DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. By declaring this, I steal nothing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thank you to my wonderful sisters, who were patient enough to be my editors and beta readers. I owe you guys!
It's too much trouble.
I didn't want any of it. It makes blonde, orange-jacketed whiskered boys act like idiots. It makes old, grey-haired men act like morons. It's especially bad for me, because it makes me feel like I've lost control.
It's so much easier with games; there are lots of pieces, there are many possibilities, but there are limitations, boundaries, and rules you can follow and work around and bend to achieve your objective. Even the objective is so much simpler. How much simpler than "beat the other guy" can you get?
Today, I feel like I'm playing on the biggest board in the world, and I'm the only piece, and the objective...
Hell, I don't even know if she's playing the same game, or if she's interested at all. She's a remarkable strategist, and she's very perceptive and sharp when sufficiently challenged. But challenging or provoking her is the farthest thing from my mind. That'll most probably just make things more difficult later on, and I don't want to work any more than I have to.
Still, I have to know what she's thinking. To get some insight...
First step: I have to set things up.
"Oi, kage boy."
"Huh?"
She's here already. She didn't show herself immediately, and watched me from the trees first. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
"You've been staring blankly into space for a good thirty seconds now. And your hands are making that O thing again."
Damn it.
"So you got the message. That's good. I was starting to get worried."
It was troublesome, writing that message and delivering it. Even though Konoha is currently allied with the Sand Village, they still kept their lodgings very secure. Wire traps, hidden seals, simple alarms… it took a good two hours of thorough reconnaissance just to get that message to her, and I had to leave immediately to avoid getting caught. I didn't even confirm that she read it. I hate taking chances like that, but I had to.
"Still think that women can't handle themselves? It's a useless stereotype, you know," she says. She brought the fan, of course. She doesn't know what I'm up to yet. I made sure of that. "It'll get you killed one of these days. Then again, the fact that you handled yourself pretty well against the flute lady probably means you've learned a few things since we last fought…"
I stand up and dust the loose splinters off. "I don't want a fight," I say, watching her closely. She doesn't want a rematch, either; otherwise she wouldn't waste time talking like this. She may be big on honor, but she knows that the forest is my territory; lots of shadows to use. Knowing this, she would've tried to ambush me in order to pre-empt any attacks I could make. But she relinquished her advantage the moment she spoke out and gave her position away.
"Oh? Then what did you call me out here for?" she says, jumping onto the branch across from mine. She doesn't seem surprised; the fact that she just went deeper within my zone of effectiveness confirms that she trusts me somewhat. But the fan's still poised, ready to defend or counter at any time.
She's facing me now, eyes narrowed, jaw set. She wants answers. Unfortunately, I don't have any good ones on hand.
Guess I have no choice… "No reason, really."
She cocks an eyebrow. That wasn't the answer she was expecting. "No reason? You don't want a fight? You don't need me for a mission?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not going to fight… that's what I said last time, but this time I'll stick to it. There's no mission, either. Just trust me when I say I have no motive or agenda."
She still doesn't buy it. "It's true that you didn't set any traps in the area. I made sure of that. But why did you call me out here, into the forest? Don't think I didn't notice all the shadows."
I stand up and empty out my pockets. I circle around for good measure showing her my back, and continue turning until I face her again. "I'm not carrying any weapons. Besides, why would I fight you now, when just yesterday I wasted huge amounts of chakra fighting the flute lady, as you call her? As for calling you out for a mission, I'm just a chounin. The higher-ups probably wouldn't trust me with such information just yet, especially after my performance on this last one. Even if you say that there's a shortage of ninjas, they wouldn't send me out on a mission so soon."
She looks at me warily. She knows I'm not going to fight her, and it's not a mission. But she also knows what a weasel I can be. "So you're just wasting my time."
I walk towards her, arms spread out. No tricks, no hidden seals. "No one's wasting your time," I say. Now I'm within three feet of where she's standing. She can attack me at any time…
Seconds pass.
Finally convinced, she hoists the fan upward and rests it across her nape. "Contacting someone out of the blue without a reason is wasting time. You went through all the trouble of writing that message on autocorrosive paper. You indicated a specific rendezvous point and meeting time. The message was very direct and concise. So naturally I assume its something urgent, like the Sound ninjas coming back. But you're telling me that we're here, skulking around in the branches, for nothing?"
"It wasn't for nothing."
"Then why are we here?" she insisted, steel resonating in her voice. "I don't know how you do things here in Konoha, but back home, every day is life and death. No one goes through all that trouble unless it's really important. Crossed wires could result in a failed mission, or worse…"
"I thought we could spend some time together."
This catches her off-guard. It catches me off-guard.
"What?"
I take a deep breath. Why did I cut her off? That probably just made things a little harder, but there's no going back now. "Chouji and I usually watch clouds around here," I say, "but he's in the hospital. I'd ask my other friends, but they're all still recuperating because of me... partly because of me. Sakura's depressed about Sasuke going to Orochimaru, and it'd be too much trouble to try and cheer her up when I know next to nothing about their situation. Right now, you're the closest thing I have to a friend who's free."
She tilts her head to one side. "So you called me out here because you had no one else to ask?"
"Yes, you could say that."
"That's kind of sad," she says with exaggerated disdain. She's always too familiar with her opponents… not the familiarity one finds with friends or family, but the kind of familiarity that borders on contempt.
"Glad you think so, too. Anyway, I had to make it sound important or else you would've dismissed the message offhand. You knew the location was suspicious, too, so you probably would've thought it was a trap—even though you came knowing it wasn't, it took me some time to convince you that I didn't want trouble. And I'm not wasting your time because you aren't doing anything right now. The mission's over; you Sand guys are just hanging around here until you go home."
"And you think I'd want to spend that time staring at clouds with you?" She still sounds so incredulous. I have to admit, it's really a lame thing to hear after all that cloak-and-dagger stuff.
"I just thought I'd invite you. If you think that clouds are too boring to watch, you can just watch me watch them. Your compatriots don't seem to be much fun to hang around with, anyway. I'm sure Gaara's a delight in closed spaces."
She still looks serious, but her expression has softened a little bit. "What happened to the whole man and woman thing? Usually you wouldn't shut up about it." Her voice isn't as sharp, either. In hindsight, I realize that saying that about Gaara was risky; it could've gone either way. But looks like it paid off.
"Usually. But it's not about men and women today. I'm tired, and it would be too troublesome to make things so complicated. For now, it would be easier to think of it as just 'you and me'."
She looks at me, then turns around and looks at the clouds. They float slowly, and they obscure the sun for just a moment, casting a shadow on the forest below. I can't read her expression from this angle.
"The clouds are more interesting, I think," she says finally. She goes over to where I was earlier, and sits down in the shade.
"I always thought so," I reply, sitting down beside her.
