paranoia;; kisame

[mei terumi;;]

The tall kage stood in the window of the tower, watching over her village. Lacquered dark blue nails tapped on the sill, silhouetted by the meager amount of sunlight streaming through the clouds. It had been cloudy for the past few days, yet not a drop of rain had fallen. She had to wonder if it was some kind of sign; the clouds, turbulent and dark, had looked about to burst for almost a week. There was something wrong... But what it was Mei couldn't be sure.

She swept an errant lock of light blue hair out of her face, biting her lip; there was a change in the atmosphere around her. It wasn't natural; she was positive of that. It couldn't be anything preternatural that caused this feeling, could it? The rate of her heartbeat increased, the tapping of nails on the sill grew louder, and her light green eyes had darkened with a startling realization.

She knew many shinobi that were decidedly less than human. The thought of any one of them penetrating the heavily guarded walls of her village was unthinkable... and worrisome. After the recent revolt, most of the guards were inside the village; only the seven swordsmen patrolled the borders. And any one of the shinobi that came to mind with the thought supernatural could easily dispatch any one of them.. if they had decided to travel alone.

Hopefully, they had had more sense than that. But they were still unfamiliar with their positions... as was she. Had she made the wrong choice in appointing a new group of swordsmen so quickly? Though they all had masterful kenjutsu skills, some of them were fresh out of the jonin exams. That thought resonated within her as she leaped out of her window, landing neatly on the ground.

The village was wreathed with mist at this time of day, and even for her, it was difficult to see. She ran quickly, long sky-hued locks flowing behind her. Then it struck her again that the length of her hair was becoming a terrible inconvenience. Oh well, she couldn't worry about that now. She was going to perform a border check of her own. She couldn't help worrying about her guards, though she knew they would be all right-- as long as whoever was out there didn't come across them.

Her swordsmen wouldn't be a practical objective, even if they were easier pickings than the higher-ups that kept the village running... herself included. She was probably what they wanted... If there was anyone out there and it wasn't just rampant paranoia telling her something was wrong. And there had to be someone out there, even if they weren't an enemy. Her feeling of unease was too strong for it to be purely a figment of her imagination.

She stopped for a moment at the wrought-iron gates of the village, drawing her broadsword. Nine inches long, dreadfully sharp, and with a curved tip, the weapon was masterfully forged just for her. She hoped she wouldn't have to christen it with blood this day; it was fresh out of the weapons forge, and she had barely had a chance to practice with it, let alone have an actual fight. She was pretty good with a sword, and could hold her own against any member of the seven swordsmen.... Then again, that had been with her old blade, the thin and long katana she had used through her years as deputy head of intelligence.

She tore her mind away from those thoughts, keeping the sword in her hand as she continued on her check of the border. She moved, slowly, not wanting to miss anything. Not that there seemed to be anything to see; not a glimpse of movement or an errant gesture she could use to pinpoint the location of anything. And the mist settling over the land had grown thicker, still natural, though she was beginning to wish it was a jutsu that she could dispel.

And then something changed in her environment, something that made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up and cause her to grip the broadsword tightly with both hands. Had her rampant paranoia actually led her to something, or was her mind playing tricks on her again? She was having a hard time discerning between things at the moment.

"Who's there?" she called out, voice light and strong. No need to show her worry to whoever may be out there. Shinobi preyed on fear... And Mei Terumi wasn't the prey; she was the hunter, and always had been. She didn't plan on changing that any time soon. and if it turned out that nothing malignant was lurking in the shadows, she would gladly accept looking like an idiot, talking to herself, and returning safely to the tower.

But somehow she knew that wasn't going to happen. ...and some part of her, deep inside, didn't want it to. She wanted to fight.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

The boarder of Kirigakure, pfft, what a joke; he had seen forts build by children that were better protected from harm then this measly country. The boarder was guarded by children, mere kids who considered themselves skilled, Chunin who were told that they could somehow withstand an attack. How foolish they were to believe something like that. How they believed it was beyond the shark skinned shinobi who slowly paced through the lands of the water country. This whole country was a mess. Coup after coup and people deserting left and right, this place had more missing shinobi then Akatsuki. Swordsmen defecting because they lost faith in the leadership of the previous Mizukage. What a joke that guy turned out to be. Yet, he came so highly recommended, as Kisame remembered it. Yep, those were the good old days. Nowadays, this place was just a run down country, struggling to keep up with the other great nations.

The dark figure slowly loomed through the forests of the water country, obviously not heading into the direction of the hidden village. Despite his spiteful memories of that place, he wasn’t planning to attack it full on, not yet at least. He was dressed in his usual clothing, the Akatsuki robes with his leather strap running down from his right shoulder to his left side. The massive samehada wrapped in bandages hanging on his back and a straw hat covering his head. With this full gear on his face was completely covered. The collar of his robe covered his jaw and his straw hat cast a shadow that covered his hair and his face. He was completely unrecognizable. Then again, the Hunter Nin that he encountered at the entrance to this country recognized him quite swiftly. He killed the whole squad, didn’t even bother counting how many losers that was. What a waste of time, sending out kids to do a mans job, they were no match even for a Jounin.

Don’t even get the shark started on the new batch of swordsmen. He just killed one less then an hour ago, brats fresh from training, shinny weapon and determined faces. That guy went down quicker then the Mizukage, then again Kisame had nothing to do with that occurrence, too bad he would have so preferred to see that bastard hang. Kisame wasn’t even tired. His slow pace was purely because he was in no rush and he was looking for something to draw his attention. This place was just laughable. He was actually tempted to go see if the village was in the same bad condition as the country itself. Just traveling through the country side he saw at least ten deserters heading towards the surrounding islands, where apparently they think they’ll be safe from the hunters. And even more so the dreadful shark wanted to see the new Mizukage. Only a rumor, but Kisame heard that it’s a woman and she had a Kekkei Genkai. This immediately made Kisame laugh considering the past history of Kirigakure and the dreadful reign of Yagura.

Well the shark like ninja had no time for sight seeing however, he had to make his way to one of the Akatsuki hideouts where he and his partner were going to go over their next destination. They were side tracked by personal business, by they it was of course not the shark man. He had some personal arrangement of some sort and Kisame just went to settle some old scores in the mean time. But, they decided that they would rendezvous in a week in the water countries base where they’d go over their assigned Bijuu to capture. The shark couldn’t wait for a chance to attack his prey. That prey being an incredibly large chakra container, it just made his mouth water thinking about it. Not to mention samehada was getting excited as well. Making his way towards the meeting place, his slow pace came to a complete stop. Samehada sensed something… interesting a large special chakra reserve, the kind of special that appears when the ninja have a bloodline. This one was interesting because instead of having the natural chakra sense of a bloodline user, this target had a mix of bloodlines and both of them fused in her veins like a cocktail of delicious and juicy chakra. A wide grin appeared on his face as he slowly turned to his right and in a slow pace made his way towards the target, a shark swooping in to grab its prey. In less then twenty minutes he appeared at a large lake surrounded by a small mountain that gave it water and a large lush forest that covered the sharks approach.

In the middle of a road in between the mountain and the lake stood a woman. A slender figure with very unnatural hair and an even more unnatural chakra. Though she seemed like she wasn’t the same kind of brat that he killed near the boarder, she actually sensed the shark’s presence while he was concealing himself amongst the rocks of the mountain. This made his grin spread wider across his demonic face. His sharp fang like teeth pressing together and he cackled darkly and quietly. As she called out asking who’s there the fish like shinobi didn’t answer. He simply skit off the mountain side and gently landed on the road behind the beautiful woman. Taking a full straight stance his small shark-like eyes locked onto her as a predator would on his prey. His right hand appeared from his long right sleeve and rose slowly to his face, taking hold of the tip of the straw hat gently as he spoke while removing it “Pleased to make your acquaintance…” as he lowered the straw hat, finally releasing it to let it fall to the ground he finally introduced himself “Hoshigaki, Kisame...” The grin on his face didn’t disappear and there was an obvious tone of self confidence and mockery in his tone “I sure hope you’re not a companion of those brats I took out at the border, because they weren’t even a challenge... while you might at least serve as a tasty meal…” a quiet evil cackled escaped his lips once more as his grin widened.

[mei terumi;;]

Somehow, as she had continued along the border, one of her worst fears had been fully realized. Not only had she been correct in the assumption that someone had been out there-- it was an Akatsuki. And one that, sadly enough, she recognized from his days as a mist shinobi: Hoshigaki Kisame, the bijuu without a tail. Or so he had been called by many, the damn fool Yagura, who had been a jinchuriki himself. So there had to be some truth to it; she could feel his chakra reserves, and they were as large-- if not larger-- than her own.

Still, a smile formed on her smooth, pale face. This was the fight she had been looking for for a good long while. As the Mizukage, she barely ever got to go out on high-ranking or even low-ranking missions. Sitting cooped up in an office was instead what she got to do, and without one good fight in an entire month, she was already pissed off, filled with nervous energy that she needed to release, and she was finally going to get that chance.

Mei knew it had to come to a fight. She knew the shark nin-- albeit only from a distance, as they had never spoken, not even an errant 'hello' or 'nice day, isn't it?'-- not that she had ever really wanted to speak to him. But he wasn't one to back down from a fight once if was offered to him, that she knew, and pointing a sword at him was definitely offering him a good fight. Then she sheathed her sword; against a swordsman of his caliber, it would probably snap like a twig.

She would have to rely mainly on her kekkei genkai and the few jutsu it offered. And unless he had ever fought the four-tailed bijuu, the jutsu and even release type would be completely unknown to him. She was going to count on it being a surprise... Otherwise, she might be as good as dead. She had no clue how good his fighting skills were, other than his swordsmanship. And that was fearful in itself; she hoped he hadn't met any of her swordsmen, as whoever it was would be dead now.

His mocking courtesy irked her. "I doubt anyone meeting you, even for the first time, would need an introduction." she told him. "Terumi Mei, Godaime Mizukage. And I wouldn't exactly say it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." It probably hadn't been the best choice to tell him up front that she led the village; he's probably want to kill her even more now. And she had an inkling that, if he wanted to, he could. All she had to do to know that was look at his jonin exam records; what was written upon those pages, the names of each of the classmates that he had killed, was a horror in and of itself, especially now, considering that the Akatsuki had accepted him among their ranks.

"A pity that they couldn't extend a challenge to you, either. I'd thought they might be able to handle someone, what with all ten of them being together." It had been the wrong choice to send out those ten jonin to guard the border, then. Special forces would probably have been a better choice, but she couldn't dwell on her mistakes now. That would be a fool's mistake. And she had never been a fool, not in the eyes of most anyways.

She had to keep calm, stay nonchalant, or her life was as good as over. Though it was the first time she had personally come across an Akatsuki, she'd been part of many group fights with them throughout the years. Strangely enough, in none of those fights was Kisame present, so she had never seen his style up close and personal. She would have to hope that the information carefully locked away in the Mizukage tower was correct.

She wondered whether she had been the right choice for Mizukage. Her field experience only equaled that of a jonin, thanks to her five years spent in the intelligence department, though her fighting skills greatly exceeded that. And theoretically, she could fight this battle without a hitch; profiling the Akatsuki and their fighting styles had been part of her job back then.

But her father had always told her that when it came down to it, you couldn't plan a fight on paper, because paper couldn't feel the rush of adrenaline, or the raw emotions that she was currently experiencing. Wise words, those had been. Pity she hadn't ever listened to him. There were a lot of people she had never listened to... and most of them were dead. So she didn't consider that a bad thing.

Pride comes before a fall. That had been another thing her father had told her, and she felt a slight urge to repeat it to him now. How could he be so sure she would end up as the prey, and not the other way around? Unless he was ten times stronger than she thought he was-- which she highly doubted-- his words were inflated by his ego. He apparently didn't think she could even wound him, a misconception that would cause him a good amount of pain.

Oh, how she was going to enjoy proving him wrong. Landing at least one good hit on him would be enough for her, just to prove that she was powerful, and deserved to be what she was. But one hit wouldn't be enough to keep her head attached to her body, sadly enough. Her confidence in her ability to hit him more than once or twice was low. But she would have to be able to at least get him hard enough to knock him out.

She would have to steel her resolve, be as merciless as she could. But the Mei that could deliver death threats with an alluring smile on her face was no where to be found. Skill be damned, I've got to beat him. Even if he is a monster, the bijuu without a tail, I'll kick his ass from here to Konoha. she decided. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her, and it made her feel more alive than she had in a very long time.

How foolish of her to think he could land a hit on her, it was saying. She could take him down with so little effort that it would be laughable, and then the Akatsuki would be out of a member, and she would be hailed as even greater than she was.

Don't be a fool.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

The shark ninja watched the woman carefully; appearances can be deceiving event for such a slender woman as her. As he recalls there were certain swordsmen amongst the ranks that look like twigs but proved to be on par with even him on the battlefield. His grin didn’t shrink; he still glared at the little girl as she attempted to resist the shark swallowing its prey. Regardless of how this fight ends, Kisame was just looking for some fun. Besides, knowing Tadayoshi he’s probably walking at the same slow ass pace that Kisame was and won’t be at the base in at least an hour or so. So regardless, Kisame had time to kill. The giant shinobi released another quiet cackle as he observed the woman react to his name. Yep, in the land of water he was known as the Monster of the Hidden Mist a demon among men and his abilities surpassed even those of the fourth Mizukage. Then again, his chakra supply surpassed Yagura’s even though he was a Jinchuuriki. But, Yagura was a cruel and heartless man even if they believed he was controlled.

”I doubt anyone meeting you, even for the first time, would need an introduction.”

He chuckled lightly as soon as he heard that comment. Indeed, his name instilled so much fear into the hearts of the Kirigakure Shinobi. Even in other nations he was wanted for numerous crimes and to this day he is believed to be incredibly dangerous. Even Akatsuki members acknowledge Kisame as being a massive container of charka and power. A demon that cannot tire and cannot be defeated. But, despite all the horrible tales that followed his name and the infamous status of a missing shinobi, this women didn’t seem that frightened. She seemed to know who he was and yet she stood confident and ready, not even a sense of fear in her voice. Kisame raised an eyebrow to this, his grin retracted to a calm expression as he watched her.

”Terumi Mei, Godaime Mizukage. And I wouldn't exactly say it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance”

The grin once again stretched across his face as he released a rather loud, but calm cackle “Finally, someone to amuse me” he proclaimed with an arrogant and mocking tone, with a cheerful and excited voice. Everything was immediately explained by her name and title. Any normal shinobi would have hit the dust if he was standing face to face alone with the monster of the hidden mist. Her last name was also rather interesting, interesting heavily in the fact that her father was an old acquaintance of the shark when he was still a member of that useless village. Last he heard, that guy died, despite that he had gained minor respect from Kisame and somewhat admirable respect from the rest of the village. He was a brave and smart guy, but his abilities didn’t match his wit and his daughter could probably beat him at this point if he was alive. Regardless, he wasn’t about to start telling her old stories of how him and his dad served in the Third Great War together, it was pointless beyond belief and he really didn’t care if she was his kid. He didn’t have that much respect for the guy to spare his daughter at this point.

He saw it; she was getting excited by the thrill of battle. She probably had a thousand strategies in her head by now, but Kisame was just planning to have fun. But, he will kill her if he gets the chance, especially considering the fact that she was the Mizukage. He wanted to see what kind of standard that title held. And wondered, if he was still a part of that village- would he be the Mizukage? GIGIGIGIGI a sound of a sinister quiet buzzing chuckle reached the sharks ear.

“Samehada is getting excited, shall we begin, Mizukage-sama?”

[/b]
[/blockquote][/size]

[mei terumi;;]

“Finally, someone to amuse me.”

"Funny, we seem to feel the same way." Mei told him, snickering slightly. Under any other circumstance, a battle with Kisame was not something to laugh about; but in her mind-- at the moment at least-- nothing could be better. What better way to prove herself than to beat him? It was a pretty far-fetched dream, but she had no doubt that she would be able to do it. Even if she had to resort to some of her dirtiest tricks, it could be done.

She might need to be hospitalized afterward, but that was a smaller nuisance in the face of the blue-skinned man. And then a thought struck her. Kisame's skin was almost the same shade as her recently-dyed hair. It was incredibly funny, and she couldn't resist a short chuckle. He'd probably find her laughter to be a sign of insanity, as their conversation wasn't all that amusing. Hell, she probably was insane; it wouldn't surprise her in the least. Her job was getting Kirigakure out of the hades it had become under Yagura's rule-- no easy task for anyone.

Especially not for someone who had never wanted to be the Mizukage in the first place. That was her father's dream not hers. A fool's job, she had told him once. A fool's job that only someone like him would enjoy. Now she regretted those scathing words; one of the last things she had said to him before he died. In fact, her last words to him had been downright cruel. I hope you regret your choice; you're nothing but washed-up fool with stars in your head. And then he had died, and she had never gotten to tell him she was sorry.

She had only accepted the position because of him and his dreams, because of what he wanted for her. If she had it her way, she'd be head of intelligence now, sitting behind a desk and researching the missing-nin... Not fighting them, even though a good fight was always a treat. She'd never been that ambitious, and she still thought that her position was a fool's job. Guess that makes me the number one fool.

“Samehada is getting excited, shall we begin, Mizukage-sama?”

That sword creeps the hell out of me. Mei thought, eying it with disdain. And what's with the -sama? It's not like he holds any respect for the village, or for me. It had probably been a mistake on her part to reminisce instead of trying to think about strategies. A good, solid strategy was probably the only way she could win; Kisame was a good shinobi, but she didn't think he was the type to plan ahead, nor to just rush in. He was somewhere in the middle, less of an extreme... Like she was. She would normally have ten or fifteen plans by now.

"Samehada's not the only thing that's excited, Kisame-baka." They hadn't even begun to fight, and it was already shaping up to be different than any other battle she'd had. Taunting had never been her style; frankly, she found it to be annoying. But it didn't matter; it probably annoyed him as well, and an annoyed shinobi wasn't the sharpest fighter. Just another plus. She paged through her mental arsenal, wondering what the smartest first move would be.

She settled on one of her only boil release techniques, involving mist. It was told to her that its acidic qualities even allowed it to melt the bones of the Uchiha clan's Susano'o, supposedly one of the most powerful jutsu in the world. It should do something to him then, even if it just distracts him for a second. she thought. Then one of my more powerful moves can come into play. All her water and fire jutsu would be useless against Kisame, so earth and lava releases would have to do the trick.

The "Boil Release: Skilled Mist Jutsu" was one of Mei's favorites. Without a need for hand seals or triggers, she called on her kekkei genkai, boil release, to build up steam within her lungs, with a poisonous quality that could corrode almost anything. Then it was released in a cloud and destroyed everything around it, even allies, other than her. She only used it when she was alone on the battlefield, so it wouldn't harm her companions.

She could feel the mist building up, ready to be expelled. The heat would corrode anyone else's lungs; to her it was just a warm, pleasant sensation. Then she opened her mouth and a cloud of mist flowed out, tinged a dark red. She sent it in Kisame's direction, hopping back; though she was immune to the mist, she didn't have the same immunity to Samehada, and in Kisame's hands that sword alone was probably more deadly than any one of her jonin, however much she hated to admit it.

She felt like a child again, excited in the face of adversity. a battle hadn't been this alluring to her in a long time; she let out another short laugh, pink lips pursed in a smirk.

"Let's have some fun, ne?"

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

Of course his mockery of the mizukage position didn’t go unnoticed by the new leader herself. Her cut outbursts of insane laughs made Kisame grin even more. The second coming of Yagura the maniac, what a troublesome guy that was. Kisame’s smirk just grew wider as the woman took a battle stance and was about to attack. His right hand rose to his head and went behind his right shoulder to grip the yellow hilt of the giant weapon. She was apparently also amused by this possibility of an entertaining fight. Kisame was really more amused to see a Mizukage with a kekkei genkai and a woman no less leading the village of Kirigakure. It almost made him sad he left, he could have had some fun ruining her life by attacking Kirigakure constantly, oh well, what’s done is done. It be funny to see her attempt to talk to him to return to the village, which Kisame would only laugh at. He despised that village and its leaders fitting to see her die.

She claimed to be as excited as his sentient sword. But that was impossible; he could feel how Samehada was boy anxious and excided as well as hungry. It was feeding time for his beloved sword. He released another chuckle as his eyes locked onto the blue haired woman. The shark just found her confidence amusing; few have the courage to actually laugh in the face of death. This woman was probably indeed worthy of the position of kage if she wasn’t even scared. Well, he was about to see if she’s actually worth the position ability wise. As he recalled, there was a jounin in kirigakure far beyond the abilities of normal Jounin, Ao was his name or something. Him that Kisame served in the war alongside her father, actually all things considered he probably died by now. Oh well, not like Kisame cares that much about that one eyed bastard.

While he was awaiting her attack he quickly tried to remember what that geezer’s bloodline ability was. Something about gasses but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. It was at least seventeen years ago, so Kisame had a hard time remembering him. His glare saw that horse sign and her cheeks expanded. He was right, it was something with gasses, and she was about to fire something at him. His right hand took Samehada from his back and holding with one hand he pointed the bandaged weapon at the woman. She fired some kind of cloud of gas and as it moved at incredible speed towards Kisame he quickly remembered what his Kekkei genkai was. He looked down at the ground and the gas was melting it. ”Acid!” he thought to himself as he leaped to his right landing on the lake. He started channeling chakra to his feet and quickly slid across the surface of the water towards the middle of the lake. His eyes still locked onto the woman and his back turned towards the middle of the lake where he was heading. As he came to a stop he slowly straightened his stance and grinned at the woman.

The momentary grin disappeared as he spoke to her in an amused and calm town “Hehe… Boil Release, it’s been a long time since I last saw someone do that…”

[/b] the sinister chuckle quickly disappeared and his knees bent slightly. His left hand gripped the higher portion of the hilt as his right hand went slightly lower. He held the weapon tightly with both hands, but still kept the bandages intact. He stood there, in the middle of the lake waiting for her to come into the lake. Two pillars of water quickly rose from the water to the height of Kisames head and the water quickly formed into clones identical to Kisame, except without Samehada. The three grinned and watched the Mizukage.[/blockquote][/size]

[mei terumi;;]

“Hehe… Boil Release, it’s been a long time since I last saw someone do that…”

So the blue-skinned man had known her father, at least through a shared battle if nothing more. It worried her slightly that he knew of boil release.... But he probably knew nothing about her lava release, inherited from her mother's side. Her mother had died when she was fifteen, leaving her only jutsu scrolls to learn, even though she herself hadn't been a shinobi. There was no way he could know about the mix of fire and earth releases.

She found that, at least, to be comforting. She still had some surprises up her sleeve, all of them nasty. Though there were only three lava release jutsu that she had learned, one of them landing a good hit would be enough to temporarily disable him, if it hit full-on. But she would save those for a last resort; it wasn't wise to pull out all the stops before the battle had even begun. Wise words from the mouth of an idiot.

That was probably the only useful thing Yagura had ever said; the memory of him screaming to to the head of intelligence in a meeting one day make her chuckle again. Okay, so she was insane and he was going to know it. She didn't care about her mental state anyway; everything else was going to hell, so why not that as well? Sanity didn't always prove skill or intelligence.

It amused her how he thought she was stupid enough to follow him out onto the lake. She watched as he created two clones and then waited, presumably for her to make the wrong move. She shook her head slightly; she hadn't made it as far as she had in the chain of power by acting the idiot. Kisame's main element was water, she remembered from his file; and fittingly so. He could summon sharks and create lakes even with no water around. A power to be feared.

But then, she was no slouch either. The only known female kage in the history of the five great nations, two powerful kekkei genkai, and the mindset of a strategist. She garnered respect in even the most aberrant of her subordinates, and could hold her own against the two most powerful swordsmen currently in the elite group. Few of her abilities were known by the public, yet she had all of Kisame's files. She was the unknown in the situation, and being the unknown, he would underestimate her.

Kunoichi were often seen as the weaker of the two genders. Physically, maybe that was true. And most women cared more about men, and raising families, then training and striving to be good shinobi. She was close to the opposite of that; she'd never wanted a family, never cared much for men, and had trained vigilantly ever since the age of ten. That put fifteen years of field experience under her belt, five of studying behind a desk-- though she always kept her skills sharp.

If Kisame shared the common misconception that women weren't good shinobi, that gave her even more of an advantage. Add that to the fact that she knew everything about him... Well, maybe not everything, but everything in his fifty-page file, which was quite substantial. Her own file wasn't half that thick-- but then again, she hadn't killed nearly as many people. But anyways, the battle was in her favor-- or it would be until they got serious.

At least, knowing what she knew, she figured that would be the case. Kisame's knowledge about her couldn't be as great as what she knew about him; it was theoretically impossible. Unless one of the members had snuck into Kiri when Yagura was leader and somehow gotten a hold of her files. Again, though, that wasn't very likely; few people outside of the country knew about the change of rule, and until then, she hadn't been a viable target for anything other than crude, lecherous remarks.

Not that those weren't as irksome as the idea of someone outside of Kiri having her file, but that was something to investigate another time. Now was the time for a fight. She had to check through her list of long-range jutsu to see what she had. She wasn't going to get anywhere near him, not as long as he stood on the shimmering surface of the lake. That would be suicide, and Mei had never considered herself to be a very suicidal person.

One of her favorite water jutsu came to mind-- or a variant of it anyways. "Ninja Art: Grudge Rain" was a group attack that took a lot of chakra to use. Enough that no fewer than five people had to be fueling the jutsu at one time. She had developed a variant of it some years back that allowed a single user to perform it. It worked exactly the same way as the original, just over a smaller area with a slightly lessened effect.

The jutsu created an oily black rain that pounded down on the land. Mei's version did the same, except she had to direct it towards one small area; it covered a piece of land just a little smaller than the lake. The rain would then soak whoever the enemy was, slowly draining out their chakra. Hers still did that, though it was over a longer period of time and therefore less noticeable.

She didn't know how much effect it would have on Kisame, but at the least it would get him off the lake-- the duration of the rain was for about fifteen minutes, long enough to give her the chance to use a lava release technique. Even if the rain didn't do any harm to him, her next jutsu would. She was positive of that.

Her hands formed the single dog seal the jutsu required, whispering the name. She directed the slowly forming clouds to the lake, so that when they formed completely the rain would hit him directly. She was still smirking; she was now positive she could win.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

Kisame didn’t let his guard down, thought it seemed like the girl was more or less surprised by the fact that the shark recognized that technique. Despite having a large knowledge of most Kirigakure shinobi, Kisame didn’t actually know that much about his current opponent. In fact, he knew only what she had told him; her title, name and her bloodline ability. All things considered, Kisame probably knew everything by now. He kept his eyes on the girl, making sure she doesn’t try anything and awaiting her to come into the lake. No matter how much she tried, she would eventually need to step into the lake to face him and the second she does, this fight is over. Kisame was getting serious now, his grin disappeared and his face turned into a very serious expression. She still seemed somewhat unaware who she is fighting, Kisame is by far the strongest shinobi to ever come out of Kirigakure, even Yagura feared him a bit too much though.

It seemed like she was aware of his plan. She wasn’t going to enter the lake. He thought right; she knew about him a bit too much. She quickly guessed that his field was water and that if he was out of the water he won’t have the same opportunities he had now. Well, regardless this was just a minor set back. He was going to force her enter the water sooner or later, no matter what she thought. She made another hand seal and muttered something to herself. Kisame didn’t even hear what she said but he guessed that it wasn’t another boil release technique. Instead, in less then a minute the clouds around the village gathered above the incredibly large lake and in seconds it began raining. Kisame kept his eyes on the mizukage, knowing that this was some kind of scheme of hers. The rain quickly began pouring down onto the lake and Kisame. And evidently, a lot of rain drops fell onto the bandages that were around the powerful Samehada.

Samehada immediately reacted, it let out a quiet, but still hearable growl and Kisame instantly understood what this was. He chuckled at her attempts to take his chakra from him ”heh heh, That technique won’t work on me..”

[/color] Samehada was just absorbing the rain that well on top of it and Kisame absorbed his share. Instead of draining their charka, the sword and the shark were draining hers. They absorbed the chakra that was in the and at this point she was pointlessly wasting her chakra reserves. Kisame of course recognized this technique, he has seen it multiple times before, and of course it was impressive that she did it alone, but it was useless against him and Samehada. One of his water clones charged towards her, heading into her head on from her right side. It got close in considerable speed and sent a powerful kick aiming for her stomach; if the attack would it she would be sent tumbling to the ground. Despite being only one tenth of Kisames strength, the water clone was still incredibly powerful in human standards; Kisame had superhuman strength and abilities originally.

This was actually more or less a distraction. While the Mizukage was going hand to hand with the water clone Kisame was going to cast a technique. He started making the hand seals the second the water clone rushed to her. He placed his Samehada onto his back and made a incredibly fast string of hand seals. By the time the clone had reached the Mizukage and sent his kick, the seals were finished and the technique was ready to be cast. ” Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu[/color] a vortex quickly rose up from the water and fired itself towards the mizukage and his clone. As the technique was finished and fired itself at the Mizukage, Kisame hid himself behind the water and took his Samehada with his right hand again. Rushing right behind the water, if the Mizukage managed to dodge, he’ll jump out and take her by surprise because she can’t see him now. Once this is done, he’ll make sure to hit her in such a way that she’ll have no choice but to enter the lake where his water clone stood.[/size][/blockquote]

[mei terumi;;]

"Heh heh, that technique won’t work on me.”

She had figured almost as much. It seemed that the jutsu was having the opposite effect that she had intended. She made the release seal, cutting off her chakra from the clouds, and they dispersed immediately. Letting the jutsu run its course would've given him more power than he needed to have; or that's the way it seemed. If it had been draining his chakra, he wouldn't have been stupid enough to continue to stand there.

So it hadn't even been useful as a distraction-- a complete failure on her part. That only irked her, making her want to win even more badly. She wasn't the type to let being foiled get to her; a trait acquired during her years behind a desk. Hey, at least that was useful for something... two things if I count the information about Kisame. she mused, keeping her eye on him and the clones.

When one of them rushed towards her, she pulled her sword out of its sheath, blade gleaming wickedly. Water clones had only one tenth of the original's strength, and she was pretty sure that counted for the sword too. Of course, ten percent of Kisame was still a considerable amount of power, and she was barely able to leap out of the way of the kick, holding her sword defensively. But as soon as she saw his water jutsu she let the sword clatter to the ground.

It was a jutsu she herself had used on many occasions. A large vortex of water sent rushing at the opponent, a quick way to defeat. And it consumed a large amount of her chakra; for him to pull it off so effortlessly was a testament to his huge reserves. He could probably send two or three more her way, while the most she could complete was two-- and that was with rest in between. She had to get serious-- and fast, too. Otherwise she would die, without a doubt.

As she bleakly watched the vortex swirl, a possible defense came to mind. A water jutsu that she could use, followed by an earth. It was a risky move, but she had to try it; Kisame's jutsu would be difficult to recover from. As she had never actually been hit iwth it, this was only an educated guess... Sadly, her guesses tended to be right.

She dropped to one knee, hurriedly completing a string of hand seals and pressing her hands to the soil. It was a good thing the turbulent clouds were present; otherwise the technique would take much more effort than she was willing to give it. She had never tried composing the barricade this quickly, but she had to do something; the vortex jutsu was never a good thing to get hit with.

"Water Release: Stormy Blockade." It could be used as an offensive of defensive technique-- if you knew how to manipulate it. Normally, the water she was pulling from the sky would crash down over her enemy's head, knocking them unconscious. But with a little manipulation of the water in the center, she could use it to block her from the attack and carry out her second technique.

She mentally cheered as her barrier arose; the vortex jutsu crashed into it as she was finishing the hand seals for the second jutsu. Her defense had stopped the vortex, but only momentarily; the barrier had broken a few seconds after. Kisame's technique had included more chakra than Mei's, therefore making hers the technically weaker.

"Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique" wasn't a jutsu she enjoyed using. The earth swallowed her, allowing only a small air hole, into which water began trickling down into. She was fully ensconced in the earth, able to move around in it like it was water and she, a fish. She moved a bit closer to where she guessed the lake was above ground; she was probably correct, as the soil was growing moister by the second.

Mei stopped when she figured she had gone far enough. Hopefully, Kisame would think she was afraid and had run away; but no, he was too smart for that. Even Yagura wouldn't fall for it.... Then again, Yagura had never believed much of anything. But anyways, Mei was hoping that in the process of trying to find her, the shark-like shinobi would do something rash, something that would give her an opening.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

That technique was nothing for Kisames charka reserves. It was the same as performing C ranked Jutsu for someone with average chakra reserves. Especially considering he got a small portion of the Mizukage’s charka seconds before. This technique had great destructive force, even if it didn’t hit the girl, it would level the forest that surrounded the lake. As he rode behind his attack waiting for a chance to strike he found himself landing on the shore with no one on it. the attack continued to tear through the forest and eventually stopped, but the shark found himself standing on the shore where he had just seen the Mizukage and his clone. Regardless of what might have happened, he could at least see her if she got hit, or felt how she slammed into the water, but there was nothing. It was like he just shot into thin air. Then again, she might have gotten hit and carried away far from the shore and the second she landed, escape into the forest.

Then again, Kisame wasn’t that dumb. A grin spread across his face as he gripped the hilt of Samehada tightly. He knew exactly where she was. Samehada sensed her tasty chakra and wanted more of it, having had a small taste merely a moment ago. He kept his distance from her, knowing that if he stepped too close she’ll grab him when she feels that he’s above her. Then again, she didn’t actually see him right now; she could only sense him once he steps above her. He quickly moved his right hand back and then forward in a stabbing motion, jamming it into the ground where he sensed the Mizukage. The sword pierced the wet ground and due to the small area of ground that she was in, The Mizukage had little change of dodging. But the Samehada was in bandages so besides a powerful blow, it wouldn’t really do anything yet. Kisame missed by an inch of her body on purpose. She would be too surprised to see he immediately knew where she was and have too little time to react to what he was about to do next for his show.

Not even in a full second, spiky scales would quickly stretch out from the bandages in such a way that it would cut her left arm and her abdomen slightly. If this would be successful it would swallow up a lot of her chakra in an instant, but that wasn’t Kisame’s only plan. IF the attack had landed, he would proceed to quickly pull the Samehada back, cutting her arm and abdomen slightly more severe and swallowing up even more of her chakra as well as breaking the ground on top of her so Kisame could see her exact location now. This whole event did prove quite fun and Kisame found it entertaining as ever. The grin stretched across his face again as he commented ”You can run, but you can’t hide Mizukage-sama”

[/color] he commented in a mocking and amused now as he held his samehada tightly with one hand.[/size][/blockquote]

[mei terumi;;]

”You can run, but you can’t hide, Mizukage-sama.”

Well, that wasn't good. When Kisame plunged the sword into the ground, she started, moving back a fraction of a millimeter. She hated to admit it, but the sword itself scared her almost as much as Kisame did. Especially the way it seemed sentient; and the fact that with it he could sense her chakra only added to her disdain for the weapon.

And then, spiky scales shot out of it and sliced into her arm. She hissed under her breath, backing out of the way; she could almost tell that he had some sort of evil plot in mind. She could feel the drop in her chakra reserves already, figuring she only had enough left for a couple of her higher-ranking jutsu and one or two lower ranked.

Have I underestimated him? she wondered, peering at the blood dripping slowly out of her arm. No matter, I'll just have to step up my game; I can do this. I know I can... But I wish he didn't have to make it so damn hard on me. His earlier actions had made her think he wasn't a strategist, but now she had to rethink that; he definitely knew what he was doing, and had had a counter for everything she threw at him so far.

Well, she'd like to see him counter this next move. She was bringing out her lava release, and damn it all if she didn't get him. The jutsu she planned to use was practically unavoidable-- in her experience anyways. Seeing lava pour out of her mouth always seemed to paralyze people in fear; not that she really blamed them for their fear, though it had cost them all their lives.

She considered the jutsu she was going to use, along with her next move, her signature, even though she didn't use them often. The sheer fact that every time she had used them, her opponent had ended up dead was, to her, a sign that the combo would work against Kisame as well. She hoped to whatever higher power that existed that that was in fact the case... or she was dead. There was no avoiding the fact that she was going to pull out all the stops, and that if that failed, Kisame would kill her.

With that grim thought in mind Mei reappeared behind him, glaring. "No one said I was running; you aren't that frightening." Mei mocked him. Blood still dripped out of her arm, and she held it close to her body, not caring that the blood was permeating her clothing. She wasn't going to show Kisame that he had weakened her. She was going to do her best to ignore the injury, and was thankful that many of her jutsu required only a couple hand seals.

Ah, the "Lava Release: Melting Apparition Jutsu," a favorite. It allowed for a thick stream of lava to flow from her mouth and arc over and onto her opponent, instead of shooting straight at them. It effectively prevented aerial escape, and its reach was fairly long. Long enough, anyways, for her purposes, and thankfully taking little of her chakra. She formed the dog seal, eyes narrowed in concentration.

A wide stream of boiling red lava flowed out of her mouth and arced up, aiming for Kisame. Even if he survived the intense flames, or somehow managed to escape them-- which should be impossible-- the lava would create a large amount of steam, incredibly thick and almost impossible to see through. Then her second jutsu would be able to come into play.

Normally, the "Lava Release: Lava Geyser" could be easily extinguished with a high-powered water jutsu. But if Kisame couldn't see the attack coming, then he couldn't counter it. And the pod of lava that formed would move quicker than the steam, landing before it dissipated. Or she could direct it to shoot out of the ground where Kisame was standing, and have the pod burst, raining bits of molten lava around the area.

The second choice seemed the better one. She formed the string of seals, adding several extra to ensure that the jutsu would play out the way she wanted it to. She felt a large drop in her chakra; the added changes to the second jutsu drained her more than the standard use would have. Absently, she reminded herself that it would be a good idea to see if she could obtain any soldier pills... if she lived through the battle.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

As his Samehada connected his smirk grew. The giant sword quickly started sucking out her chakra like a vacuum. In an instant her chakra levels dropped considerably. He was right, this was both amusing and fulfilling, it felt great to finally feed Samehada some tasty chakra and more or less it felt amazing to see the Mizukage squirm for her life. ”If this is all you got, then Kirigakure was better off in the hands of Yagura

[/color] he taunted her in an amused tone grinning down at her as his Samehada took her chakra. She seemed genially frightened; her body movements gave it away. Such a cowardly technique like this could only be properly used in a stealthy situation and she tried to confuse Kisame. The shark wasn’t stupid, if she was the Mizukage she probably would want to fight head on and not start running away when the fights doesn’t start going the way she liked. Well, this was the end for her, death.

She then used the same technique once again to move into the ground and move out of Samehadas grasp. As the retracted Samehada swallowed another portion of her chakra. Continuing to use techniques like that without any regard to her chakra is just going to kill her, considering Kisame just took more then half of her reserves. Her escape didn’t really matter, because Kisame could sense her location and considering he had just absorbed a lot of her chakra, she couldn’t escape. He knew exactly where she was and sensed her approach from behind. And while she was doing that, Kisames clone that was still in the lake rushed in full speed towards him. The Mizukage just exited from the ground and instead of attacking instantly, she decided to give a little speech. You have to have no brain at all to try and give a speech while standing so close to death itself; Kisame Hoshigaki. Well, that was her choice, what a blonde.

”No one said I was running; you aren't that frig-”

Before she could finish her sentence, Kisames clone sent a kick from behind aiming it directly into her back. A kick with such force will send her flying and when it does, Kisame will hit her with Samehada like a baseball bat and send her flying directly through the clone into the lake. But that will happen if it hits. And considering she was so close to Kisame and had no idea his clone was coming from behind, she had no way to dodge and after the kick lands, both from the shock and the force of attack she won’t be able to react in time to Samehada hitting her like a ball into the lake. Also upon hitting her, Samehada will eat some of her chakra instantly as they connect.[/size][/blockquote]

[mei terumi;;]

And that was it.

There was no way she could recover to win the fight against the shark-nin. She'd made a fatal mistake-- probably several, in fact-- and it was going to cost her. There wasn't a soul around to intervene; and she had to face it, even if there had been anyone around; Kisame would've frightened them off anyways, without even having to do anything. She was truly alone.

Pride comes before a fall. The words had stuck with her throughout the years, always lurking in the back of her mind. She'd never thought they would apply to her; in fact, she had been about to apply them to Kisame earlier. But had her pride really been that out of line? She had thought it was confidence that drove her to continue fighting, but had it truly been pride in her own abilities?

She didn't want to dwell on that, though. Hell, she couldn't even if she wanted to. The searing pain in her arm had been bearable, but the clone's kick was just a bit too much. If the real Kisame hadn't been standing in front of her, she would've sworn that it was he who had delivered the crushing blow. There was no way a water clone could be that strong-- unless Kisame was superhuman.

And she had no doubt that he was. Reading his files and hearing tales of his strength from survivors of battles-- the very, very few there were, anyways-- couldn't compare to what she was now experiencing. If she was any lesser kunoichi, and the kick had been centered any better, she would've had a broken spine. And she knew that if he had wanted to do that, he would have.

He had kept her alive. But why? Was he truly that sadistic, that he wanted to see her writhe in pain before he killed her? She had given up all hope that she would live through the battle, but she refused to let him see her acceptance. She would fight him until her last breath left her body, no matter what the consequences. Someone should have killed this bastard a long time ago.

Even the best-laid plans can come to ruin.

And wasn't that true. She had come into the battle with an endless amount of strategies, but one after one they had all failed. Boil release, grudge rain, lava release-- which she hadn't even gotten the chance to finish. Were her strategies riddled with so many imperfections that Kisame could strike through them with relative ease?

She had never doubted her own skills like that before. Maybe it had had to come down to death for her to see the reality of herself. But if all of her plans had been as flawed as the ones in this battle, how had she ever ascended through the ranks? Was her failure just a sign that Kiri could never prosper-- at least under the current series of kages?

She hoped fervently that that wasn't true. However much disdain she had held for Yagura, her father, and all the others who aspired to ascend the the position of Kage, she would never have wanted to ruin her country's chances to succeed. She had vowed over Yagura's cold, lifeless body to protect her country with all of her strength, and to never give up no matter how dire the circumstances.

Yet here she was, breaking both of her promises. She hadn't taken Kisame seriously from the start, like she should have. Maybe if she had their positions would be reversed, and Kisame would be the one about to die. That thought elicited a dry chuckle from Mei; she couldn't have managed what he had, especially in such a short time, and certainly not with as much finesse as he had shown.

And no matter what, she had promised to fight until the end. Yet with her acceptance of the fact that Kisame was going to kill her, that promise had been shattered. Any last-ditch efforts she put out would be halfhearted and not worth her time or the remains of her chakra. She was better off without even trying, and letting her acceptance take over. Mei Terumi, vow breaker. She'd never imagine herself as such.

What does that hold for us? There's no hopes or dreams! It's just a halfhearted, fucked up escape coming from the mind of a man willing to give up without a fight.

Her eyes widened slightly when she remembered those words, spoken to Yagura not a fortnight before his death. Those words had driven him to fight, to care more than he ever had before. Somehow, those words had changed him for the better-- not that he had gotten a chance to be much better before he was decapitated. The words of a man willing to turn traitor to save his own skin.

She had stood there and called him a traitor for being willing to give into demands that would virtually ruin Kiri. And from that he had gotten another idea, one that she was starting to implement... but wouldn't get the chance to complete. Or would she? She had called him a traitor for almost giving up. Didn't that make her a traitor of an even worse sort?

Willing to let Kisame kill her, for she saw no other way out. Willing to let the village fall into hell again after her death. Wanting to let it all go, to just end her life with no regrets and no chance of any other ending. Did that make her a traitor? Or was she something even worse? The old Mei never would have let herself even come close to thinking the thoughts she was having at that moment.

You sycophantic, syphilitic swine. She had managed to insult him in about ten different ways during that little speech, and she had expected the maniac to hang her or something of the sort. But no, she was honored for it... Too bad a speech wouldn't save her here.

To give up, after all that, wouldn't that be a waste of everything I hold dear? Like spitting on my father's grave, in a way.

The realization came to her after Samehada connected with her. As she flew towards the lake, she clenched her fists; she had to try something, but she couldn't do anything without it being suicide. The little bit of chakra she had left wasn't enough to do anything that would harm Kisame.... In fact, it would probably just make him laugh.

She didn't think she had ever hit a body of water so hard in her life. The impact sent shocks through her system, and she emitted a low hiss. She was completely soaked, barely able to make her way to the surface. She sent an errant glare Kisame's way, brushing several strands of wet hair out of her face with a shaking hand.

She still refused to give in completely, searching vainly for a way to at least get out alive. But nothing was coming to her frazzled mind. Her nerves were shot almost completely, and it took a good bit of effort told hold herself in a defiant posture still. Mei let out another low laugh that quickly escalated into full-blown laughter. Let her laugh in the face of death; maybe it was insanity, or maybe it was some realization that dying with fear was like giving up.

I'm not like them, any of them. I won't give up... no matter what.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

As Samehada connected with the Mizukage full force and sent her flying towards the lake, Kisames grin stretched even wider. It seemed that the geysers luck just ran out, then again he knew that the fight would be ending this way. So it just seemed fighting wasn’t her strong suit, well maybe she was a better leader then fighter, then again if not the village is doomed. As she flew through the air, the shark took a few steps forward to stand at the shores edge. As the village leader slammed into the water Kisame released a chuckle. She was just another loser after all and after all that big talk she gave about her being amused she turned out to be as weak as a Jounin. Regardless, she entertained him for long enough. The amused shark began wondering about killing her instead of toying with her like this. Then again, he was both feeding Samehada and having fun, this was rare considering most opponents he fights die instantly after they face.

As she came out of the water and glared at the shark he grinned. He could see that she was angered, scared and annoyed that she underestimated the most powerful shinobi from kirigakure. He didn’t give her that much credit, after all she had a lot of chakra elements, and he knew that from consuming her chakra. Her abilities were interesting to say the least, the living legacy of her father. Dumb old man, he should have killed his daughter to spare himself and her, the shame of existing. The shark placed one foot onto the water; it was standing on it like the water was solid because he let the chakra flow through his foot. As he fully stepped on top of the water he placed the blade of Samehada against his shoulder and held it easily with his right hand. He took several steps towards her direction and the Mizukage bursted out laughing. He grinned, though slightly confused he now saw that the woman was certain that she would die with a smile.

”Laughing in the face of death”

[/color] Kisame commented in an amused tone as he walked towards her. ”Don’t worry, I’m not going to let you die just yet, the fun is just getting started”[/color] he cackled lightly before sliding his right palm from the hilt of his massive sword and holding it with his forearm. His left palm connected with his right one, as he kneeled slightly and slammed his left palm into the surface of the water. He did all of this as quick as possible, not planning to let the Mizukage escape. ”Suiton: Goshokuzame solid sharks made out of water and chakra quickly formed in the lake water and charged the Mizukage who was floating about. The five beasts were going to be hard to defeat, they’re like real sharks, not just water, they’ll tear her into pieces if she doesn’t do something. After the Jutsu completed, Kisame stood up straight again and kept his gaze on the woman lying in the water. Krigakure was about to lose another Kage, pity they all suck.[/blockquote][/size]

[mei terumi;;]

”Laughing in the face of death;”

"Now, come on, your face isn't that ugly." Mei muttered sarcastically, attempting to stand. Defiance was her practice, something that she had always been good at. When she finally managed to get up, still shaking on her feet, she had to smirk at him. It seemed that once again, only being in the face of death could bring out a trait in her, and this time it was sarcasm.

Hell, that would probably only irritate him, and then she'd die even more quickly. Not that she wanted to die quickly-- well, it was probably better than what he had in mind-- but she really didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her squirm. Nothing that would inflate his ego or make her look weaker. He'd done a decent job of that already.

”Don’t worry, I’m not going to let you die just yet, the fun is just getting started.”

So her estimation of his sadism hadn't been too far off the mark. She was really beginning to hate being right, as it seemed that every right thought she had was turning out to be a disaster for her. And his cackling was making her kind of twitchy. "You don't cackle right." she muttered under her breath, knowing that he could probably still hear her. Not that she cared. Nothing she did was going to affect the outcome of the battle anyways.

It was probably too late to resort to any of the things buried in her little dossier of dirty tricks. After the way she had acted throughout the battle, he probably wouldn't believe the little performances anyways. Flirting was a strong suit of hers, a tactic often used when she was on the losing end of a battle-- which hadn't happened in a long time. As she was literally all washed up, he'd most likely just laugh in her face. The other alternative response to her tricks was even less favorable, and something she didn't want to think about-- but she wouldn't put it past him to stoop that low.

And then there were the water sharks heading towards her. She didn't know how to react to those. She didn't have enough chakra left to do much more than walk on water or use the body flicker for less than a minute before totally losing it and coming dangerously close to dying from loss of chakra. And she wasn't sure that she could make it a single step before her legs gave out on her.

But she had to try, no matter what the consequences. Otherwise she would become the very thing she had despised for her entire life, and would die without her honor-- in her mind, at least. She summoned up the last usable dregs of her chakra to try the body flicker. And once again her estimations were right. She made it only far enough to escape the sharks for maybe ten more seconds... probably less, if they could move any faster.

Thankfully, the water where she had landed was relatively shallow, compared to her previous position. She had landed on her knees, and her head and upper torso were out of the water as she sat there, panting, a thin line of blood trailing down out of the corner of her mouth. The sharks were still coming at her, and she lacked the ability to move any farther. If those sharks were anything like real flesh and blood ones-- which she had no doubt they were-- they would tear her apart.

And then the stark realization that she didn't want to die hit her at last. No matter how much she tried to convince herself and Kisame that she could laugh and have no fear in the face of death, the truth was that if there was any way out of the situation--even if it was a cowardly solution-- she would take it without a moment's hesitation. She let out another low hiss; the sharks were, once again, getting a little too close for comfort.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

Kisame simply stood back and enjoyed the view. Holding his Samehada against his right shoulder his tiny shark like eyes widened as he cackled again at the Mizukages various comments. His appearance didn’t bother him that much; the fact that she was scared was enough to fill him with glee. His sharks were about to enjoy a tasty meal ripping her to shreds and the Samehada had a tasty charka treat. Then again, Kisame had an interesting show; this whole event was quite amusing to him. He began comparing her and Yagura and both of them were at the same level of stupidity and overconfidence. Both overconfident idiots with nothing to back it up with, Yagura believed himself to be special because of the Bijuu inside of him and she believed herself to be special because she’s a female Kage. In the end, they were both just as washed up and useless as the rest of that insignificant village, all of them will die in a watery grave.

As she tried to body flicker her way out of the lake, Kisame knew she was done for. With her current chakra reserves she could barely move, if she even tries to use another technique she will most likely die. Pity, he thought his toys would last longer, but it seemed like all of them break too fast. ”My, my, I expected a more interesting fight, eh? Mizukage-sama. Hehe…”

[/color] he chuckled at her attempts to crawl, despite the water being shallow in her location she didn’t have the strength to continue. Well, the shark ninja hoped that at least a kage could entertain him for longer, but it seemed he was wrong, this was now just becoming a bore. The recently fed Samehada itself was getting kind of irked by the fact that she had so little to offer. ”Thanks for the chakra, though you could use it better I guess.”[/color]

The five sharks turned into water and fused together to make two large liquid sharks. These sharks fuse with the water of the lake and the swallow water that the Mizukage was crawling in became their lower jaws. A shark head appeared behind her, attempting to grab her leg and drag her back into the lake. The other shark swam to her side and a head appeared to her right. The shark swam directly towards her so if she didn’t attempt to dodge, which her best option to do so seemed to allow the other shark to drag her off, her abdomen would get pierced by the shark and she’d be as good as dead because she’d just be right for the killing.”Persistent, though I guess to become a leader of a bunch of morons you have to be persistent.”[/color] he commented in an amused and mocking tone, releasing a mocking chuckle afterwards.
[/size][/blockquote]

[mei terumi;;]

”My, my, I expected a more interesting fight, eh? Mizukage-sama. Hehe…”

"Eh, fuck off." Mei told him, tired of his taunting. "You fucking sycophantic, syphilitic swine." She had to chuckle darkly at that, the last time she had said it being to the fool Yagura, though he didn't know that. It seemed that all she was able to do now was fight him with words; not exactly what you'd expect from a leader, but all she could manage to do. She didn't even think she could move without the body flicker.... which she hadn't the chakra to use again.

Well, technically she did, but that would mean certain death-- not that he would spare her anyways. But prolonging her life would only get her eaten by the sharks from hell that were currently behind her.

”Thanks for the chakra, though you could use it better I guess.”

You're damn right I could. Mei hissed mentally. If only you could give it back, you son of a bitch. And then, when the sharks condensed into two, she knew that her situation had gotten even worse. Fewer hell-spawn sharks only meant bigger hell-spawn sharks. And bigger hell-spawn sharks meant bigger teeth, meaning she was in deep shit.

As the first shark gripped her leg she let out a low snarl. The second one, well now, that was the issue. She couldn't do anything about the one that had grabbed her leg, but the other one... She'd have to at least try to dodge it. How, though, to go about it.... Now that was the question whose answer she searched for. As she watched it approach her, she couldn't think of anything.

Just before the damned thing reached her, she shifted to the side. The leg held by the shark was throbbing like a bitch, but the other shark only sliced a wound on her side that, though painful, didn't leave her completely defenseless. Sadly, her overwhelming exhaustion and continued loss of blood did.

”Persistent, though I guess to become a leader of a bunch of morons you have to be persistent.”

"You can't be serious." Mei muttered. "Only a fool would willingly give up their freedom to sit behind a desk and rule that village." It was the way she had always secretly felt, the one thing she never thought she would reveal... Especially not to a missing-nin when she was on the brink of death and being stalked by the sharks from hell. "And I've never considered myself to be that kind of fool."

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

”Eh, fuck off” as soon as Kisame heard that a grin stretched across his face and he released another amused cackle. He had hoped the bitch would rear her ugly head out at least once before dying and stopped pretending to be a calm woman all the time. Either way, Kisame was pleased with himself. He forced a woman who tried to make herself seem untouchable try to insult him in her last breath. What a sad, sad whore. To have fallen so low and learned nothing, that was her greatest downfall, she still was overconfident even while taking in her last breath before she dies. Well at least she got what was coming to her. Let’s hope the new Mizukage is slightly more humble with her title and doesn’t rely on her abilities purely based on the fact that she got to lead the fucking peanut gallery that was Kirigakure. Without the ruthless Yagura to lead it, that village was just another insignificant spec in this sad world of the ninja system.

”You fucking sycophantic, syphilitic swine.” he chuckled at her comment. Obviously amused by her attempts to insult him ”My, my, what happened to manners, hmm?”

[/color] he grinned and released another chuckle as he gripped the hilt of his Samehada tighter, walking slowly towards her and his two sharks who were about to tear her to shreds. He was in no rush, the sharks were his after all and for now he restrained him for actually killing her. The joys of beating village leaders were something that every shinobi had to experience at least once in his life time. Kisame immediately began to imagine how the new Mizukage would look like and what changed he would bring to the country and the village. Another Yagura would be entertaining to at least see. The shark’s grin stretched further as he glared with a maniacal look at the dying Mizukage, this was her end and her end was a sad one.

”That’s another dead Mizukage”[/color] Kisame commented with the same amused and mocking tone ”Too bad I didn’t see the last one die, then again, I heard he died like a bitch, see the resemblance?”[/color] he mocked her one last time before his left hand came up to his chest and made a tiger seal with its fingers. The sharks turned into water and released the Mizukage. Her blood quickly filled the water on which Kisame was standing on. Taking a couple more steps he was no standing over the Mizukage and merely two steps away from her. His right arm lifted up the Samehada from his shoulder as he raised it over his and her head. He was going to decapitate her with the Samehada and leave her body to rot in the lake. By the time they find her body, Kisame will be long gone. Right before he swung his blade down to decapitate her he gave her a last mocking goodbye to see her face before death

”Sayonara, Mizukage-sama”

[/color][/center][/blockquote][/size]

[Yuuki Tadayoshi]

Typical.

It was so typical of Kisame. Just as Pein made a summons for the members of the Akatsuki to gather, Kisame decided that he would disappear. Looking for a fight, no doubt. Tadayoshi had become quite accustomed to this, in fact, so much so that he expected him to go missing. As he wandered around the outskirts of Kirigakure no Sato - where they were last together - Yoshi tried to recollect his last conversation with Kisame, trying to get an inkling of an idea as to his location. It didn't take long for him to realise where he was, as Kisame had been going on about the 'pathetic' village and it's weak leader. He also recalled that Kisame had in fact had a certain disdain for the former Mizukage. Putting 2 and 2 together, he headed off in the direction of the village, looking for his blue-skinned partner.

Eventually, he came to a clearing in the forest, and that was where the trail of bodies began. Obviously, Kisame wasn't employing stealth as a part of this attack. It was easy to follow Kisame from here - all he needed to do was follow the pile of bodies. So he did exactly that, walking past dead body after dead body. Kisame sure didn't play around when it came to fighting.

As he walked, Yoshi imagined a fight with Kisame, the man who had gained the nickname, 'The Tailed Beast Without a Tail'. He knew all about Kisame's prowess in ninjutsu and taijutsu, along with that monstrous sword of his, Samehada. Shaking his head, he pitied the people who had had to face him in the past; Kisame was truly a monster if he'd ever met one. However, despite the fact that Kisame was such a battle-loving man, Yoshi found that he was also one of the most trustworthy, reliable people, and an incredibly loyal partner, one whom he'd developed an immense level of trust for. In fact, Yoshi couldn't imagine having anyone else as a partner in Kisame's stead.

After walking for a short while, Yoshi eventually came out of the forest, and could see the village hidden in the mist from afar off. He tilted his head to his side as he observed it from afar off, wondering why it was called the village hidden in the mist, rather than 'villages' hidden in the mist, due to the many islands that comprised the village. Shrugging, he continued his expedition into the village, and found the guards dead. A small smile crept on to his face, as he felt envious of Kisame.

He NEVER got to go on a killing spree like this.

It wasn't before long that he saw Kisame from afar off, and he realised that he was currently fighting someone. Well, more like massacring them. Quickly, he approached Kisame. Having wasted all the time he had to get to where he was, Yoshi was sure that he was late for the meeting by now. As he got closer, his expression changed from one of indifference to one of shock. The person who he was fighting was the Godaime Mizukage, Mei Terumi. A mixture of thoughts ran through his head, as he wondered why Kisame would pick a fight with such an attractive woman for no apparent reason. Shaking his head, he called out to Kisame, just as he was about to kill the woman. That wouldn't have been pretty.

"Oi, Kisame, we're wanted! Let's go!"[/color]

As he spoke, Yoshi turned away from Kisame and the woman and began walking away. Knowing Kisame, he'd probably leave the woman there and join him as he walked. But then again, this was a Mizukage. It's not like one got to fight a Kage everyday. So, he simply waited for Kisame's reaction and prepared to go to the Akatsuki base. They were as late as hell.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

As his sword was about to slam into the Mizukages neck, shattering it into a million tiny pieces and eventually slicing her head clean off. Kisames grin was still spread across his face and he slammed the massive and heavy sword with his right hand as the Mizukage braced herself to die. Even she knew how insignificant and useless she was. Her death will mean little to nothing to those retards back in the village, just as the death of the woman he loved meant nothing, just as the death of their own comrades meant nothing. Savages led by a moron will only strive to become bigger savages, a village with no hope and no prospect, if Yagura was still alive he would believe the same. Yagura probably always knew and believed in that. What a pathethic pair, two Mizukage and both useless and weak. Vulnerable and lonely believing their existence meant anything to anyone. Her death will be but the beginning of the downfall of the village.

”Oi, Kisame, we're wanted! Let's go!”

[/color][/center]

The bandaged weapon came to a stop, inches from her neck. Kisame recognized the voice that asked him to stop and informed him that they still have a meeting to go to. It didn’t really matter, Kisame could kill her right here and leave in a second. He released a sinister cackle and placed Samehada back on his shoulder. Both knowing that he can’t take anymore time with her because Pain will start whining and that killing her will gain him nothing. No, he was going to let her live. Live knowing that she was defeated and live knowing that she was spared on a whim of the shark. The predator releasing its prey because the prey will not satisfy his hunger for revenge and his hunger for power. Killing her will gain him nothing, nothing but another dead body.

The voice of his comrade was clear, the comrade himself wasn’t going to intervene or enter the fight, yet Kisame forgot that Tadayoshi was still a kid, despite his past he was scared of death and was still a teenager who wanted to get his cock blown by a hot whore. His sensitive side for women will be his downfall. This Mizukage, wasn’t even worth killing. Kisame grinned as he looked down on her lying in a puddle of her own blood, trying desperately not to sink. Pathetic, all of them, pathetic pieces of trash. Not even worth killing. Injuring his blade to kill someone as useless as her was beyond him. He slowly raised Samehada from her neck and placed it against his right shoulder. He grinned once more and turned slowly away from her towards Tadayoshi.

”Looks like I have a prior arrangement I’m forgetting, then again this one seemed to have run it’s course”[/color] He taunted her in a mocking and amused tone as always .He began walking towards his partner in a quicker pace then before, but while still in the range of her hearing he commented ”Looks like the title of Mizukage doesn’t hold the same kind of power as it did before, you should get stronger, the next time we meet I might not be so kind to let you live”[/color] he cackled again as he finally stepped onto the shore and in a slow pace caught up to Tadayoshi. Without saying anything his grin converted into a calm expression as the two quickly made their way to the hideout where they were supposed to meet the holographic image of Pain and the others, hopefully they weren’t as late as he thought.
[/blockquote][/size]

[mei terumi;;]

"Yagura did die like a bitch, throat slit in the night by a coward." she muttered, not caring if he heard her or not. And maybe I am a bitch, but not quite as pathetic as he was. At least I put up a fight... Not a very good one, but a fight at least. Her eyes flickered to an approaching figure, narrowed, wondering who the lone person could be.

Oh horror of all horrors. The man that had just walked up was probably Kisame's Akatsuki partner, and if he listened to the man her life would've been saved by a missing-nin. Such a pathetic survival that it almost made her want to die, just so she wouldn't be left to face the taunting and jeers of the villagers and probable demotion.

Not that the thought of no longer being the Mizukage was all that worrisome for her. Let some other fool take the job, for all she cared. If she didn't get to the hospital soon, she would probably die anyways, and Kiri would be stuck in the same situation as before. Serve the damn place right. Maybe if the founders and other kages had paid less attention to slaughtering each other and more time to better the country, this wouldn't be happening.

"Looks like I have a prior arrangement I’m forgetting, then again this one seemed to have run it’s course. Looks like the title of Mizukage doesn’t hold the same kind of power as it did before, you should get stronger, the next time we meet I might not be so kind to let you live.”

Next time we meet it won't end this way. Not by a long shot. I'll be stronger... And you will die.

That was a vow the Mizukage would keep. She would double her training, search far and wide for new jutsu, and look for flaws in Kisame's abilities.

"Mark my words, Kisame. One day I'll find you. And then you'll be dead."