My heart stopped temporarily. How could I not have heard someone being murdered when their apartment is right next to mine?
"Come on," I said, grabbing Mimi's hand.
I cautiously walked into her apartment and surveyed the scene; her parents were lying in pools of blood near the center of the living area. They each had multiple stab wounds and their faces had fear written all over them. A window in the kitchen was wide open, probably from the murderer.
"Who did this?" I asked.
"I don't know his name or what he looked like. He was wearing all black clothes that covered him completely," she said. She started to cry.
I kneeled down and hugged her. "It's ok," I whispered comfortingly, stroking her long black hair.
Who would want to kill her parents? They didn't possess any knowledge or objects that someone would need. So, why kill them?
This puzzled me.
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I quickly threw on my clothes and rushed out the door. Jeez, how was I always running late in the morning when I couldn't oversleep?
I hopped from rooftop to rooftop, trying desperately to make it to the Hokage's office in time. Lady Tsunade would be ticked if I was late again.
I busted through the door of her office. Lady fifth, Shizune, and Kakashi looked at me in exasperation.
"I'm here!" I said, trying to catch my breath.
"Late again...," Kakashi muttered.
Lady Tsunade glared at me, her amber eyes revealing her growing anger. "Can't you be on time for once?" she questioned harshly.
"S-sorry."
She sighed. "As you know, a young girl's parents were murdered last night."
I nodded.
"The man who did it was in business with them. He provided them with information about the akatsuki, which they passed on to us, in exchange for money. Unfortunately, he seems to have found someone who pays better. Kakashi Hatake and Mori Bara, you are to track him down and bring him in."
"Don't we need information on the akatsuki though? He won't be very willing to give it to us if he's in jail," Kakashi said.
"We do need that information, but he betrayed us and is now spreading info. about our village. Catch him and bring him in."
"Hai," Kakashi and I said in unison.
Shizune handed Kakashi a manilla folder with the man's info. in it.
"Utuko Kizuma," Kakashi said, looking in the folder.
"You are dismissed," Lady Tsunade said.
Kakashi and I gave quick bows then disappeared in puffs of smoke. We reappeared at the village gates.
"So where do we start?" I asked.
"His profile says he also does business in the waterfall village. We'll head there first."
I nodded and followed Kakashi as he dashed through the treetops.
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When we arrived in the waterfall village, I was blown away by its beauty. The water glittered like clear blue shards of glass under the sun's rays, and the forests surrounding the village were lush and green. The village was small, clean, and pleasant looking.
I didn't realize I was so obviously gawking at the scenery until Kakashi said something about it.
"A bug's going to fly into your mouth if you don't close it."
I looked at Kakashi and smiled sheepishly. "The village is really pretty," I said.
He smiled at me underneath his mask. "Yeah. We have to focus on finding Utuko though."
"Right."
We walked into the village, but stopped. Someone in one of the buildings was yelling obnoxiously.
"Get out of here right now Utuko! I don't want you or your trouble around here!"
Kakashi and I looked at each other. We were both thinking the same thing; we found our guy.
Utuko stormed out of a building to our right, his blue eyes dark and dangerous, his hands balled up into fists and his teeth clenched tight. When he caught sight of our headbands, the anger on his face melted away and was replaced with fear. He turned away from us and ran. We bolted after him. Damn he was fast. He was getting farther and farther ahead until we eventually lost sight of him.
"Dammit," I mumbled.
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When we finally caught up to him he was doing battle with two male figures. I gasped. They weren't ordinary ninja; they were members of the akatsuki.
One had slicked back white hair and gorgeous violet eyes, and the other one's face was completely covered except for a pair of bright emerald eyes. They both wore long black cloaks with red clouds on them.
Utuko was losing badly. He was covered with bloody injuries and had trouble standing; he wasn't going to win.
The white haired one raised a huge three-bladed red scythe, getting ready to bring it down on Utuko. Just before he did, Kakashi threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it at the two akatsuki members. They jumped out of the way, and I jumped and got Utuko out of the way.
The paperbomb exploded and singed our backs, making me grit my teeth to keep from whimpering at the sudden burning pain. Kakashi took one of Utuko's arms around his neck, and together we carried him off as fast as we could, knowing that the two akatsuki fellows were on our tail in hot pursuit.
We lunged from tree to tree, going so fast we were practically flying. I glanced back. Sure enough, they were no more than 30 feet behind us.
"Are we going to be able to outrun them?" I asked.
"Probably not," Kakashi replied.
I opened my mouth to say something else, but was stopped by a kunai whizzing past my head. A different kunai caught my pants and jerked me backwards, pinning my leg to the limb.
I pulled hard on the kunai, but it was stuck in the tree. "Just keep going!" I yelled to Kakashi.
He nodded and kept going.
One of the akatsuki members landed next to me, while the other one shot ahead. I tried the kunai again; it was still stuck.
"Hmm. You look like the girl Deidara and Sasori were sent after."
I looked up at him in surprise. His violet eyes met my blue ones. Did he just say the akatsuki were after me!?! My eyes were wide in surprise, and I momentarily forgot about the kunai.
He smirked. "I don't know whether to knock you out and leave you for the others to find or to knock you out and take you with us right now."
"Is there any chance I could stay conscious?" I asked timidly.
His smirk grew. "Nope."
Before I could respond, he jabbed a finger onto the pressure point in my neck, sending an electric shock through my entire body and making me fall limp.
