The two Hozuki's appeared on the outside edge of Ame, Ketsueki landing straight on his feet and Akai stumbling forward and falling down on her face. Her father gave a small laugh before shaking his head.

"Get up Akai. We need to find that son of a b*tch." Her father said, extending his hand to Akai, which she took to pull herself up.

"Dad, he might not even be here!" She said, shaking her head slightly.

"Doesn't mean we can't look!" The older male said as he began to drag his daughter into Ame, glancing around at everyone that he passed, waiting to see a large blue man with a sword over his back.

They walked until they were in the middle of Ame, and Akai sorta felt like maybe she had a chance of her father not killing her uncle today, and that made her grin a little.

Until she heard someone yelling a couple blocks away.

"OF ALL THE PEOPLE WE LIVE WITH, I GET STUCK WITH THE F*CKING FISH!" The voice yelled, and that was enough to make Ketsueki zoom in that direction, dragging Akai with him.

"I am not a fish, I am a shark." An all too familiar voice said, and Akai sighed heavily as her father let go of her hand and stormed over to Kisame. The Hozuki, who was significantly shorter than the Hoskigaki, pulled his fist back and swung at Kisame. The large shark fell back slightly, tumbling over the ground from the unexpected punch.

"OI! What the f*ck?!" A white haired man said, but Ketsueki merely glared at him before moving on. Hidan gave a glare at the Hozuki before walking towards him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, what the f*ck?! Who the f*ck are you?" Hidan said, but Ketsueki's body liquefied under his touch and fell to the ground with ease. Hidan's eyes widened as he watched the puddle of water quickly move towards Kisame.

Ketsueki regained his human shape in front of Kisame, who stared up at the Hozuki with scared eyes. The other man's eyes stared down into his own, and if looks could kill, Kisame would have been dead ten times or more.

"How DARE you?" Ketsueki spat out as he put his foot on Kisame's chest, using one of the Hozuki bloodlines to make the leg larger, and stronger so it would give more harm to Kisame.

"How dare you make a promise to MY wife, that you will always protect her daughter, and break it?" The Hozuki said, pushing his foot down harder on the man's chest. "How DARE you make a promise to ME, to protect my family should something ever happen to me, and break it?!"

"Ketsueki... let me explain." Kisame gasped out slightly, and Ketsueki pulled his foot up only slightly.

"You don't deserve to get to explain yourself."

"WHO THE F*CK IS THIS?!" Hidan screamed at Kisame, who sighed under Ketsueki's foot.

"He's my brother in law."

"You're married?!"

"No, you idiot!" Ketsueki stepped in. "This monster was my wife's brother. He doesn't have a wife, because who could love a monster like him?" He said as he pushed his foot down harder of Kisame's chest, and Kisame did not fight back.

"I come back to Kiri, after learning that my daughter had died to find out that she's not actually dead, but has been stealing and having no where to sleep for years! I come back to learn that my nephews are gone! One is DEAD, and the other was kidnapped and my daughter blamed herself because she wasn't strong enough to protect her cousin."

Akai walked closer to the scene, standing close to Hidan. The white-haired man looked down at the blue haired girl, and his eyes widened slightly.

"Wait, don't I know you?!" Hidan yelled, and Akai glanced up at the Jashin and shook her head.

"Nope, never seen you before in my life, tashikani."

"I REMEMBER NOW!! YOU'RE THE LITTLE B*TCH WHO STOLE MY NECKLACE!!"

"So what if I am?" Akai said with a large, toothy grin.

"I'LL SACRIFICE YOU TO JASHIN!!" Hidan screamed, and Akai rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you say that last time? What did your precious Jashin say about it this last time?" Akai said, shaking her head slightly at Hidan, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Akai!" Ketsueki said, glancing back at his daughter. "Stop it. I raised you better than to do that."

"Yes, Dad." Akai said, and Hidan looked at Akai and stuck his tongue out at the girl. Akai waited until her father looked away before she raised her fist back, and swung it at Hidan. Her fist hit Hidan, causing him to slide back slightly.

"Ow, you little b*tch..." Hidan said, and Akai gave a small giggle before turning her attention back to her father and Kisame.

"You are scum, Kisame. You broke a promise to my wife, a promise to me, and let your niece down. She looked up to you, from the day she was born. She loved you, before she knew what love was. You were one of the few people she trusted, and now, I don't think she can trust anyone." Ketsueki said as he moved his foot.

"You are scum. You will never be more than scum."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Kisame muttered, getting up on his knees and clasping his hands together. "I'm so sorry, please, I made mistakes and I'm sorry."

"You left my daughter to join a criminal group, let one of my nephews die, and the other get kidnapped, and expect a sorry to fix it?" Ketsueki said, clenching his fist as if he was going to hit Kisame. But Akai stepped forward and grabbed her fathers hand. The older Hozuki looked down at his daughter, before releasing the tight fist he had held, sighing softly.

"Akai..." Kisame muttered slightly as he looked at his niece, his hand slightly reaching out to her. "You're... you're okay..."

"I'm fine, Uncle Kisame." Akai said as she released her father's hand. The nickname is enough to make the Hoshigaki smile in joy, but her next words had truly made him happy. "And... I want to tell you that I'm not mad at you for our fights. You protected yourself, as did I. And I'm sorry it came to that, but you threatened my teammates in Konoha, and... shinobis protect their teammates."

Kisame stared at his niece for a second, before he slowly wrapped his arms around her and gave her a small hug. "I'm so sorry." Kisame muttered slightly.

"It's okay, Uncle Kisame. But I'm going to take my Dad back home before he murders you." Akai chuckled slightly, grabbing her father's hand slightly. Kisame pulled himself up to his feet, and Akai smiled at him.

"Oh, and by the way, thanks for making me stronger all that time ago." Akai said, before her father and her disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Anytime... Little Red."

| * | * | * | * | * |

Akai and Ketsueki had arrived back at their house a few hours ago, and began to clean up their little house. A lot of things had been broken and destroyed by other people, and by Akane in the previous part of the day. But the two Hozuki's were making decent time on their cleaning, even though it was late already.

"I just... I can't believe you lost your cool like that." Akai muttered as she picked up broken pieces of glass. Her father looked at her and chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as he gave her a closed eye smile.

"I feel like I had a right to, don't you agree?"

"Well... yes. But in the middle of town?" Akai laughed, looking at her father. Ketsueki nodded his head with a shrug of his shoulders, before he walked over to his daughter and ruffled her hair slightly.

"I missed you, Akai."

"I missed you too, Dad!" She said, smiling up at the older Hozuki.

'I bet he didn't really miss you, idiot!' Akane said, her laugh echoing inside of Akai's head. The girl cringed up her nose slightly as she pulled back from her father, glancing up at him.

"I hate her voice." Akai said, and Ketsueki nodded slightly, brushing a few pieces of her hair out of her face.

"I know, your Mom hated hers as well. It drove her crazy." He said, laughing as he looked around. For the most part, they had gotten everything cleaned up and put back in their places, so he figured they could call it a day. "I think that's good enough for now, what do you think?"

"I agree." Akai said, nodding her head as she walked into what was their living room, and sat down on the floor. "How long with this jutsu last?"

"A few weeks, is how long it worked on your mother. But I could be different for everyone." He said, sitting down beside of her. It doesn't take long before Akai fell asleep out of exhaustion, finally being able to feel safe and happy.

| * | * | * | * | * |

The two had woken up the next day, and after breakfast, Akai continued her story, now about her time in Konoha.

"Wait! You mean to tell me that Ibiki Morino, the top dog at the T&I of Konoha, was your Sensei?"

"Yeah! And one day, we had a target practice exercise and he wanted someone to hit a bullseye, so I walked up and stabbed my kunai into the target, and he said I was cheating!"

Ketsueki let out a large, booming laughing that echoed over the slightly empty house. Akai began to giggle at her fathers reaction, before soon joining in on the loud laughter that echoed off the walls.

Soon enough, the laughing died down and the two wiped tears from laughing so hard out of their eyes. "This is what I really missed." Akai said, nodding her head.

"I missed all of your stupid jokes."

"My jokes are not stupid!"

"Some of them were."

"Well... maybe some!"

The two continued this bickering for a few minutes, until they both heard their front door open. Both of them tensed up slightly, and glanced back and forth between each other.

"Akai?" The voice said, and Akai froze. It was Akito's voice.

Had he came all this way just to find her, to check on her? Had he came all this way to bring her back? What could possibly be his motives?

But Akai could feel the jutsu wearing off, and Akane's laugh echoed through her head. 'Finally! I get my chance to get this little prince!' Akane said, giggling slightly. Akai placed her hands on her head, and began to whimper slightly as she attempted to fight back against Akane.

"Akai, you have to fight her." Ketsueki said, glancing at his daughter who held her head in her hands. But the man kept his eyes as focused on the door as he could, listening as the footsteps came closer to the pair, and another pair entered as well.

Akai eventually stopped fighting, and when she looked up, only a pair of blood red eyes confirmed that Akane had taken back over.

"Akito! My ol' pal!" Akane said, standing up and grabbing her dagger off her leg, twirling it around in her friends.

"Akane, is that you?" Akito said, as he walked around the corner and came face to face with Akane's eyes. "Oh, it is you." He said.

"I believe we have unfinished business!" Akane said, about to run at Akito with her dagger raised, but Ketsueki stood up and placed his hands on Akane's shoulders.

"Not today, Akane." He said, before placing the jutsu back on her.

"F*ck you, Ketsueki." Was the last words Akane said before she fell limp in Ketsueki's arms. The man sighed heavily as he picked up his daughter, looked at the two boys standing in front of him, and nodded.

"I would say you're Shin and Akito. I'm Ketsueki. Akai's father."

| * | * | * | * | * |

"Let me get this straight. You weren't dead after all, and for all these years, you never found her? Not even once?"

Ketsueki sighed. "Yes, sadly, that's the truth."

"And here I thought her family is just as great as Akai." Shin muttered, while Akito let out a huff.

"I take that as an offense," the man replied bitterly. While the three males were talking, Akai was still unconscious on her father's lap.

"Anyways, where did Akane came from? I still don't understand that." Shin added, and Ketsueki couldn't help but cringe at the question.

"It's a bit complicated. A long story. You sure want to hear it?"

"Yeah, we got the time." Akito firmly replied.

"Alright. To start this, I'll say that Akane never had any bad intentions in the beginning."

"What? But Akane wants to take control over her body!"

"It's partially Akai's fault," he replied, "Actually, it comes from her bloodline. Hoshigaki, just like her mother and her uncle."

"Hoshigaki clan, since long ago, was known as strong shinobis. Swordsmen, but also cruel, heartless, cold-blooded. The reason, is because they were born as killers. Born with really powerful bloodlust. It's in their instinct."

Shin's jaw fell agape. In other words, Akai was born to be evil?

"You can't be serious."

"But I am," Ketsueki calmly stated, "My wife, Fuka, also got it, the bloodlust. She was a great shinobi, almost like her little brother, Kisame. Not long after we got married, she quit her shinobi career. But then, she started hearing voices in her head. The bloodlust, telling her to keep on killing people. At that time, she had already got pregnant with Akai, but she was afraid she might not be able to hold back the bloodlust and lost control one day. I created a jutsu to temporarily blocked it, but it doesn't really worked."

"Finally, she decided to go to her mindscape and permanently sealed the bloodlust. It was a big mistake. The bloodlust, turns out, was one of the reason why the Hoshigaki's chakra reserves and stamina are better than most people's, proved by how Kisame, as a criminal, was one of the strongest shinobi known. With it sealed, Fuka's health slowly deteriorated, and she got an incurable sickness. The sickness passed down to Akai, and both of them got sick often. That's one of the reason why Akai started learning swordsmanship since she was young, to use the bloodlust in her to hold back that sickness."

"Wait a minute. So that means, for a Hoshigaki, if you stopped letting that bloodlust loose, it will eventually kill you?!" Akito exclaimed, out of shock.

"... Yes. Long ago, in Kiri, with her bloodlust and her talent, Akai became the right hand of the Mizukage. The Red Mist, the best swordsman there. She had killed so many people under orders, and that only made her bloodlust grew stronger. When Suigetsu was kidnapped, she left the village, travelling as a thief. She just suddenly stopped killing people, that would have affected her health, seeing how her sickness started relapsing, although not that fatal."

"When she was forced to stay in Konoha, she became a shinobi again. Her fight with Zabuza must have triggered the bloodlust, but she still held it back. That's why her sickness only worsened, and we haven't even talked about her fights and injuries in the exams. Well, to put it simply, she lost control during her last fight against Kisame, and the sudden wave of powerful bloodlust sent her into a comma."

"She was kidnapped by one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, and his experiments on her caused her unbearable pain, forcing her to let loose of that bloodlust in order to survive. She doesn't want to use it, so it turned into another side of personality, a psychotic one that she named Akane. They both fight for dominance over the body, and finally made a deal of taking turns, day for Akai and night for Akane."

"This is some serious madness. Crazy insanity." Shin commented, receiving a shrug from the Hozuki.

"Akane broke the deal, as how Akai told me, and you know the rest of the story. Akai, even when Akane was taking over, still had a bit control of her body, seeing as she was the original owner. But that wouldn't do much. They can still talk inside their minds, and right now, Akane is actually stronger, my jutsu is the only thing that held her back."

"Then what should we do? As Shin said, this is some serious madness. We can't seal Akane because Akai might die due to her sickness, but Akane wouldn't want to cooperate."

"I don't know, unfortunately." Ketsueki said, letting out a deep breath, running his fingers through Akai's blue hair. She was still unconscious, but she was whimpering, sweating, her fingers twitching every so often.

"But what I can say for sure is, only Akai can stop Akane."

| * | * | * | * | * |

"I'm going to go send a message to sensei. Tell him we found her." Akito said, pushing himself up off the floor. As he stood, he stared at Akai and sadness covered his face before he walked outside. Ketsueki watched the boy, and waited for the door to shut before he made a 'tsk' noise.

"What's up with that boy?" Ketsueki asked, his gaze hardened as his fingers played with his daughter's hair.

"What do you mean?" Shin asked, tilting his head to the side.

"He... He kept staring at Akai while I was explaining what Akane was. He has a mixture of sadness and happiness when he looks at my daughter."

"Because he loves her." Shin said, stating it as if it was completely obvious.

"What?!"

"Yeah, Akito loves Akai more than I think he even knows. When Akai was pronounced dead, he completely shut himself down for a while. He didn't talk a whole lot, and we had to beg him to even leave his room. Akai made him a better person, she pushed him, you know? I mean, she pushes all of us to be our best, and to our nerve limit, but she always, always made sure Akito was training, that he was taking care of himself. I don't even really think she knew she did it, she just did. Akito blamed himself after she... died."

As Shin spoke, Ketsueki stared at his daughter, brushing pieces of her hair out of her face.

"Akito sat by her side every single day after she was put in the Konoha security cell. I don't think he moved once. And he has this power to stop Akane when she starts to take over, and it's beyond freaky. He just told Akane to stop and it's like he gave Akai this whole new power that she didn't know she had over Akane. Except this last time, when Akane said she killed Akai and she disappeared. I've never seen Akito like that before, he went sorta of crazy..."

Ketsueki laughed slightly, and nodded his head. "I think certain people can have that affect on those Hoskigaki's. Akai's mother, I was sorta of that person for her. I could calm her down if she got really really angry, and at least bring her down a little bit." The Hozuki said, before his facial features dropped and he shook his head.

"Nope. He can't love my daughter."

"Wha-...?!"

"Love is dangerous. Too dangerous for her."
"But... she's an assassin."

"She was an assassin." Ketsueki said, correcting him. "But now, she's fragile."

"SHE'S FRAGILE?! SHE KILLS PEOPLE!"

"You wake her up, I kill you." Ketsueki said, and Shin instantly closed his mouth and stared at Akai's father with wide eyes.

It was at this moment that the door opened back up, and Akito walked back in. When Ketsueki saw the blonde boy, he instantly began to hold his daughter closer to his chest and glared ever so slightly at him.

"Ibiki will be here soon. Probably by tomorrow." Akito said, sitting down beside of Shin. He glanced over at Akai for a second, before looking back at his pink-haired friend and beginning a conversation.
This conversation didn't last long, because soon after it started, Akai began to stir in her fathers lap, and her grey eyes opened slowly. Akito glanced over just in time to see her eyes open all the way, and the boy smiled and tried to move closer to her.

But as soon as Akito did, Ketsueki stood up and moved to the other side of the room, holding her in his arms. He glared down at Akito, before smiling at Akai.

"How are you feeling, Little Red?" He asked, and the girl's eyes fluttered halfway shut.

"Sleepy."

"Still? You slept most of the day." He chuckled, and the girl shrugged.

"Being two people is tiring, Dad." She said. "Is Akito still here?"

"I'm over here, A-..."

"Yes, but they were all about to go to bed. It's getting late." Ketsueki said, narrowing his eyes at Akito. The blonde haired boy raised his eyebrows in alarm, glancing back and forth between Ketsueki and Shin for a few moment before sighing heavily.

"Shin, Akito. The couch or floor is open for you to sleep for the night. My room and Akai's are upstairs." Ketsueki said, before walking up the stairs and to the rooms. Once he was out of ear shot, Akito looked at Shin and threw his arms up in the air.

"What did you tell him while I was gone to make him hate me?!"

"I didn't do anything!" Shin said, raising his arms up in defense. "But I am going to go to bed now." Shin said, throwing himself on the couch. Akito growled under his breath before he glanced at the floor and the stairs, before choosing to walk up the stairs.
Ketsueki was standing in the doorway of his room, or what Akito assumed was his room because he didn't have Akai in his arms anymore, and Akito waited for him to walk inside. Once the door shut behind of Ketsueki, the Naokaze walked over to her room and cracked the door slightly.

"Akai?" He asked, and the blue haired girl sat up, and looked over at him.

"Yes?"

"I'll be right out here if you need me." He said, and Akai nodded.

"Thank you, Akito."

Akito nodded before shutting the door. He sat down outside of her door and leaned his head back against the wall. He sighed happily, glad to have the Akai that he loved back where she belonged.

| * | * | * | * | * |

That's it. My mood is getting better because of the Kaene ship (you will find out one day, unless you can guess).

Anyways. Tell us what you think, and so on and so forth. The usual.

Oh, the important one. What do you think about Akane? And Ketsueki's attitude towards Akito?

I guess we should post another one-shot soon, ne?

Vote?

Wait. Did you realize that the tashikani returned?