Hunters of Mist Though their mission had ended, Team Kunoichi decided to take some time to rest and enjoy the land especially since the new Yurijo'o, Barahime, insisted upon it threatening to cut all ties with Konoha if they refused. Though Yuri no Kuni wasn't a significantly powerful nation itself, Konohagakure treasured its alliances. Besides it was no more than 1 or 2 days. For Tenten, this was the perfect opportunity to relax and think about all that happened during the mission. Though Hinata had explained to her what happened, the Hyuga would have no means to explain what the weapon master was feeling. If only I could live here, Tenten thought as she sat in a massive public bath. The people are so nice and they don't really care what your sexuality is. It was true that many women in the nation where either homosexual or at least bisexual, but there were a number of heterosexual women who lived here too. Though many of the later tend to be either temporary, using the country to recover from what evils men laid upon them before returning to their homeland; sort of like rehabilitation. Indeed, many of the tourists that come here are such women who have suffered unimaginable acts by the hands of men. Though they were initially straight, many of them still participated in same sex relationships during their stay to return to their normal lives once they left. "Maybe I should be like them," Tenten said, but she knew if did, she could never bring herself to live such a lie. "Be like who?" Asked Hinata, walking to the bath's edge wearing only a towel which made no attempt to hide the kunoichi's shapely body. Once again Tenten found herself staring at the Hyuga's full breasts turning away embarrassedly once she realized it. "Is something wrong?" "She's just embarrassed that she's so flat-chested!" Itamu said as she walked up behind the Hyuga and cupped the sides of her breasts in each hand, "Not all of us can be gifted." She squeezed them for emphasis. "They say that if you rub them every day, they'll grow!" Maiso said, emerging from the water with a great splash and cupping Tenten's nearly non-existing breasts in her hand. "Though I have to say, your as flat as a washboard!" "What are you two doing here?!" Tenten asked as she and Hinata simultaneously broke free from the Hitsugis' groping hands. "Didn't you return to your village?" "No, the Daimyo has invited us to stay for a few days," Itamu said. "It's not like we enjoy staying in this country... these girls are too open in their ‘sins' for our tastes. I bet not enough half of them knew what it is like to keep your true feelings secret." Tenten was surprised, she never realized there was others like her; those who had to keep their attraction towards women a secret and live a lie. However what stuck in her mind was how she had referred to as "sin". It took both the Konoha kunoichi a while before they realized that Itamu had in her hand Hinata's towel. "Eek!" Each of their faces turned crimson red for entirely different reasons as the Hyuga kunoichi quickly hid her now naked body under the water. "Oh how modest! That's so kawai!" Maiso cried, wading over to hug Hinata. However she was stopped as Tenten firmly grasped the kunoichi by the shoulder, unconsciously flashing the Hitsugi a threatening look. "You should really learn to respect other people's space, Imoto-chan!" Itamu scolded. "But I can't help myself oneechan! Whenever I see something cute, I just want to smother it until stops breathing!" Maiso said in a sickly warm smile. The Konoha kunoichi shuttered at the last words of her sentence, wondering how much of that statement she truly meant. "Um, Itamu, if you don't mind me asking... You call refer to er, you know it, as a sin. Does that mean you're...?" Tenten asked hesitantly. "Yes, my sister and I are both lesbians damned to live in a homophobic country. In fact we are each other's lovers, but only because we didn't want to risk being discriminated against like our honorable cousin was," Itamu said, her usually emotionless voice noting a sound of sadness. "But can't you be open about it here?" Hinata asked, embarrassedly. Though she had intended to ask her towel back, hearing the Hitsugi's hardship made her forget all about it. "You mean search for love in this cute little nation? This isn't one of those Yuri manga set in some all-girl's school! What if we did? We would have to return to the village eventually or be marked as rouge ninja and we can't bring her back! Outside of this country, we'll be forced to live a lie! For us who have done so for all our lives, it's nothing new, but for the poor girls we taken, they could never be happy! And lastly, long distance relationships never work out so we shall suffer in silence for it all we can do," Itamu said with an intense, unexpected anger to it. "I, I'm sorry," Hinata said under her breath, flinching. "Hay, it's not her fault! She's not like you! She doesn't know what it's like have her heart ache with the pain of loneliness! To tell herself that's it wrong to be attracted towards another girl! She doesn't know any of that, but nor do you know how she suffered!" Tenten yelled, her anger uncontrollably bursting. Silence descended the four girls. "Come on now, let's not get so worked up," Shiryu said, appearing in as little as a towel, taking her cousins by surprised. "Cousin-sama! Where's your mask?" Itamu asked. "We're amongst allies now. There's no need for me to be hiding my identity. Besides, that mask gets sooo stuffy! I've completed the mission report so I decided to take a dip! Forgive me for listening, but your out of place Itamu-chan. It's true that Hinata-chan knows nothing of our suffering, but it doesn't mean she suffered in her own way no? Besides I heard Konoha is as homophobic as Iwagakure. It must be so much trouble pretending what you're not isn't Tenten-chan." Shiryu said, removing her towel and climbing into the bath. "W-what are you talking about?" Tenten said, trying her best to defend herself. "It's no use living a lie, but if you want to do something that futile, then I won't stop you!" Shiryu said shrugging. "What the hell are you talking about?" Tenten cried, her face bright red. Is she saying that Tenten-sama is- Hinata thought, but her thoughts were interrupted by a splashing of water. At first she thought it was one the Hitsugi twins- either Itamu getting in or Maiso getting out, but the sound originated from across the bath where the steam was so thick that hid the area in a warm mist. "Oh man, this is great!" a voice said hidden behind the mist said. "I couldn't imagine spending another day on the road. My tongue is surely no substitute for hot water! You should try it Tsukihime!" The voice was answered by a cat's mew. "We can't be staying here for too long. The fact that this town still stands is proof that Kyozame can't be close to here. We must find her at once and bring her to justice for her crimes against the village!" said another voice. "Ah, you're no fun! All work and no play makes Master a dull kitten!" the first voice said. "Besides, we got some really reliable information that some odd people have come here." "I don't think the local cats count as reliable informants," the other voice said. "Ah, you're so mean!" The first said, sniffling. "I-I'm so sorry! Please don't cry! I'll do anything, just don't cry!" the second voice said. "Anything?" The first voice said in a low voice, sly tone. The sound of somebody through the water could be heard. "Hay! What are you doing? Wait, don't do that! What if somebody comes here?" the second voice said. "Come on Master, we don't have to pretend any more..." There was a sound of lips connecting and a series of inappropriate sounds began to emit through the mist. The five kunoichi looked at the mist shrouded couple with a sense of shock. Th-they're-! Hinata thought, dumbfounded. "Oh my, these gaijin are so naughty!" Shiryu said with a giggle. "Oops! It looks like somebody was here already!" the first voice said. "What?" the second voice cried in shock. The steam lifted, revealing two women with long black hair, one of them with her arms wrapped about the other. On the pools edge, a black cat laid curled up on a towel, trying to sleep and having a bad time at it. "We're so sorry!" one the girls said, the owner of the second voice, as she pushed off of her. "We didn't anybody else was here!" "It's so kawai when master gets embarrassed!" the other girl, owner of the first voice, said, wiggling about. "She's so irresistible!" She jumped onto the first girl who turned her back to her to face the kunoichi, knocking her down into the water. Their bodies was splashing for a matter of time before it died down followed by bubbles rising to the top of the water for a few seconds before it too stopped. The kunoichi looked to one another worriedly, not sure if the two women were still alive. Just as Hinata was about to use the Byakugan, the girls' heads burst from the water gasping for air. "My, these gaijin are so funny!" Shiryu said, giggling. "I think it's time to get out," the first girl said, climbing out of the bath. "Ah! I was just beginning to have fun!" the other girl said, following after her. The women walked out of the bath and headed back to the changing room to get dressed. To the kunoichi's mixed embarrassment and amusement, any towels they had been wearing was now lost. Not soon afterwards the kunoichi decided to get out themselves. Despite the full moon that lit the night sky, it was dark, ominously so in fact. For the guards standing at their posts, they were unnerved for they could feel it. Something was near, something with an intense killing intent. There was no sounds of life except for their own breathing to be heard as their eyes shot from corner to another expecting a demon to jump at them at any second. Suddenly, laughter could be heard echoing through the village. This was not the laughter a child at play or lovers sneaking out to rendezvous, but a high pitched, heart wrenching laughter of madness and death. What made things worse was that it came from inside the village. A low laugh from behind the guards caused them to jump, drawing their weapons and ready to face a demon. What stood before them was a woman dressed in tattered funeral clothes and wrapped in old bandages smiling a toothy grin. Two pricks of light emitted from her empty eye sockets as she looked each with undisguised malice. The chain that was attached to an iron collar around her neck rustled, the last, broken link amazing remaining in place. With a sharp laugh she impaled each of the guards with her bony hands that ended in long, black claw-like nails before they could react. They last things the guards saw before passing on the next world was the blood stained streets and the mist forehead protector wrapped about the woman's waste. "You're enjoying yourself tonight," said an albino miko dressed in red. She sat in the midst of corpses petting a skull she held in her lap. "Why feel so alive when I kill!" the woman said, throwing her head in a maniacal laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised, it might as well be that you're stealing their life when you kill them!" the miko said, smiling at the woman. "Don't you agree, Mimi?" Mimi, a kunoichi with shaggy black hair dressed in an unzipped zippered hoodie over a mesh shirt and camouflage patterned cargo pants, didn't reply. Out her only eye (the other covered by her forehead protector that she wore diagonally), she looked down at the skeletal dog standing beside her. By the markings on her face, there was no doubt she was from the Inuzuka clan. Shiroko... Despite being clearly dead, the skeletal dog looked up at its mater and nuzzled its fleshless nose in her leg. "It's okay, girl..." Mimi said, kneeling down and petting the undead dog on the head. "To bad there's no body left," the woman in tattered white said, sighing. "I guess its time to move on the next village. I'll select the bravest of these women and revive them," the miko said, standing up. "I can't wait," the woman said with a cruel grin. Tenten woke in a cold sweat from a nightmare that she could she could no longer remember now that she was awake. However she knew for sure that it was most disturbing things she had ever dreamt in her entire life. Fearing that the nightmare waited for her to return, she decided to take some time to clear her mind and possibly banish the nightmare (whatever it might be of) from her rest. Making sure that her yukata was tightly tied, she slipped into a pair of slippers left the room of the inn that she and Hinata was staying at. She began walking down the hall, but didn't make it past the door of the Hyuga's room. Out of either curiosity or worry, she decided to listen to whatever was happening in her team mate's room. The first thing she heard was the soft, rhythmical breathing of the sleeping kunoichi; a truly pleasing sound. Pushing the sound aside, she listened harder, searching for anything that could suggest that was in any danger. After a long moment and no change in the sounds emitting from the kunoichi's room. Relaxing, Tenten continued her stroll down the hallway, glad that Hinata was safe. "It must be so much trouble pretending what you're not, isn't Tenten-chan." The Hitsugi's words echoed through her mind. A part of her wanted to answer "It's too unbearable", but she feared of what Hinata would think of her. She probably already knew and made the thought made the kunoichi's heart beat faster. This feeling? Could I- No, she wouldn't be interested... She's in love with Naruto- Why did I have to be born a girl? She thought, aimlessly wandering. She was so lost in thought that once she remembered to watch where she was going, she realized she hadn't a clue where she was. The inn was impressively large and held the reputation for being most popular tourist attraction in all of Yuri no Kuni. Before Tenten could back track and, hopefully, find her way back to her room, she was distracted by the sound of clashing blades. The sound came from a nearby room in which Tenten crept to, drawing a kunai she had hidden in her sleeve before leaving her room. Slowly she opened the sliding the door as quietly as possible just enough so that she could see what was happening. Other than the moonlight that shined through the window, the room was too dark to make out any details except two silhouettes were locked in battle, each carrying two small swords. By the kunoichi's limited knowledge of swordsmanship, she could only determine that they were skilled, but something seemed odd about their movements. After watching each intently, she noticed that for every move one took the other mirrored and that they blades always connected in a perfect performance. Tenten was forced to leap away as something slashed through where she had been standing. The assailant was humanoid in shape, but stood in the same fashion as a quadrupedal animal. Tenten dodged an attack from another assailant that looked the same as the first. Flanked, she tried to determine her next actions when a pair of blades cut through the paper walls and formed an "X" pattern over Tenten's neck, pinning her to the wall. "Before we kill you, tell us where Kyozame Kuroki is!" one the assailants on either side of the kunoichi asked. "Who?" Tenten asked, not recognizing the name. "Don't play dumb with us? We know that's she here! Know tell us where she is and we'll make your death swift and painless!" The assailant demanded. Right afterwards, the assailant was knocked aside by another figure. The figure was tall and masculine, turning out to be- in no surprise, Shiryu who was once again wearing her mask. "Can't a kunoichi get any sleep?" said a very disgruntled sounding figure, holding something small to the throat of the other assailant. By the gloomy tone of the voice it was no doubt, Itamu. "I was just getting to the best part too!" said another voice, the blades that held pinned Tenten to the wall suddenly slipping away. "Master!" cried one of the assailants. The assailant's voice echoed through Tenten's head and triggered memories from a few hours back. "Don't hurt them! I think it's all one big misunderstanding!" Tenten said. "You can say that again," Itamu said stepping into the light holding a black cat by the scruff of its neck. The cat hissed and growled, trying its hardest to escape the kunoichi's grip. "This was one of them." Shiryu stepped forward holding a mask that the assailant had been wearing in her hand. It was the type of mask that only Hunter Nin from Kirigakure would where. "Looks like you have some explaining to do Hunter-chan!" Maiso said cheerfully. "We are currently on a mission to seek out Kyozame Kuroki and kill her, taking her head back for proof. She has caused the deaths of several of our own men including those who've already been sent after her. To make matters worse, she has some unknown ability to animate those she kills and turn them into mindless monsters that know only to kill... They don't discriminate against age, gender or if relation, they kill everyone they see..." spoke the woman from the baths. Her name was Tachi Yurotora and claimed to be the only survivor of her clan. She wore a black kimono and hakama and wore two kodachi at her sides, an odachi on her back and a tachi across her waist from behind. Her bangs fell in front of the metal plate of her forehead protector hiding it, more likely out of fashion rather than any practical meaning. Every inch of her radiated with the aura of a master swordsman. The Hitsugis (including an again unmasked Shiryu) looked to one another and shook their heads. "We don't know of anyone by that name and we know everything of our rivals," Shiryu said, stressing the emphasis on "everything" to give it credence. "Besides, zombiism is not too uncommon in this world of ninjas, but the question is how she does it." "We're not sure of that ourselves..." said the other hunter nin, a girl that wore minidress-like kimono with overly long sleeves, a black dog collar attached with a brass bell and stylish greaves. Her name was Nekomi and she referred to herself to being "Tachi's pet" despite the other kunoichi's denial of such. She wore her forehead protector as a bandana with a pair of cat-ears attached to the top. The small black cat, Tsukihime, lay in her lap curled in a ball fast asleep. "And you attacked me thinking that I knew something about her..." Tenten said, "That means she's not alone." "No, Kyozame is a cold hearted killer that rarely troubles herself with thoughts other than how she's going to torture her next victim before she kills them. The fact she simply disappeared without leading a trail of blood to follow and now simply reappear in somewhere that nearly have of our available shinobi cannot enter without causing an international event means that somebody's leading her, probably with promises of being able to kill as much as she wants. This individual is possibly has a number of other followers like Kyozame who are possibly nuke-nin themselves and will protect their leader with their lives," Tachi said. "Why did she only send you two?" Hinata asked. "Because we're the best!" Nekomi said, winking and smiling proudly. "Because I demanded to be the one who takes her head," Tachi said, drawing her blade and looking at it with cold determination. The sadness in her eyes spoke volumes of her suffering. The path of an avenger was never easy. "Oh Master! You make me so hot when you get so serious!" Nekomi cried, pouncing on the swordswoman. "Wait! Not here!" Tachi cried, barely having enough time to sheathe her kodachi as the girl's hands tried to work their way under her robes. Hinata and Tenten's face turned bright red and the Hitsugis (even including the normally cheerless Itamu) chuckled at them the Kiri girls. Tsukihime, who had sensed this beforehand her master's actions and jumped off her lap, was now wandering about the room. Suddenly the hair on the cat's back stood on end as it hissed violently. "There here!" Nekomi said with a sly grin, the look a cat who knows that has trapped a mouse reflecting on her face. An army of stumbling bodies slowly moved to the capital. The three women who had single handed slaughtered them lead them in their imperfect march.
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