustion. He caught me just before I reached the ground then turned my body around, so I was facing up.

"Are you okay?" He questioned with a worried look on his face.

I looked up at him seeing his face paint pattern has changed since our time in the Leaf. It felt as if a weight was lifted off my chest as I looked up at him feeling lighter. I couldn't help but smile as I looked up at him.

"I will be, can you sit me up so I can heal my wounds?" I questioned as I cringed from the pain coming from my legs.

He did what I asked so I reached for my necklace releasing some of the chakra I kept stored so I could heal myself. My healing abilities were a bit rusty so it would take longer to fully heal myself.

"Where did you go?" Kitty questioned breaking the silence. "Ya know, after...." he awkwardly finished not wanting to bring up Father.

"I was with a long lost cousin...apparently there are more Himura out there." I replied with a soft tone.

"How did you uh handle it?"

"You don't have to be so cautious Kitty, he's dead and there's nothing I can do about it." I assured him which made him relax a little. Once again, it felt like I could trust Kitty which still perplexed me. Since he's known the real side of me, he never turned me in or even mentioned our encounters to anyone. "I did give up on life though...never thought I'd see him die."

"Do you still feel the same way?" He questioned which made me think about it for a few moments.

"Part of me hates him but I still love him." I said sadly looking up at the sky.

He was silent for a while unsure of what to say but he pulled me into a hug which I didn't expect but it felt nice. It did make me lose my concentration on my injuries making my glowing hands go back to normal and my eyes deactivate.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" I questioned pulling away from him. "You're far from home."

"I was actually sent to find that guy," he replied pointing to the corpse to the left of us.

"Why were you after him?" I questioned.

"He has information on the Akatsuki," Kitty answered. "What about you?"

"Same reason, he didn't know anything though. He never asked questions which I believe, most bounty hunters only care about the money not why." I explained.

"Why are you after the Akatsuki?" He questioned giving me a concerned look.

"Apparently they either want to kill me or recruit me." I answered as I resumed healing my injuries.

"What will you do? Join them?" He asked trying to hide his anger.

"Probably, I don't really have a choice in this." I shrugged.

This time he couldn't conceal his anger. "You always have a choice! The Leaf has been looking for you ever since Orochimaru's death." He finished which made me scoff.

"Why? So they can kill me? They can get in line." I chuckled then used a chakra string to get Sinju back to put her in a scroll.

"I haven't seen them since they brought Gaara back but I know they don't' want to kill you. They told us that if we see you then report it to them immediately. I think they want you back in the village."

"Probably to interrogate me," I said just as my wounds were finished healing. "Are you going to report this then?"

He was silent and just looked at me then at the ground. I could see in his eyes there was an internal struggle, something he shouldn't have to do for a criminal like me. I activated my eyes seeing a few figures that were in the distance.

"Tell them then," I told him which surprised him. It looked like he was about to speak but I cut him off. "Tell them I'm with Sasuke too." I finally sat up getting out of his arms and faced him properly.

"W-what? You're with Sasuke?" He stammered.

"Yes, maybe they can talk some sense into him. Revenge is consuming him and once he defeats his brother, I think he'll be even further in the darkness. I know they still want him back." I finished still keeping an eye on the two figures who were getting close to the edge of my vision. "Where are your teammates? I know you weren't sent here on your own."

"Uh they're actually heading back to the village," he said rubbing the back of his head making me raise a brow.

"And you stayed behind because?"

"I had a feeling that I had to keep searching and it's a good thing I did or else you'd be dead."

"Go back to the village Kitty, I'll be fine here." I told him and got to my feet. It pained me to leave, all I wanted right now was to sit here with him.

"But-"

"Go Kitty, tell the Leaf where I am and they'll take it from there. I don't want to put you in any danger." I told him but he shot right up to his feet facing me.

"You don't have to protect me." He gave me a stern look with determination in his brown eyes.

"Yes I do, I only have a few people in this world that I care about and I'm losing anyone. Even if it means keeping them away from me." I said forcing my body to take a step back.

I gave him a small smile and placed a hand on his cheek. "Thank you, Kitty." I said before dispersing into snakes leaving him alone in the forest as I made my way to the two Akatsuki members who were heading towards Sasuke.

I will admit, I felt something towards Kitty. It was always there even when we were younger but I can't do this to him. 

Edited: 2/21/2021