Chapter 3

Nozomi shifted her weight from foot to foot as she looked up at the man in front of her. Yes, she was very intimidated by this man, but he was the one she chose to carry out her plan. All that mattered was whether he agreed or not.

"I want ¥35,000,000." (about $320,000 in U.S.)

Her mouth nearly dropped at the price as she didn't even have that much stored in savings.

The male next to him, however, was furious. He was watching Nozomi's every move with narrowed eyes as he nursed the wound he got from a blow to his head. The triple-bladed scythe in his hand was more than enough to warn Nozomi not to cross him.

This wasn't how it all started. It took Nozomi a while to even get him to name any type of price for the bounty. Rewinding back a few days to the start of the problem.

"I'll pay you."

The male turned around and looked at the woman in front of him. She was petite - her height barely came up to his shoulders. She had shoulder-length sandy blond hair that made it obvious that she had done it herself and that it was her first time cutting hair. Her blue eyes stared him down but showed determination and fear.

"Who are you?"

"Nozomi Shidou."

Nozomi took in a deep breath softly as she watched him stare her down. It was very uncomfortable for her. His facial features showed nothing she could decifer and that mask was getting in the way. Was he hiding something behind that?

"And you are?"

Her face twisted into a small frown. He was blunt. He was actually quite rude too. She crossed her arms and straightened her form out, as her father had told her. Don't let anyone see that they can take advantage of you. If they can see it, they will do it.

"I am a customer in need of your help. I realize you are a bounty hunter and I'm asking for your services. I feel that you are capable for this job."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow at her comment. He had met her standards? Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be in her early twenties, but highly oblivious. The other people in this black market had kept their distance from the male, but she walked straight up to him.

The male turned away and left her alone in the black market. Shocked by his sudden lack of interest, Nozomi ran after him.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

He stopped for a moment and glanced back at her. No sooner had he glanced, he disappeared.

Day 1

Nozomi stayed at a small inn in Kumogakure. She woke up and sat up on the futon, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her short blond hair was a mess as she folded the futon and put it away. Today was the day. She was going to make that bounty hunter hers.

She took a quick shower and threw on her clothes before thanking the landlady and leaving. Nozomi's first place to visit was the Black Market. Like before, it was bustling with people everywhere. She pulled her hood on and walked up to a small vendor for food.

After her small breakfast of two apples, Nozomi looked around everywhere for the male she had seen before. Hours went by of her aimlessly walking around and she sighed. Where exactly was this man? He couldn't have left just yet.

Suddenly, yelling started up and Nozomi looked down the lane. It was just her luck! At the same booth from before, Kakuzu was being yelled at by the shopkeeper about information once again. This time, he was arguing back though.

"I refuse unless you give me more money, you brute!"

"That's not necessary for something so little."

Nozomi walked over and greeted the shopkeeper kindly before turning to Kakuzu. Unlike the male, the shopkeeper was very happy to have her interrupt and tended to other business.

"Do you have an answer to my offer, sir?"

Kakuzu merely stared down at her with his ever-changing eyes. That was an exaggeration to Nozomi, considering that to her, the male was as stoic as can be. He turned on his heel and walked away from her once again, but Nozomi wasn't going to let this oppurtunity pass her by.

"I'll give you ¥25,000,000!"

The male paused for a moment. It seemed like he was about to give it thought, but he soon disappeared. Nozomi groaned in defeat.

Day 2

Nozomi woke up the next day, having gone back to the same inn. She sighed softly, seeing as she didn't want to waste a lot of money and not have anymore to offer the bounty hunter. That meant, less moping around and more searching for that man.

She went back to the Black Market in hopes to find hime arguing with the shopkeeper again. That, however, didn't happen at all. When she asked the shopkeeper, he treated her like one of the bounty hunters and demanded money from her. Wonderful.

Nozomi wandered around Kumogakure with a sigh. If he wasn't at the Black Market, where else would he be? What if he left and she might never find him again?! Whining softly, she retreated to the outskirts of Kumo and walked through a small forest-like place.

Her luck must have been carrying on since she spotted the male sitting by a tree stump, reading the bingo book. Her heart skipped a beat happily as she found hope again. Maybe this time he'll accept her offer.

She approached him cautiously, knowing that bounty hunters are somewhat ninjas and they will attack if you approach the wrong way. She held a third apple, one she had saved from breakfast, and hoped maybe he was hungry.

"S-Sir...?"

"What the fuck?!"

Nozomi jumped and her skin crawled as she heard another voice. Kakuzu looked up from the book at her then glanced to the side. She decided to follow suit and looked out the corner of her eyes.

There was a male whose body was black and white all over, wearing the same cloak as the bounty hunter - black with red clouds. The skin color pattern was weird, like a skeleton, and he stood on a symbol on the ground of a circle with a triangle inside. Blood oozed out of his chest as he pulled a triple-bladed scythe from it. Nozomi nearly fainted at the sight as she paled noticeably.

"Who's the bitch, Kakuzu?"

Oh, so his name was Kakuzu. Nozomi looked at Kakuzu who hadn't moved from his position, nor was he phased by the male's speech or physical condition.

"Y-You're bleeding!" That was all Nozomi could stutter out.

"Are you done, Hidan?"

"Can I kill her? She looks pure and untainted. Fuck, she's the perfect sacrifice to Jashin-sama."

Nozomi's eyes widened and she backed away from Hidan, edging closer to Kakuzu. That wasn't really going to happen to her right? Kakuzu wasn't going to allow him to kill her... She was offering him money to do a bounty for her. That would be enough just to spare her life for now, right?

"I-I really need your services, Kakuzu-san. If you'll allow me to call you that. I'll raise the price to ¥27,000,000. Please, help me?"

Kakuzu stared up at the woman. His face remained unchanged. He got up and left her again. Hidan scowled at the woman and followed Kakuzu, leaving her alone again.

Day 3

Nozomi couldn't understand it. What could possibly make Kakuzu not want the money? It was basically her entire life's savings, plus a few of her personal items that she sold. That was a lot of money for a bounty. She could only raise the price but so high.

That next morning, she prepared herself mentally and physically. This time, he was not going to refuse her. She left the inn, telling the landlady that she wasn't coming back this time and thanking her for her services.

She marched back up to the forest with clear determination and searched for Kakuzu. He shouldn't have been that hard to find. Although, he was taller than her and she'd have to look up everytime. The more she thought about it, the more her determination started to falter. The man was scary as hell!

Looking around a tree, she spotting not the male she was looking for, but his partner. Hidan was practicing with his scythe, swinging it around and training hard. Nozomi thought of how scary he was last time and decided against trying to ask him anything. But it was too late to back off now since he sensed her and spotted her watching him.

With nothing to hold Hidan back, he smirked and lunged for Nozomi. He'd prayed to Jashin for permission to kill that morning and believed this was his god rewarding him for a good harvest the other day.

Nozomi screamed and automatically started to run away. Surely, her first instinct should've been to grab a kunai from the emergency pouch on her side in case that scythe made its way anywhere near her body, but she wasn't a ninja. She was just a lowly civilian.

Yes, her brother had taught her basic jutsu like substitution. She had low chakra levels, so that wouldn't have worked out so much for her if she had to use it multiple times. This was her first time engaging in any kind of battle so all self-defense techniques completely left her mind.

Nozomi ducked and hid behind trees, being as evasive as possible to leave Hidan. This annoyed the crap out of the criminal since he was only set on one thing. She pretty quickly had no where to go and stared at Hidan with fearful eyes. This was it. She was going to die earlier than planned now. So, she covered her face with her hands and braced for the oncoming pain.

Instead, she heard a loud groan followed by a string of curses. Nozomi peeked out and put her hands down to see Kakuzu glaring at Hidan, who was glaring straight back at him. The woman hoped it was safe to assume that Kakuzu had saved her.

Nozomi shifted her weight from foot to foot as she looked up at the man in front of her. Yes, she was very intimidated by this man, but he was the one she chose to carry out her plan. All that mattered was whether he agreed or not.

"I want ¥35,000,000."

Her mouth nearly dropped at the price as she didn't even have that much stored in savings.

The male next to him, however, was furious. He was watching Nozomi's every move with narrowed eyes as he nursed the wound he got from a blow to his head. The triple-bladed scythe in his hand was more than enough to warn Nozomi not to cross him.

"Y-You want... how much?"

In the distance, sitting on a high branch was a male in a black cloak, watching their every move.