The sun was rising, its rays fighting their way through the gloom of the night clouds filtering through the shutters of the window like panes of bright, bright silver moonlight.
And with every passing second, the sun rose higher, and the light grew brighter, allowing him to more easily look on her sleeping face.
He'd long since abandoned his previous place beside her on the bed, choosing instead to sit and simply look at her. Her lips were parted, her breathing steady. He could see the mark he'd left on her neck; along with a small bruise on her upper arm, standing out on her tanned skin.
He'd held her too tightly. Although...he hadn't heard her complaining overmuch during the night. And she gave as good as she got.
He realized he was smiling. He forced himself not to.
The longer he sat here, looking at her, simply watching her face, the more he knew that this should not have happened.
Not because she was a prisoner...no...because this was getting...
His previous trysts were simple things, experiments and deviances that were over and done with after one night, the women little more than a passing dalliance.
This was not like those times.
And that was why this was getting...complicated
She had...influence...over him, something only, two other women had ever held.
He needed this finished. He needed it over and done with. He needed to wind back the clock hours ago to never step in this room, perhaps further back if necessary, weeks, nearly a year to when he first brought her here, leave her in the burning ruins of Kumo as the city exploded and collapsed around them. He needed her gone.
He could not let this go further!
But...
For the first time in years. His mind, was in direct conflict with something people oft accused him of not having. His heart.
He wanted this to continue, he wanted it to go further, to see the mystery that waited at the end of this path. Hell...that would wait along every step of it.
What he needed and what he wanted, were two very different things.
The sheets rustled as she turned on the bed, for half a second, he almost feared she'd woken up, but as her breathing settled, he was not ashamed to admit that he was somewhat relieved.
He stood up, quietly, and left the room, leaving her to rest and himself to mull over his own thoughts.
Baki is usually an early riser. Really. After nearly two decades of waking at the crack of dawn, even when he had the chance to sleep in, he didn't. He'd just wake up as normal and maybe do some light reading before his morning workout if he had the time.
But 3:00 AM was just pushing it. Even for his habits.
He opened the door with a creak of hinges, closing his eyes against the slight sting of the village lights and feeling the caress of the freezing cold desert-night winds slapping him across the face.
It didn't really take him long to focus on the mop of bloody red hair his visitor had or to identify who this was by circumstance.
"Kaze-"
"Just Gaara." The village leader interrupted before gesturing inside with his hand. "Sorry for the early hour. But can I come in? I'd rather discuss this in private."
Baki blinked once, twice before quickly stepping aside, he knew his student well enough to know he would not come here unless it was truly important.
Gaara stepped in, and Baki noticed for the first time the fact that his Kazekage was dressed in common Anbu clothing, choosing to go as incognito as he dared with the hood of his heavy cloak up.
Baki closed the door. "Can I get you anything Gaara." He asked, deciding to adhere to the youth's earlier request.
"No. Thanks really, I..." The Kazekage paused, fidgeting from foot to foot like some nervous schoolboy. It was more than just a little awkward for Baki seeing him as such. Finally, he spread his arms wide in a magnanimous gesture of...surrender, Baki would say, if he had to choose a word for it. "I need some help."
Baki blinked craning his neck a little forward, his hands circling a bit in-front of him in a gesture of 'Go on'
After a second of Gaara holding his silence, the Kazekage's former sensei decided to pry verbally. "Are we talking sanitarium?" He ventured slowly. "Me moving a sofa? Planning a party" he gestured with his hands again. "A little elaboration would be-"
"I need your help developing a technique." Gaara clarified, and Baki could swear he seemed almost...ashamed by that statement.
He decided to ask. "Why all the...melodrama?"
The Kazekage pursed his lips "Do you think the Hokage goes to train with his old childhood sensei?"
"You think he had a childhood to begin with?" The question was rhetorical and Baki shook his head before gesturing towards his living room.
"There's no reason for you to be ashamed." The suna nin said as they stepped through the threshold.
"Its not about you!" Gaara quickly said, and Baki could tell by the youth's tone of voice he thought he may have offended his teacher.
This time, Baki cut him off, holding up his hands. "Gaara." He held his palms out signaling for calm. "Don't worry. I understand, the people need to believe you strong in all things. Calm down. Now just tell me what this is about and how I can help."
The redhead took a deep breath through his nostrils before he sat down, with Baki doing the same directly across from him.
He reached into his clothes and pulled out a green scroll handing it to his old teacher, explaining as Baki unrolled it.
"You're the foremost wind expert in Suna at the moment."
"There are better-"
"You're the one I trust the most."
Baki stopped his argument, touched, though he would not say it right now. His eyes went back down to the scroll, feeling, dimly in his mind, that his eyebrow was raising marginally with every sentence.
"I need an edge. Something he's not going to expect, something he's never seen before."
"And this is what you came up with?" He waved the scroll between them.
Gaara nodded. "It'll certainly raise an eyebrow."
"Raise an eyebrow? Kid the mechanics involved in this is-"
"Brilliant?" The Kazekage mock questioned with a sad little smile.
"Well I was gonna go more with fucking crazy, but sure, whatever works for you. One second; one moment that you loose focus and you'll save The Devil King the trouble of killing you himself."
Gaara stayed quiet; bowing his head for several seconds before he found the strength to lift it up again.
"I need something to win...Baki."
The Suna ninja looked to his one time student. His crazy plan to attack Konoha had worked before...but still...
Baki sighed, throwing the scroll on the table between them before leaning forward, hands on his knees.
"Well I'll tell you one thing. If you can master this...lunacy your head's cooked up...you'll never loose another fight again."
He rarely walked through the streets. Normally he took to the rooftops.
The way things were going so far, Kakashi decided he may stick to the habit.
Everyone stared.
He blamed the black robe.
Hell, he didn't need to blame it, the damn thing may as well have peeled itself off of him, crossed its hollowed sleeves and confessed to the crime.
People didn't stare this much even when he walked around with an adult novel in his hand. Strolling through a child playground.
Everyone was staring, and Kakashi realized that he never quite knew just how strange it was to be standing in a crowd and yet be so utterly alone. Store clerks eyed him warily, mothers ushered their children further than necessary, idle passerby's followed him with their eyes while old men openly pointed and spoke to each other in muttered whispers and sentences.
Standing in a crowd. He may as well have been on the moon.
He wondered...really, if this just a glimmer of how Naruto might feel every day. What he might have to endure. Put up with.
A hand slaps him on the shoulder. Fairly hard mind you, but the voice that greets his ears couldn't be more jovial.
"My eternal rival!"
Kakashi smiles. A rare thing. Especially these days. Especially because of Maito Gai of all people, but he smiles.
He turns his head, seeing the glimmering, pearl white teeth and the ridiculous bowl cut hair and of course, the green jumpsuit.
"Gai." He nods. "Good to see you." He means it as he shakes his fellow Jounin's hand.
"Ohoho." Konoha's green beast chuckles with his hands on his waist as he steps back. "What's this? My eternal rival as an Overseer now hmm?"
The copycat waves off the statement. "Its a temporary post Gai we all know that." The last thing he wants to emphasize is this robe. "What about you? I hear you've been in Iwa with Shino this whole time."
Gai nods. "Yes, My former students, Lee and Tenten have been with me there too, our training is most fortuitous."
"I'm sure." He says before turning his eyes away from Gai and jerking his head, gesturing for them to continue walking down the road.
Gai follows without a word.
As the crowds thin, and the activity of the village dissolves away into background noise Kakashi breaches the subject as they walk.
"So...how is the situation in Iwa exactly."
"Ahh." Gai sighs with a shake of his head. "My rival, things are grim. It is a tenuous hold we have over the rebellious Iwa ninja, without their Tsuchikage. They follow him. Not us. His word is what keeps them on bended knee. Yoshihiro must return to Iwa soon to restore order there."
"And should he fall in the campaign against Suna..." He let the sentence trail off. But Gai finished it for him with a nod.
"We may fully expect Iwa to rebel against us in full force before the Tsuchikage's blood is cold. And what news do you have of this campaign against Suna? When do we march?"
"In a month."
"A month?" Gai gasped, clearly shocked. "But-"
"Yes...I know." Hatake interrupted. "The winter will be on us. Naruto says it doesn't matter."
"Do you believe so?" Gai asks as they round a corner.
"I have to." Kakashi replies. "If no one can say any one thing about Naruto they can say this: When it comes to battle, his plans have worked out in our favor. Almost the entire continent is under his control in less than a decade. If nothing else, that alone should give us some faith in him."
"I hope you are right my rival. The sleeping dragon has proven most bothersome so far"
Kakashi sighed then, Zhuge Liang...that man was proving vexing. The last thing Kakashi wanted to think about was the surprises that might be in store for them when they marched on Suna, with a man who was willing to blow up his own village just to drive them off making the battle plans. Losses were going to be heavy.
Looking to Gai's troubled face he decided to change the subject to something a bit more lighthearted. "How have your students been, Lee and Tenten? I haven't seen them in a while."
Gai's smile was blinding. Literally.
It was rare, at this stage of things, for Jiraiya to be summoned to the Hokage tower.
At first, it was a regular thing. Naruto's fledgeling empire holding together the lands of Konoha, Kiri, Kusa, Ame and Taki had all forces spread paper thin. He needed, demanded, regular, reliable updates on information, along with regular, reliable people to hand his orders to. Jiraiya had been at the top of the list for both those criteria a decade ago.
As the years went on and Naruto developed his own network of spies, and his rule became more and more consolidated in the conquered territories, he called on Jiraiya less and less.
Which had been, and was still, fine in the Sannin's opinion. He was already getting well onto his years and he neither had the energy nor any real desire to be involved in the tedium of being the head of a spy network and was more than content to fall back into an advisory role for the administrative times.
And recently, this new schism he found between Naruto and himself was not really endearing him to the prospect of being summoned either, nor did he think it would increase the chances of making it happen.
So it was a surprise earlier when he was not only summoned to the tower, but doubly surprising because it wasn't really Naruto who summoned him.
It was Suzume.
So here he was, leaning on his cane with one eyebrow raised as he stood across her desk.
And she was just sitting there, looking at him with those wide brown eyes, fidgeting like a schoolgirl that just got caught doing something she shouldn't have.
"You called me here?" He asked for what he was sure must have been the third time. He still couldn't get around that part.
She nodded.
He blinked.
"Okay...this is the part that you tell me why." He prodded.
She looked down, turned her eyes this way and that way, avoiding looking at him like he was some diseased leper with weeping sores and bloody boils.
Her eyes finally went to the door of the Hokage's office before she turned her eyes back to him. "Its...Its Naruto-sama. He's acting...really strange."
Jiraiya raised one eyebrow real high this time.
'Its Naruto.' He thought. 'Just where the hell have you been this whole time?'
Then he thought about it a bit more. 'Just how weird is this for Suzume to call me?'
After a moment he came to the conclusion that maybe- Just maybe- he should actually be worried.
He looked back at her. "So you decided to call me?"
She shrugged, mere body language conveying how desperate she was becoming. "My only other option was Hatake-sama. But he'd be late even for his own funeral."
Only other option.
Jiraiya had to admit that was true, at least...with Hinata gone.
He looked to the door. "What exactly can I expect in there? Fire and brimstone or something?"
She shook her head. "No, he's just been sitting there staring at this weird butterfly pendant or something.
That made Jiraiya pause turning to look at the brunette as though she'd grown a second head.
"I told you it was weird!" She defended desperately.
The white haired toad sannin stared at her for another ten seconds before he decided to bite the bullet and quit stalling. He marched forward and opened the door.
When he walked into the office, the first thing that hit him was the stillness.
Now, Naruto's office was never a hotbed of activity with a hundred and ten people moving around filing making calls and such. It was not organized chaos like Suzume's desk that was covered in a million pieces of paper and orders and requisition forms and so on and so forth scattered everywhere so that only she could find it.
On the contrary, Naruto's office was always organized, with not even a paperclip out of place. The young Hokage was efficient and practical to the extreme as most things in his life.
But this was just downright...off.
He didn't even move when Jiraiya walked in, the light that streamed in through the windows made the small particles of dust floating along the air visible, the room smelled thick with the scent of paper and ink, which only happened when someone left the place closed for a long time.
In short, the man at the desk may as well have been a corpse, or a ghost, for all the life he was adding to this place.
Suzume was right. This was weird.
He stepped forward, his head tilting a bit, as though trying to see the younger man from a different angle to find the problem.
"Naruto?"
The blond looked up slowly, and then blinked. "Jiraiya...what are you doing here?"
The sannin had to wonder if his Hokage was just asking that as normal, or if he'd only now just taken notice of his arrival.
"Suzume called me." He winced, realizing that he may have just thrown the woman onto the proverbial fire. "She was worried. Thinks that there may be something wrong."
"Hmm." was the extent of his reaction.
Slowly, as if he was scared of startling him Jiraiya inched his way forward, sitting down on a chair opposite the desk as he clasped his fingers over the cane. "Naruto...is there something you want to talk about?"
The blond Hokage didn't speak, he just kept staring at his hand, looking down Jiraiya saw that it really was a butterfly shaped pendant clutched in his hand.
"She was important you know."
Jiraiya looked back up, startled. "Hmm? Who? Suzume?"
"No." He placed the pendant on the desk, pulling his hand back, leaving it in plain view between them.
"She was." He continued before reaching to the side and grasping a link of prayer beads and placing them beside the pendant.
"So was he."
Jiraiya stayed quiet, letting Naruto continue with...whatever this may be.
The Hokage took a breath through his nostrils. "But do you want to know something, even I find...wrong...Jiraiya?"
His shoulders slumped and Jiraiya saw a sadness shine through his blue eyes. The old sannin saw it and felt as though he'd been punched in the gut. It was a struggle to remain stoic.
Naruto opened and closed his mouth, searching for his next words.
"I..." He hesitated. "I don't even remember their faces anymore." He finally met Jiraiya's quiet, studying gaze. "Do you know what that feels like Jiraiya? Two people...so important once...and now...all that remains is a fading image, like the lingering picture of a forgotten dream...
Jiraiya chewed on the inside of his cheek, listening to these words, wondering just what he could say. He had a suspicion as to who he might be referring to. But the last thing he wanted to do was stick his foot in his mouth, or stop him from talking.
Naruto sighed, rubbing at his forehead and sucked in a half broken breath that nearly made Jiraiya's eyes widen for half a second- Was he...? -
He composed himself his hand moving from his forehead to the bridge of his nose.
Jiraiya finally seemed to find his voice, his mind rushing with a whirling dervish of questions and imaginings. "Its been...years Naruto...this kind of thing happens. I don't remember some peo-"
"I remember the face of the first man I killed." The Hokage interrupted, "Some nameless, worthless imbecile from Iwa. Chuunin, dark hair green eyes, a scar was on the left side of his upper lip." He paused, taking another breath. "Another scar was just beneath his right ear, trailing down just to his collarbone." His lip was curling into a sneer. "How...how can I remember every single detail of...that...and not remember them? These two people who were...so important. How much longer before Hinata's face fades from my memory as well?"
Jiraiya lowered his eyes down to the two items on the desk, sucking his lips into his mouth, this time he was the one searching for words.
But he had nothing...he didn't know what he could say to this young man. He would have laughed at the irony if only to keep from crying himself.
Waiting for something like this for years...and now he has nothing to say.
All he could ask was... "Naruto...what's brought this on?"
The Hokage trailed his eyes up to the ceiling and felt his pride literally fist the words in his throat, choking them down as he shook his head.
What brought this on? A woman. A prisoner, with blond hair and grey eyes. An enigma who was as infuriating due to her constant, belligerent defiance, as she was enthralling because of the exact same thing.
A woman who's face he'd tried to replace in the night to anothers. One with darker hair and blue eyes, a woman who refused to be replaced by anyone, who was becoming something she should never be.
Someone important. Someone that mattered.
It shouldn't be this way this should never have happened.
The Demon King of Konoha...brought low by the Flower of Suna.
He leaned forward on the desk, elbows resting on the wood as he ducked his head down, running his fingers through his hair. Jiraiya had never seen the young man like this.
Naruto felt as though everything was coming undone, as if after all the strain, all the pressure was finally crushing him beneath its weight.
'Just...for a little while longer...'
He cleared his throat. "Leave Jiraiya."
The sannin took a breath to speak when Naruto cut him off.
"That was not a request."
Jiraiya recognized that tone, he bit his cheek to stop himself from speaking. Trying to force the issue wouldn't go well. He'd opened up some, Jiraiya would take what he could get, infinitely relieved that...for the moment, it at least seemed that his decision...to keep faith in Naruto was one that he would not regret.
He'd also leave and see what he could dig up. If this happened again he was going to be prepared. He would be able to actually speak and do something.
He stood up, knees protesting at the movement as his eyes kept themselves on the top of Naruto's head.
He walked out of the office without another word. Closing the door, he walked to Suzume, leaning down to whisper in the brunettes ear. "Keep an eye on him, call me again if you think something may be happening."
"Is he alright?" She asked, worried.
The toad sannin took a second. "I think...he will be. But just keep your eyes on him for a while eh?'
She nodded. "Alright."
He gave a quick nod, rapping his knuckles on the desk as he walked away.
Shaft's of light speared through the room, moth eaten, tattered drapes hanging from the roof of the tent to form makeshift walls, the holes near the overhanging cloth provided just enough light for her to continue her work uninterrupted.
Her most loyal guards keeping watch over the perimeter helped as well.
That being said the widow of Zhuge Liang found herself mildly surprised when, after only twenty or so minutes after her arrival the main tent flap was pushed open behind her.
"So this is where you've been sneaking off to."
Ying breathed through her nostrils, closing her eyes with exasperation. "Tsunade." She half greeted, half sighed as she turned to face the woman.
The medic raised a slender eyebrow, eyes scanning the massive tent, before finding its only other occupant and then drifting down to the floor.
"What's that?"
"The guard should have warned you off." She answered instead.
"They did. And we had a disagreement. Now I'm here."
Ying rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Perhaps I should have known..."
"Yea you should have. Now, what's this?" She tapped the toe of her boot to emphasize her point.
Ying looked to the floor then turned her back on the Slug princess. "That is my husband's last creation."
She could feel Tsunade raising her eyebrow behind her, arching the thin line of hair up to her forehead. "Zhuge Liang designed this thing?"
"He started to. He was unable to finish..."
"What's it do?"
"Genjutsu." Ying answered simply before deciding to elaborate a bit. "Genjutsu on a massive scale."
Tsunade looked over the design that she could see from where she stood. Jiraiya had always been their expert. Hell, he'd helped design hers. She couldn't identify everything here but she could make a lot of different points out. What she could see here was impressive enough.
She decided to point out the obvious "You're not as good a Genjutsu user as he was."
"No I'm not. Neither am I a seal master. I will complete it as best I can, I'm sure he could have done better, but I simply do not have the skill or time."
"What exactly was it that he wasn't able to finish?"
Tsunade saw Ying pause for half a second, a movement that sent a little red flag up on her thoughts before the woman picked up where she left off. "What would power the construct."
"Mind explaining?"
"I do." The brunette said crisply, more abrupt than Tsunade had ever heard before. "Now if you do not mind. I have work to do here."
Again Tsunade raised her eyebrow but quickly shrugged, turning around and leaving. They were all most likely going to die anyway. All that was left was for each person to dig their own graves. She'd let Liang's widow dig hers next to her husbands if she so wanted to.
The leaves crinkled and crackled as he brushed them aside, hands ghosting over the ivory stone.
Aburame Shino straightened as he finished brushing the leaves away, eyes ghosting over the words carved there in a delicate, flowing script, so thin they could barely be called etchings at all.
'Hyuuga Hinata'
Slowly, carefully, he knelt, the wetness of the moist grass seeping through his clothes, the black cloak pooling around his legs.
He spared a glance behind him, the fading sun making everything look red in the twilight. "Do not let me keep you from your duties please. I shall pray for a while.
Hanabi shook her head. "It's no trouble really."
He nodded, and said no more as he returned his attention to his prayers.
When he was finished, the sun had fallen further, and the orange, fiery red was shifting to purple blue.
He stood and turned to face his current company. "Thank you for allowing me to see her on such short notice.
Hanabi nodded. "As I said. It is no trouble. In truth, its a little refreshing to see someone else grieving for her"
The Aburame nodded. "She was a good woman...strong, intelligent. I regret now that I never told her just how much I admired her tenacity. She did not deserve to die that way."
"No she didn't, but too few of us go the way we deserve."
Shino nodded. "Unfortunate, but true. Forgive me, lady Hanabi but, there is something else I wish to discuss with you."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow.
The Aburame nodded. "Yes. I have heard it said that you're now training under Naruto-sama."
She nodded. "Yes, that is true."
"Are you well?"
The question was a bit...strange, even for an Aburame, who were notoriously blunt.
"I suppose so?" She wasn't even sure how to answer this.
"Naruto-sama has never taken on a student before. I will admit, when I heard, I was disquieted by the notion. I am merely wondering if he does not go to far."
She would have winced, remembering that one moment when he seemed to want to go too far. Her stomach and ribs still ached with the memory.
Duty and circumstance had kept her from going back for more training but he'd already sent word that sometime during the next three or four weeks he would begin training again. Harder this time with the impending campaign.
She wondered now, as she said "His training is hard. But nothing I can't handle." if Temari hadn't been there, just how that day would have ended. Three days abed in the Hyuuga medical ward with two broken ribs bruised organs, or if it would have been much much worse.
Shino eyed her for a while, trying to determine if she was lying most likely before he nodded slowly.
"Very well. I will take my leave then. I still have much to prepare for in the weeks to come. Before I go though, your sister was a friend, know that the Aburame will always welcome you just as we did her.
"Thank you." She said, meaning it.
Shino gave one more nod before he walked past her towards the estate and exit.
Hanabi lingered for a time at her sisters grave. Her lips pursed and her brow creased in thought for a moment before she turned and left, picking up her coat on her way out.
When Hanabi arrived at the estate night was overcoming daylight, making the place look even more haunted than normal. It was the kind of place people would tell stories about. Only the scarcest of torch-lighting lined the outer porches and walkways, with nary a candle flicker from the rooms inside.
She activated her Byakuugan, the veins around her eyes bulging with blood as she gazed through solid matter, finding Temari quickly and easily. She was somewhat surprised at not finding Naruto there really, though she supposed he was dealing with something in his office.
Marching through the hallways, taking note of the eyes of the guards quietly following her, she marched to where she'd seen the Suna princess.
She found her in the gardens, sitting beneath a red chestnut tree a book in her hands. The tree's petals falling with the approaching winter. Not exactly a rare specimen in Konoha, but not exactly common either.
She took a step closer and Temari glanced up from her book, blinking with some surprise at finding her there.
"Hey." She said by way of greeting. No venom, but no real enthusiasm either.
Hanabi remained standing, feeling the wind's cold caress against her cheek as she tilted her chin up. "Is it interesting?"
Temari smiled sardonically. "It was...at least until I realized I'd been reading the same line for the past three hours and it couldn't do much to distract me from my thoughts" She closed the book and stood, dusting herself off and wiping at her clothes. "Anyway, you want something?"
Hanabi shrugged, the movement of her shoulders made all the more apparent by the coat she'd donned. "To be perfectly honest, not hearing hide nor hair about you for a couple of days got me somewhat curious. If you'd have escaped, we'd have known it, and if you'd have died, we'd have known that too."
Temari raised an eyebrow. "So...what...this is actually a social call? From you?"
She was incredulous, Hanabi couldn't really blame her.
She shrugged again.
Temari blinked.
"So how's the ribs." The blond finally asked, stepping past her towards the house.
"Still tender, but two more days of healing chakra and medication will take care of that."
"Who did more damage, me or Naruto?"
Hanabi quirked a brow at the familiarity of calling the Hokage by his first name, but shrugged it off as the Sabaku's famed insolence.
"I'd say he did, though you didn't help."
"Even tossing out jokes now." The Suna woman said. "This is a big change. Maybe I should hit you more often."
"Don't try it."
Temari walked into the houses library, depositing the book safely on a shelf. Then, with as much grace as sack, she collapsed onto one of the chairs of the room sighing in what Hanabi could determine was troubled exhaustion.
"Look...I appreciate the courtesy of you showing up here, sunshine" Hanabi felt her brow twitch in irritation at the name. "but I've got a lot on my mind. So...just say what you came to say, if you came to say something. And if you didn't then just leave, come back tomorrow, or next week, or next year." A frustrated, sob like sound came from the woman as she put her face in her hands and Hanabi felt her curiosity pique. "Just bring alcohol, lots of it."
After a moment of silence Hanabi decided to speak. "Very well, though I did come here to see you, a large part was to ask you two things. "I'd like, firstly to know why you chose to stay-"
Temari's reaction was explosive, standing up from the chair she brandished her finger. "No!I am not going through this again!"
Hanabi was startled. She almost took a step back. Then she stopped herself and fixed her eyes onto Temari's face, the rapidly crumbling look of rage was revealing an epiphany of emotions to her trained eyes and educated mind.
The Suna princess was disquiet, uncertain, guilt ridden, frustrated. Her choice, and Hanabi had little doubt that it had been a choice- she had seen her brothers all but hand her the means of escape and Naruto had been underneath that mountain for an hour- for her to remain here could account for these emotions but not to this extent. Temari was trained well, and the fact that her emotions were playing across her face, each as brightly as a midday sun showed that these emotions were strong.
Tilting her head, and her torso just a little bit, Hanabi decided to pry. "Sabaku...is there something you would like to talk about."
She fell back into the chair, shielding her face with her hands, letting out a miserable groan. "Just go away..."
Hanabi analyzed aloud, taking another chair. "Something is disturbing you, something you want to discuss, but, at the same time don't, or can't-"
Temari's stormy grey eyes peered at her seriously. "Stop, Hanabi." Her tone wasn't threatening, but it was warning.
"Whatever this is is threatening then..." The Hyuuga plowed on, not taking heed of the sign placed before her. "Meaning this is dangerous, meaning it most likely has to do directly with Naruto-"
"You really don't want to go there-"
Again, Hanabi ignored the statement. "Something happened between the two of you that-" She paused, her mind practically making a bee line for a distinct possibility that she quickly abandoned with a shake of her head.
Temari stared at her, quiet and serious, and Hanabi's white eyes practically focused, and narrowed their perspective to the small, almost imperceptible mark just barely peeking out from the collar of the Suna princess' shirt.
This time Hanabi was the one that stood up from the chair, disbelief across her face as she shouted, so loud Temari wouldn't be surprised if they'd heard it in the Konoha proper.
"You Slept with him!"
Temari lowered her head and Hanabi found it in her to pace clear across the whole width of the room.
'Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!' She repeated the chant, like a mantra in her head, trying to make heads or tails of a world that had just seemed to spin around until she couldn't tell skyward from earthward.
She didn't notice that she was actually speaking her little mental mantra aloud until, Temari interrupted her.
"Told you you didn't want to go there."
"How in the-Why, would you sleep with him?"
"I've been asking myself that since I woke up." She said, and Hanabi was somewhat startled to find that, when she looked back up, the woman was smiling though there was a strange bitterness to it. "You wanna know what I've been asking myself even more?"
She remained silent and Temari took it to mean 'Yes'
"Why I don't really regret it as much as I should..."
Hanabi stayed standing for another moment before she fell back, nearly collapsing on the chair she'd previously abandoned.
The younger woman took a moment to remember the exercise of breathing.
Shikamaru sighed, content and at peace for the first time in what must have been forever.
Gaara was off doing, God knows what, and had left him in charge for the day. Unexpected, but in a very very good way.
It was much easier to smuggle Kiba out with full control of the village's ninja patrols.
It also allowed him to fully catch up and re-evaluate the village's resources.
The paperwork was troublesome...but it was done with now.
Which means he had full unrestricted access to the Kazekage's balcony. Which had the best damn view of the clouds in all of Suna if he did say so himself.
So here he was, laying back on a long chair he'd moved from the office to the balcony, enjoying the afternoon sky with the sun just beginning to descend...
He was contemplating possible ways to convince Gaara to give him this office, or at least, this balcony on a more permanent basis when the door opened.
Shikamaru's heart lurched into his throat. "No no!" He damn near shouted rounding on his chair to stand up. "I finished with the paperwork for today already!"
He never thought he'd feel actual relief hearing Ino's voice. "Its just me idiot."
He sighed. "I thought it was more of those idiots shoveling more papers in here by the cartload."
"Yea, I gathered that." She walked up to him, prodding his waist bone with her foot. "Scoot over."
"Why in the hell would I-hey!"
He cursed and grumbled as she shoved him, none too kindly, forcing him to capitulate her a spot on the long chair for her to plop herself down beside him.
She sighed languidly. A contented sound that was thoroughly over-exagerated as she raised her arms and crossed them behind her head.
Shikamaru glared through half narrowed eyes. "What are you doing."
"Annoying you. What's it look like?"
"Why?"
"Why not?" She chuckled. "Its entertaining to me. Besides you're too boring, if it were up to you you'd probably sink into this chair, and never get up again."
"How did you even find me?"
She rolled her eyes and planted them to meet his gaze. "Shikamaru, please; its me we're talking about here. I know you better than you know yourself. If you're not in the administrative desks down below doing some paperwork, you're at that shogi bar twenty meters from the bazaar, or at Chouji's favorite BBQ food stand, with Chouji most likely, and the last off-shot would be training ground three. And you go there just to do what you're doing now."
"So how'd you even know I was her-"
"One of the girls down at the administrative desk said you were called up here earlier when I came to check on you."
Shikamaru shrugged with his eyebrows. Then kept his silence as he turned his eyes back up to the sky.
After a second or so he spoke up.
"I do go to other places."
"Your house doesn't count."
The Shadow wielder scrunched his lips up in thought. "You're right...I really am boring."
Ino laughed before reaching down and clasping his hand in hers. "And this is why I'm around. I make things interesting again."
"If that's what you call it."
She shoved him completely off the long chair this time.
Konoha's night's were cold.
It was almost as though winter was already here for the leaf village.
You'd think Kiri would be colder being surrounded by water, but Toushiro found that where Kiri had cool mist to kiss your face when the breezes came, Konoha seemed to have shards of ice in its place, every droplet of dew from the surrounding trees was like a knife of cold whenever it touched skin and a clammy wetness whenever it fell over clothing.
Still, maybe he shouldn't be blaming the foreign village, after all, he was the one that decided to train at night.
He wasn't even doing real night training such as stealth or confusion tactics. He was practicing his weapon kata's
He wasn't really sure how long he'd been at it either. Maybe an hour or two? But he got to do this so little these days with all his new responsibilities he wanted to catch up. He didn't want to get rusty in his weapon skills.
Couldn't afford to at this stage really.
He finished the 22nd routine with an uppercut strike with his left ax followed by a spin and low, midsection blow with the right.
Straightening with a breath his ears twitched before he turned, seeing Kurenai walking towards him.
The dark haired beauty raised a slender delicate eyebrow, smirking. "I had placed a Genjutsu over myself, I didn't expect you to notice just yet."
"Spying on me?" He asks with a small smile.
She shrugged. "Not really. I was visiting some old friends back at the Anbu precinct when I heard about "Some foreign ninja with axes by training ground four." You're the only foreign ninja that I know of using axes so I told them I'd come and check things out. Never seen you using those axes though"
She was right, he'd never worn these before today, though he'd had them for quite a long time now. His older ones were gold plated, double heads with red wood handles bound with a copper pommel and custom leather grips.
These by comparison were much simpler, single sided, with black leather and shining, almost brilliant metals that glimmered like polished silver.
Toushiro looked over to the civilian homes not more than two, maybe two hundred and fifty feet away.
"I guess I'm scaring them." He commented, both to himself and to her.
She stuffed her hands into the sleeves of her battle-kimono. "After what happened can you really blame them for being jumpy around non leaf ninja?"
"No." He admitted, "Though from what I gathered civilian casualties were virtually non existent, the Kazekage wasn't targeting them."
"You heard right." She admitted. "That wont stop them from being a little jumpy for a while though."
He nodded placing his axes on their custom holsters at his waist. "I guess this means I should be going back to my hotel then."
She nodded with a smile. "That would be the smart thing to do. But before you do, mind telling me when you got so good at Genjutsu detection?"
It was his turn to smile. "Didn't you tell me back when I was under your command not to reveal my every secret?"
She raised her hands in surrender. "Fair enough then. Still, I'm going home to get some sleep. Don't make the Anbu come by here, they'll be a lot less fun than I am."
He nodded, watching her turn and begin making her way back to the village.
He looked down to the axe holstered on his right hip, smiling just a little wider before deciding to head back to his hotel room.
When he returned, the sun had long since fallen below the horizon, and would return again in just a few more scant hours, the house was as he left it torches still illuminating the outer yards, every room as dark as the last save for the one with the flickering candlelight shining through from behind its thin sliding door.
He walked in, his blue, sharp eyes instantly finding her there in the darkness.
She was hunched over a desk, one arm folded around her head that lay flat on the desk, the other stretched out, the back of her skull resting on her forearm.
Her blond hair is tussled from sleep, her lips parted and her skin pale in the poor lighting. She is beautiful, and the sight alone is enough to bleed away the troubles of the day. The memory of her touch easing away the worries pounding through his mind.
He reaches towards her, carefully lifting her from the table, deciding to carry her back to her room.
She doesn't rouse until he's halfway to the door.
"You're back." She rasps out.
"Did you wait for me?" He finds himself asking, stepping through the door.
"Would it be a bad thing if I said yes?"
He's not sure, so he keeps his silence.
"I can walk you know?" She says after a moment.
"You can." Is his answer, though he doesn't relinquish his hold.
They stay quiet until he finally reaches her room. He opens the door, a push of chakra strong enough to inch it wider until he could slide his foot in and push it open himself.
He sets her down on the bed, she's lethargic, still half asleep, he stands straight when she rolls over and looks at him. "Hanabi came over."
That makes him pause, raising an eyebrow. "Did she?"
She nods, staring at him carefully. "Yea...she kinda figured out what happened."
He looks to her neck, the small little purple bruise there so small he can barely make it out in the darkness. He's surprised, but he doesn't care about the "secret" as much as he probably should. "I see. I'll speak to her tomorrow."
"Don't do anything to her." The Suna woman demanded.
"I'll only speak." He answered, acquiescing.
There is silence between them again, him standing, her still laying. She averts her eyes, and he speaks, knowing what he has to say, knowing what she has to hear.
"What happened last knight...it cannot-"
"I know." She cuts him off. "One time thing."
He nods.
He goes to leave when she blurts out "Do you regret it?"
"Do you?"
"I asked first." She says.
He smiles, a little smirk tugging at his lips, all but lost in the gloom of the late hour. "So you did."
Finally, after an extended silence, she huffs. Though when she speaks, her voice quivers just the slightest bit with trepidation rather than annoyance. "No...I don't."
A tangle of emotions worms its way across his chest, coiling and wrapping themselves around him in a cacophony that's becoming more frequent in these last weeks than it ever had been throughout the previous decade.
He goes to leave when she grasps at his hand. "You didn't answer me."
This time, there is no smile. "No I didn't." He goes to pull away, her grip holds him fast. He could force her to let him go, but he doesn't. He doesn't really want to if truth be told.
He looks to her eyes, piercing the veil of low lights and wispy shadows And as the words spill from his lips- "No. I don't" -he knows that she will stay here. That he will not take her when they finally march in just one month's time. That he will not risk her presence, her safety her...involvement...when he finally marches on her homeland. She is something he will keep safe...away from the fighting. Even if she will hate him with all the fires of the nine hells when he returns.
Such an important thing she was.
He slips free of her hold as she gasps, quietly through her nostrils. He does not give her a chance to continue, a chance to speak, for this to go further. He steps out of the room and leaves.