Meeting of the Missing [Plot]

His left arm wouldn't stop convulsing today. It was like it was filled with a mind of anticipation all of its own. Like it was excited for this new kill that was bound to occur and just couldn't sit still because of this new found excitement. His arm's constant convulsing had also made his fingers twitch uncontrollably, and as a result it was beginning to get on his nerves. Honestly his arm just couldn't be a good little limb and listen to the brain that should be its master. No it was just an annoying little limb that always disobeyed him.

With his right hand slowly reaching up, he would pull back the sleeve covering the left arm as he extended the twitching limb outward before him. If the limb was going to convulse as much as it did then there was no sense in letting it continue to bother him. Stopping in his tracks for a moment he watched as the skin around the middle of his forearm where the arm seemed to be stitched to his body began to ripple as if thousands of tiny snakes squirmed beneath the surface. Larger and larger the ripples would grow before soon many tendril-like threads exploded forth from between the stitches.

He lost good time letting his arm calm down, however it was worth it in his mind if it would stop irritating him for several hours. Passing through the threshold of where grassland ended and forest began he heard a distinct sound like someone screaming from pain. Immediately be broke out into a stealthy run using the branch system up in the trees as his pathway through the forest rather than the grassy floor. He didn't find the source of the cry right away as it seemed that the source was constantly on the move, however he did find blood splatters in the area where he arrived as well as obvious clues as to where he had been and where he was going. However he also noticed something else, clues that said, whomever had been hurt was not alone.

Raising up his guard, Kakuzu leaped through the trees following the path of which he was certain the man, judging by the scream he had heard earlier, must have gone. However when he did finally did catch up with the man all seemed to be far too late. The man, now identified as he whom had been Kakuzu's original prey, was dead by the hands of some other man, one Kakuzu did not recognize.

Kakuzu couldn't see what the man was doing as he approached from behind finally dropping from the trees, however what he could tell was that it was gruesome work.
"Having fun with another man's prey?" To the other man his voice would likely seem as though it came from no where albeit being filled with what may also seem to be a challenge.

No reaction showed on his face as he watched the man rise up and turn. His face was stained with what Kakuzu assumed to be the man's blood and in his hand he held was Kakuzu deemed to be the most important organ other than the brain, the man's heart. The man certainly seemed gracious enough, allowing Kakuzu to at least take the body in exchange for the heart. Sure, Kakuzu didn't care, the heart was useless to him anyway once it stopped beating. "Smart man. Go ahead I don't care for the heart if its stopped beating." He moved past the strange man kneeling next to the dead shinobi.

"Pfft, wounds such as these? Child's play." Kakuzu remarked to the man's comment about the bounty being too broken. Reaching forward he snapped away the bones that would only work to get in his was before looking back to the other man. "I take it you're the type that values the organs of others. For what I don't care, however is there anything else you want? The more you take the less weight I have to carry." Kakuzu made his point valid. He didn't care when the other man took from the bounty as long as the man would still be recognizable at the collection office.

"Hmm..." He thought back to the wanted poster he had seen of this man at the question of the other. He tried to remember for what exactly he had gotten enough of a bounty for Kakuzu to even care to track him down. "First degree murder. Seems this one had killed a few loyal shinobi before fleeing from his home village." Standing up now he looked down at the dead man. If the other man wanted anything else Kakuzu would not stop him, however he couldn't help but find the scene rather appalling. It looked almost like a wild animal had torn this man open. He appeared almost like that one genin had back during his chuunin exam.

"What's your name?" He didn't speak with a curiosity in his voice, but perhaps that was only because by this point in time, he rarely ever spoke with any emotion in his voice other than anger whenever he snapped.

This shou, as he introduced himself, seemed more than happy to take any and all of the organs. That was perfectly fine and dandy, that simply meant the body would be quite a lot lighter for Kakuzu to carry to the bounty office. So Kakuzu would allow this Shou person to harvest his organs. As he did so Kakuzu sat down underneath a near by tree perhaps a little more than ten feet away. "Shou, hunh? Well met." Even though some called him a heartless bastard, Kakuzu still knew some manners, he was just extremely easy to piss of, as always.

Resting his forearms on his knees he let his gaze wander for a moment as he attempted to recall what land they were in as of this moment. If the man remembered correctly the landscape, which he did fairly well, there should be a waterfall directly to their north a few kilometers away. Based upon the fact that these lands reminded him of that he could only think of one land they could be in. A land that Kakuzu had abandoned many years before. "Taki no Kuni..." He spoke in a quite tone thinking to himself.

For the longest time, Shou's returned question as to his own identity went unanswered as Kakuzu seemed to be in what some would call a day dream. He remembered quite well despite his age, all of the missions he had performed for this land back in his younger days, but more than that he remembered the betrayal that had opened a rift in his chest that still remained there to this day. He would never forget that feeling. Lowering his head now he released a small silent sigh as his gaze fell back onto Shou and the matter at hand. "Kakuzu..." He finally returned, "I must say, out of the many people I have encountered... You're an odd one." Reaching up with his right hand he pushed his hood from his coat fully off of his head letting his slightly unkempt ebony hair finally see the light of day even if it was filtered through the tree leaves. Moving both of his hands now, he readjusted his hair, allowing it to fall over his shoulders instead of hide between his coat and his bare back. It was evident that Kakuzu had long since abandoned the idea of keeping his hair a certain length as it fell down to reach about the top of his abdomen.

With his hair now in the position he desired for the moment, he locked his own unique gaze with that of Shou. "So what is one such as yourself doing here, anyway? ...Other than the obvious."

When Shou had finished with harvesting the organs from the bounty, he told Kakuzu a cute little tale of how he had been attending to the weak and sickly in this country. Likely in a smaller village outside of Takigakure, Kakuzu surmised. Once Shou had finished with the body, and stood up, Kakuzu also stood up and now bridged the gap between himself and the bounty. Crouching down on the bounty's right side he would lift up the bounty's head leaning him upward as he extended his left arm before the man's hollowed torso. "Heh, you seem like one that might be interesting to work with." He didn't look at Shou as he said this, but rather held his attention to the bounty as he freed his left arm from the reaches of his cloak by slipping the cloak off of it.

With his arm now bare, Shou would be able to see the stitching along Kakuzu's left forearm. Not only that but he would be able to watch as something akin to thousands of skin snakes squirmed beneath the surface of his skin directly under the stitches before suddenly several tendrils broke loose between the connection of the lower forearm and upper forearm. While several of these tendrils just squirmed about aimlessly, several more reached out toward the torso of the man and pulled he outer flesh back together while supporting it to keep it from collapsing on the inside. Once the flesh was pulled back together the tendrils then pierced his flesh stitching it back together very much like a mortician would after performing an autopsy.

Several moments passed in silence before Kakuzu was finished stitching the flesh back together. Once done he stood up picking the corpse up by his neck before throwing it over his shoulder. "It's a win-win scenario, in a sense. Come with me and you're bound to find more... organs for whatever you want them for. In return I can turn in any bounties and continue to make a decent living. What do you say?" It was odd for Kakuzu to make such an offer, especially to someone he'd just met, but he could already tell just by what this guy had done already, he could perhaps be a useful partner. Proven that he wouldn't get in his way of course.

He wasn't at all surprised that Shou was absolutely amazed by his ability. He would later likely be further amazed by Kakuzu's ability if he ever found out that he couldn't die quite as easily as most other folk in the world could. Watching as Shou accepted his invite then turned as if the leave the clearing Kakuzu listened well to what the other man had to say, however could not agree with as word of the last sentence.

"Actually traveling at night is one of the best. Especially when you know the area like the back of your own hand." He moved the corpse on his shoulder a bit, "I'd prefer not to stay in this land any longer. There is a bounty office directly east of here approximately twenty kilometers away at the Taki no Kuni, Hi no Kuni border. If you don't want to travel at night I can meet you at the office tomorrow morning." He moved towards the edge of the clearing heading east, as he did so his free hand raised up the hood to his cloak. Stopping at the edge of the clearing he turned towards Shou to speak once more, "I'd prefer not to have a decaying corpse on my hands for too long, that's all."

With that he continued onward into the woods, whether or not Shou decided to follow him at that point in time was entirely up to him, but Kakuzu didn't want to stay in Taki no Kuni longer than he needed to. As such at the rate he was going, he would likely reach the bounty office by night fall, that is where he would likely stay until morning. Either there or he would make a camp in the woods near the office until morning. Either way would be just fine, after all Kakuzu was used to surviving in the woods at night, so be it bear or man, he could take on anything the world decided to throw at him this night.