When Money Isn't Good Enough (Kakuzu Story)

Chapter 22

Maybe Ryoshi would have said something to him.

Maybe she would have turned round and looked him in the eye.

But something inside of her just couldn't. Torn between several emotions, she could do nothing but remain facing the wall, her eyes boring into the brick and knowing he was still standing there. When she had felt him appear, a part of Ryoshi had been happy. She'd formed that connection, but had never known if he'd use it to talk to her—and now he was. The connection was truly two way, and they could always contact each other. But the question of whether she wanted to contact him anymore was one that began to repeat itself in her mind—and one she couldn't come up with a definitive answer to. It started out as one thing, then abruptly changed; only to do the same thing all over again. Like a spinning coin, her decision went from heads to tails repeatedly, and never halted long enough to truly fixate on one answer. So she simply stayed put; her arms curled slightly around her so Kakuzu couldn't see her hands; couldn't see them balled up into fists and white-knuckled in anxiety.

He couldn't see anything about her anymore.

So he tried again, calling out her name once more to get her to answer. Why was she acting like this? What was wrong? Had something happened when she had been taken—while she'd been with Ketsu? Was that why she wasn't turning round? Though he hadn't known Ryoshi for that long, he knew her well enough to understand that this wasn't like her at all. She was never one to hide from things and shy away. So what was it that had changed? Then abruptly the possibility of something having happened to her flashed through his mind. That Ketsu had hurt her or done something to her, and she felt embarrassed; humiliated, and therefore didn't want to show herself to Kakuzu. That the worry of showing Kakuzu and the Akatsuki and having them know what had gone on was greater than her wish to turn around and talk—to tell him where she was being held and what they could do to get her out of there. But that didn't matter anymore. Nobody would give a damn as to what had happened!

"Ryoshi...whatever went on...whatever Ketsu did or said...it doesn't matter. None of us will care. But if you can just tell me where this place is; any details about things that have gone on...we can find you and get you out of here. We can help you," Kakuzu attempted again, softer this time—only to be met with Ryoshi shuffling closer towards the wall, hiding every angle of her face from his gaze.

It wasn't anything to do with what Ketsu had done. It was what Kakuzu had done...or said, to be specific. His opinion had mattered to her, and she had seen him as a friend. Maybe even more than that. Yet with just a few words everything had changed. He wasn't the person she had thought he was, so why should she make the effort to do a thing? He had practically betrayed her. Treating her like an ally; working with her and getting to know her...when in actual fact it wasn't like that at all. That it wasn't her as a person he was focused on...but more to do with what she had to her name. He had just been ready to turn on her the moment things were over with—so what difference did it make being in this prison cell or being with the Akatsuki? Telling him the situation wouldn't get her rescued if 'being rescued' was just going back to him and the rest of the Akatsuki—it's not like they would help.

With that thought, she chuckled bitterly, shaking her head, and curled further into herself, still not saying a word in reply to what he was saying. But now Kakuzu was beginning to get frustrated. From the way Ryoshi was acting, it no longer seemed as if she was worried talking to him and telling him things would cause bad consequences for her or the Akatsuki, or that she was worried the Akatsuki—that he—would judge her and mock her for something that Ketsu had done. It was beginning to seem as if she just didn't want to talk to him—as if she no longer cared; whether it was about the mission, about taking Ketsu down, about the Akatsuki...or about him. If things weren't bad enough already—understanding why he was feeling the way he was had been difficult to begin with, let alone trying to figure out why Ketsu and taken Ryoshi. But to know that she was turning away from him like this for no apparent reason? He felt his anger bubbling up inside of him because of it, and grow rapidly. It's not as if he had had a chance to let it out much lately. Regardless of whether he wanted to get her out of here or not, he couldn't just dismiss this.

"So you're not going to say a damn thing? I'm trying to get you out of here, and you just brush me aside? Fine! Stay in here, then! I can't help you if you won't help yourself!" He eventually burst out, unable to contain it any longer, and after pausing for a few moments longer, just to see if Ryoshi gave any reaction, Kakuzu growled lowly and shook his head. Glaring at her back and at how she was reacting, he brought his hands up and released the jutsu, bringing himself back to his room in the hideout.

Right away uncertainty washed over him about what he'd done; just leaving her there. Should he really have done that? Ketsu had her imprisoned in some derelict building out there, and he had just walked away. But then, what was he supposed to do? If she wasn't about to talk to him and tell him where she thought the building was or what Ketsu might be doing, then how was he supposed to help her at all? He didn't even know what was wrong in order for him to correct it in the first place! It just seemed like selfishness, in all honesty—that Ryoshi was only doing this because of some ridiculous notion she had in her head. That because it bothered her, she was going to drag everyone else into it. But he couldn't do everything—and better yet, why should he? She was a bounty hunter who had had nothing to do with him before this, and only did now because they had hired her for the mission? He should be concentrating on finishing the mission, and nothing more.

But should didn't stop the feeling of guilt that was beginning to rise up inside him.

And in a way, Ryoshi was experiencing the same thing.

Though Kakuzu had gone and she was once again left alone, her position didn't change. Her arms remained curled around herself, gripping tightly onto her shirt, her body folding in slightly towards itself, as if to roll into a ball. Her gaze never left the wall in front of her, her eyes blank and glassy as her mind ran over all that had just happened. Kakuzu had just turned up here to try and figure the whole situation out. He had been trying to find out her location and how exactly he could get to her in order to get her out of there. But instead of finding her ready and waiting to answer his questions, she had simply turned away from him—refusing to talk to him altogether. Should she really have done that? It was a question that rotated around her mind constantly. Surely if it had been the best thing to do she would feel satisfied right about now.

But how could she know? Kakuzu had already said he would be willing to kill her to get her bounty; he'd already made it clear that he didn't see her as a friend—or anything else. So if that was the case, how did she know that he had come here to find out the location of the prison to get her out of there? How did she know he wasn't just trying to find out where Ketsu was so he could head over there, get the mission finished and get his bounty—and even if he was trying to find out where she was, it could just be a case of coming to collect the bounty anyway. All this time he'd said one thing and meant another...why couldn't it just be the same now? But at the same time, it could just be her overreacting. These feelings were affecting her in ways she'd never really experienced before, and so she might just be looking too far into this.

They were doubts, after all.

And they both wanted more than anything for them to be just that, and nothing more.