II. Coast
"Here's your tea."
"Thank you." Shizune took the tea in her hands and blew gently. Mucky green waves crashed against the white edges of the cup, drifting back when she lifted it to her mouth. Sweetness touching her tongue, she set it down and smiled. An image of Lady Tsunade in her office, alone, fingers rapping on her desk in boredom, came to her then. Without tea. Looking down at her own cup, she let a sigh escape and turned her attention to the drapings hanging by the entrance to the tea-house. They was blue. Standing right in front of it was her bodyguard, arms crossed and gaze on the road. "Are you sure you don't want any before we head out?" She frowned when he turned an eye towards her.
"Sorry, Lady Shizune, I'm not a tea drinker."
"Water, then?"
"I can acquire some later, right now I want to focus o—"
"One water please!" Shizune called out to the server.
The young woman bowed, hurrying off. She came back a moment later, glass in hand, and set it on the table. "Here you are, ma'am."
"Thank you, again." They smiled at one another and she turned back to Iwao. "Come over here and sit down, that's an order."
"Yes, Lady Shizune." Iwao materialized directly across from her, eyes going to the glass.
As the young woman let them be, Shizune closed her eyes, taking another sip of her tea. Waiting a moment more, she spoke up again. "Well? It's not going to disappear the longer you stare at it like that. Might as well drink it now, before it gets any less colder..."
"Sorry, Lady Shizune... I—"
Another sip. "And quit apologizing already. I told you that you didn't have to do that anymore, alright? Saying sorry to me is going to do nothing for you, especially over not drinking a glass of water." She took a fourth sip, one eye open.
"S—you're right," Iwao replied, taking the glass in hand. His fingers curled around it tightly, and, almost immediately, his expression softened. "What's the next course of action?"
"Drink."
It was gone in one swig. A few drops on his chin were absorbed a moment later, vanishing as if they were never there to begin with. "You said we'd be increasing our pace to the Land of Water yesterday. If so, then why are we just sitting here? Shouldn't our main concern be completing the mission in a timely manner as possible?"
"It still is. Sometimes, though, it's nice to rest and take in the surroundings. After we finish here, it's straight on without any stops." Handing her empty tea cup to the server, she waved a hand over the map she'd spread out on the table. Placing a finger on a spot near the edge of the Land of Fire's border, roughly a few leagues from the Land of Water, she began, "This is where we are, and," the finger slide towards her, now on a small island off the coast, "this the Land of Whirlpools. I was thinking of continuing along the coast, starting here. We can avoid any potential trouble that way. From there," her finger ran along the coast to the peninsula directly across from the Land of Water, "we go here. There is a port town there that will have boats." She waited for his eyes to scan the route then rolled the map back up and stuck it into one of her flak jacket's pouches. "At the very least, it'll take us two more days to get there, so you should enjoy yourself while you can."
"I understand." As she got up and stretched, his eyes went to the pouch where she'd put the map in. "And the reason you don't want to take any of the bridges is because they'll attract too much attention."
"No, I just like boat rides better than walking, when available." She saw him look away, a bit red in the cheeks. "Does that bother you?"
"N-no, Lady Shizune, it was just that I was staring too long."
"Staring...?" She looked down at her flak jacket, the pouch containing the map, and made a face.
"At the pouch."
"Oh, that." Shizune let out a nervous laugh, face turned away. "It's... alright..." Shaking her head free of floating thoughts, she thanked the server and man at the back and left the tea-house. Standing out in the middle of the road, she looked up at the sky. Dark grey clouds were all around. "It's going to rain soon, we need to get moving."
"Right away." Iwao was beside her then, and as they started their trek closer toward the coast, he focused his eyes back on her. "Lady Shizune, I'm truly—"
"Don't. Say. It." Her eyes were on the road, mouth contorted, and as she felt his eyes shift to the scenery, let out the air she'd been holding in her lungs. Her heart, it was racing again. She touched a sleeve concealed hand to her chest and sighed. Her thoughts drifted to what his past must have been like to be apologizing almost constantly as he must have lost everything, once, or something very precious to him. Someone.
Like she with her uncle.
Remembering all the time she'd spend at his grave marker, wishing him to come back with each tear that hit the nameplate. Wishing that he hadn't die so soon, so suddenly. And, yet, she clenched the hand into a fist and walked a bit faster. Dan hadn't died in vain, she'd been able to come to really know Lady Tsunade. Grateful couldn't begin to describe her feelings and, as she listened to sounds of his footsteps behind hers, she wanted with all her might to show him that no matter how that precious someone left the world, they still make it that much brighter through their past actions.
— º¡Ø¡º —
When the two of them finally made it to the coast, the island that was the Land of Whirlpools out in the distance, she took her flash from its pouch and checked the water. Unsuitable for drinking. She would have to re-fill them later, perhaps once they reached the fishing village further down, and looked over. His gaze was on the sea, and she followed it to the island. Decimated in the times of endless war many years prior. The Village Hidden Among the Whirling Tides, Uzushiogakure, was just a shell now.
Her eyes went from the island to the back of his flak jacket. At the red swirl stitched into the fabric, as was standard of all of Konohagakure's flak jackets. The Uzushiogakure crest. On his own attire, not only was the symbol on his flak jacket's back, but also his clothing underneath, on the shoulders. She called out to him, asking if he were alright.
"I'm fine."
Though, his gaze lingered on the island a moment more as she turned to continue along the coast again and they continued on. Keeping a steady pace, she thought of the look in his eyes, same as his smile, and frowned again, wondering what his circumstances must have been, and—no, now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things. No matter what his past may have been like, he was her ally through and through, there was no changing that fact. If she could cure his ailments, then maybe, perhaps, as she dared to take a glance back, she knew she couldn't let her potential feelings get in the way of the mission. Of her professionalism.
It was a long while until she finally spoke up again, head full of analytic deductions, "Do you know about the Land of Whirlpools and our alliance with them?"
"Konoha has always been close with them, and our trust was enough that we have their clan's crest stitched onto each and every one of our shinobi uniforms."
"Correct. Though, there's more to it than that." She looked back at the island, now a distance away. "The clans of shinobi that resided in Uzushio were all adept in the art of sealing jutsu, to the point where it wouldn't be wrong to call them masters of their trade. Some of them specialized in certain types, such as the sealing of objects or the sealing of chakra. Living things. Any and all kinds. Konoha lacked any of these specialties, so we sought to make them our allies. Which wasn't hard, considering the Senju were blood relatives of the Uzumaki. The Uzumaki being Uzushio's most prominent shinobi clan."
"And the reason Uzushio was destroyed was because of its mastery of sealing jutsu."
"Their sealing jutsu was seen as a threat to the other nations, and thus, it was annihilated nearly thirty-five... years ago..." She stopped then.
"Lady Shizune?"
"Fine," she rasped, and, quickly as it'd come, it was gone again. Back was the woman confident in her words and actions. Her duties. She continued, "As I was saying, the village and all of its people were annihilated, the survivors fleeing to other parts of the world in hiding. The same can be said for any of the former Mikukage's men. The most likely scenario is that we'll encounter a significant number of them in our time in the Land of Water, so I want you to be on your guard at all times—not that you never aren't."
"I will do my very best, you needn't worry."
"I'm not. We're here," she told him, looking at the cluster of shacks made of bamboo and straw.
Passing by the first few shacks, a strong aroma of cooked fish came to her, hanging from stands on either side of them, people out and about either checking them over or doing other daily tasks. She watched one man gut a fish, getting it ready to put on a fire. What looked to be his wife and three children were overseeing—the wife was tending to the fire, while the children were gathering twigs, leaves, and anything else that could be used to fuel its flame.
Further ahead was the dock, where an elderly fisherman was getting ready to tether his boat to a wooden pole and come ashore. She went back to the man and his family as they prepared to eat. The man slowly rotated the fish he'd gutted, stuck through with a stick, carefully making sure each side was thoroughly browned before taking them off and handing them to each of his children from youngest to oldest, then call out to the elder. As the elder mosied on over, there were enough left over for the man and his wife and then some. Tell Iwao to follow her, she approaching the man as he was taking the extras away from the heat of the fire. A bandanna around his arm, his face was round, body slightly pump, and when she made her presence known, he smiled at her with imperfect teeth
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but may I have two of your leftovers?" she indicated at herself and Iwao, "My... partner... and I, we're on a trip to the Land of Water and we haven't had anything to eat since we left our village."
The man quickly went from her to him and winked. "You two from Konoha, I take it? On a top-secret mission of grave importance?" His face lit up as he leaned back and took two of the leftover fish on sticks, and offered them. "Ah, well, it's none of my business anyhow. Here you are."
She took one and waved a hand at the elder's boat. "Is there any chance we may us have a ferry across?"
He snorted. "Aha! Yes, but only after having some dinner with rest of us! Stay awhile!"
As the man invited them over and spun around to introduce them to his family, Shizune whispered to Iwao, "Once we make it ashore, we shouldn't greet the Fifth Mizukage right away. There's no telling what we'll encounter once we arrive and I want to be prepared for anything. We'll ask around local villages, read postings—anything that could be of value to us. The more we gather, the better. In the meantime, let's enjoy ourselves here."
"I'll follow your lead, Lady Shizune."
As they were given a place to sit, she thought of what she'd told Iwao earlier. Of the loyalists scattered about the island. What she hadn't told him was the threat of something… darker… lurking behind them, in their shadow. There was no reason for her to keep this information from him, but, she also knew this threat was just her gut feeling and not based upon any hard evidence, thus until she found something, it was best to keep it to herself. Though, this gut feeling of hers, amidst the light crackle of the fire as night crept its way closer toward them, it was the same as back when Kisame and Itachi had infiltrated Konoha. The Akatsuki. Whatever they were, they obviously wasn't an organization that benefited the people.
Looking over then at Iwao as he nibbled on his fish, she thought of what Lady Tsunade had meant when she spoke of "already knowing what is expected of you"—if it was more than she herself had been tasked with. Something other than just a simple bodyguard. If his pain, and with it, his past, were connected to it. The more and more she thought about it, the more and more it seemed rather strange, but no, she could trust Lady Tsunade. There was no reason for her not to and she was fool for even having a smidgen of doubt.
Taking a bit of her own fish, she resolved to worry only about what awaited them in the Land of Water, and only worry once they'd set ashore. It was the only way for her to keep her peace of mind a little while longer, before whatever shadows that lurked in the underbelly of the island came out to greet them. It was the only way to keep her gut from wrenching and the doubts from crawling back into her mind.
