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Hm. Yes. I have been gone for a long time…um. How long? Like…a long time. Yeah, I know…a few months. Oh, bother. Anyway, I’m back now, ready to catch up on the missed Naruto chapters and such. But I figured, after so many failing fanfics here, I would try one last time. If it truly, honestly fails in all eyes, including my own, since for some reason I can’t keep my mind on one fic at a time…then I’ll just try something else >_>

Anyway, this is my idea I’ve been working on for awhile. Hope it’s enjoyable, may it live long and prosper c:

Prologue

A soft, consistent breath pulsated against the air, the slow, sharp kicks of her foot, suspended in the air with her leg on her opposite knee, pounds the empty oasis of oxygen. Her patience level was dropping to a new low as she continued to wait on…something.

What was it now…seven hours she had been waiting. Since the sun had risen to now when the sun had risen from its calm sleep, to now, when it flooded the land with its life-giving, eternal heat. Yes, it was true; her patience was thinning with every passing second.

A bird swept overhead, throwing her attention from the landscape in front of her; empty air. But what was below her was what mattered: a large expanse of trees and wildlife. She was suspended on a limb in the tallest, most rotund tree in that forest. It stretched to, what she estimated, a good hundred feet above the other seemingly tallest trees.

It was a rather secluded rendezvous point, which was what she and her client had agreed upon having, to make things more private. Yet…something seemed off to her…

Suddenly, her ears perked and her eyes shot skyward. They locked onto a group of large vines struggling to release themselves from the tree, then suddenly gave way and lashed down in a powerful sweep. She had little time to react, yet she reached into her garter in the blink of an eye and shot away from the trunk of the tree, cutting through two of the ivy, and landed on the end of the trunk on one foot, swaying uneasily from side to side.

Her glance was thrown backward, to see the remaining vines hanging limply, the hacked off parts falling to the forest below. She gained her previously precarious balance and looked toward where the vines were attached to the tree.

A shadow slunk down the trunk of the tree, and in a small puff of jet black smoke, a form appeared, standing directly across from the female.

Their eyes locked for a moment, and the form reached into the cloak he donned and retrieved a piece of parchment tied carefully with a long red string, signifying an important document. His eyebrow arched, and he made the simple movement with his hand that asked ‘do you want this?’

Her head made a very slight nodding motion, and as his hand drew forward to toss the parchment, her eyes and hands reacted all at the same moment. The kunai within her hand left it just as quick as it had appeared. It pierced the document and attached itself to the trunk, just inches from the form’s neck.

He nodded and reached into the other side of the cloak, withdrawing another document, this one marked with a red string as well, looking eerily similar to the other. He tossed it forward, but this time, as he did so, he practically disappeared in a blur of light as he darted towards the woman on the edge of the limb. She reacted a bit too slowly, and stepped back off the limb, falling lamely backwards and down, watching the man dart, headfirst, toward her.

She drew two shuriken, one in each hand, from her garter and released them in the air, forming a hand sign, and summoning two Shadow Clones in midair. The three of them twisted trickily in mid air as they fell, and they reached the shrubbery at the same time, disappearing into the tops of the forest. The man winced and fell into the forest as well.

On a weak branch, the man landed without a single shake or shiver of the branch, and looked around, surveying the area meticulously. A few yards below him, animals pranced around under the glorious sunlight peeking curiously through the spaces in the trees and treetops alike. He spat against the tree trunk and darted off through the shadows.

Eyes appeared against the tree bark of the tree the man stood against a moment before, and the woman appeared from it, detaching herself and eying her surroundings, then peered down. She shook her foot of the mucus that secreted from the man’s foul mouth, then she dropped to the ground below. As she looked to her right, a burning bright flame met her form and she was consumed by an immense fireball.

The man appeared a few feet from the spot where the fireball died away, then he kicked the dirt when he realized it was one of her confounded Shadow Clones. He spat once more, eyed a deer that halted and turned its attention him, and moved on through the shadows once more.

~

Farther on, the clone and the real woman stationed themselves behind two trees that were directly across from each other. They carefully wrapped wire around the bases of the trees, then set paper tags with a strange kanji inscribed. She nodded to her clone and disappeared high into the tree.

…a few minutes. No sounds. They peered down and across the ground. No footsteps. Just…nothing. Then suddenly, a shadow darts across the ground. It snares within the wires below them, and the seals explode, releasing a thick cable from each side. A hissing sound erupts, and the cords wrap themselves around the figure. After a short, stifled struggle, the form ceased action and dropped on his side. The clone and the woman herself fel from the trees and landed safely on the ground. They both eyed the forum suspiciously.

“…what’s your reasoning for this?” The man on the ground grunted.

“What’s your reasoning for attacking me?” The woman spat back, her words growing stronger with each.

The man rolled himself over, then whipped forward, and stood on his feet. His eyes shifted back and forth from the women, as he wasn’t sure which was the real one.

“I assure you, I wasn’t completely positive of the actions you’d take at this rendezvous later, madam.”

“What was the point of it, anyway?”

His mouth moved slightly. Then he opened it and stood frozen for half a moment, then proceeded. “It was for a…pact, if you will.”

“A pact…for what? Of what?” Her voice grew more tense with the passing moments.

“A pact from our Hokage to you.”

“…FOR WHAT?”

He coughed to clear his throat, then continued. “A pact for your arrest.”

“Oh. I see. A pact to allow me to allow you to arrest me. First of all, it wouldn’t be a legal arrest warranted by the government that could effect me, as I’m not a ninja from the Land of Fire. Second of all, how STUPID do you think I am? The scenario would be me getting arrested, put in front of whatever bull Kage decides to punish me. He tries to get me to drop all of my crimes, and if I don’t, to be executed on site, which I’ll be DAMNED before that happens. HA. You make me laugh.” She snapped her fingers. The cords made a stretching sound, and expanded, exploding a cloud of dust. The man extended his arms to stretch his muscles.

“If that’s what you think, madam. Then it’ll just have to be handled by the government you do reside among.” The man blinked, laughed and darted over her head.

“Really? Then I guess we’ll just have to change that…” Her hand found her headband. She tore it away from her forearm quickly and stared at the hourglass symbol on the front. She sighed and stuffed it in her garter. “…I’ll do it later. Right now, I have business. And to be honest, I’ve never heard of a stupider idea of sending an agent to try and coax someone like me to submit to her crimes.” She sighed, then she turned her attention to an open space in the trees, where her eyes found the limb she lounged upon before, in the tallest tree in the forest. High up there, a document still pinned to the tree. She bit her lip.

A few minutes later, she stood perched on the limb once more, document in hand. Removing the red tie, she opened the document and found it blank.

“Of course. Complete waste of time.” She pushed the tuft of brunette hair that hung over one eye out of the way so she could stare at the trunk of the tree for three minutes, then she disappeared without a word.

~

A man, leaned against a stone wall in a thin valley, sighed. The air passed his lips, and a form appeared in front of him, crouched down.

“Stand,” the man uttered quietly. He stood straight, throwing a menacingly sharp scythe connected to a chain around his shoulder, letting it rest on his back.

The form nodded and stood straight. “The rendezvous went off without any problems. The issue was dealt with, and Lady Y is on her way.”

The man nodded and the form disappeared without another word. The man jangled the chain for a few minutes, then looked skyward, his long gray hair falling from his eyes.

“…”