Chapter 2: Can't Say 'No'

"Uncoh Kaito!" Amaya squealed as she ran towards the Daimyo barreling into his legs. Wrapping her arms around his knees she giggled with delight. Her giggle was contagious. Catching him by surprise with her exuberant greeting, Kaito couldn't help but chuckle himself. When Amaya was happy so was everyone else in the room. The energy was palpable. The atmosphere seemed to physically change with her mood. Kaito gently ruffled her shoulder length, curly brown hair, then scooped the cherub up into his arms for a cheerful hug.

"That was quite a greeting! You seem very happy today."

She nodded vigorously then placed her hands upon his cheeks.

Akuna cleared his throat, rising from his position on the floor where he had been sitting across from the girl just a moment ago.

"Amaya, use yo.."

"uh-oh" the child gasped removing her hands from her uncle's cheeks, quickly covering her mouth with them. She looked absolutely heart broken and just as quickly the room felt heavy with sadness.

"She's about to cry" Kaito thought.

She wriggled in his arms indicating her desire to be let down. Once on the ground, Amaya took a deep breath and let it out slowly while straightening her clothes. One more breath and she softly cleared her throat and timidly stated "Maya no cwy Uncoh." She slowly looked back towards Akuna for reassurance.

"You've worked very hard. You can do this." He thought while smiling in encouragement.

Amaya nodded once. She took yet another breath to calm her nerves, fixed the smile back on her face and turned a pair of deep blue eyes up to meet the warm brown eyes of her uncle.

"Uncoh Kaito," She began slowly, taking great effort to speak as clearly and as concisely as a only a 4 year old could "can Maya pwease tend cadmee wif cousin Noki?" The combined sense of relief, satisfaction and pride washed over the trio as the child began to bounce up and down clapping her hands together.

The two men could picture her chanting excitedly "May did it! May did it!" and singing "May go to schoo-oo, May go to schoo-oo!" Neither one could contain a grin and slight chuckle.

Kaito laughed to himself and patted the child on the head.

"Uncoh not say no to dees eyes" Amaya grinned widely, leaning forward slightly with one hand on her hip while waving the other before her face with a chubby little index finger pointing from one blue eye to the other and back again.

"Ha ha ha" Kaito laughed heartily. "Hmm, about those eyes," he said bending at the waist to look the child in the eye. "You and I will have to talk about those eyes some other time," he said pointing from one eye to the other with his own index finger before lightly tapping the tip of her button nose. "For the time being, why don't you go find your Aunt in the garden. She would enjoy your company for tea. Run along now."

Akuna and Kaito watched as the child skipped merrily from the room followed by her body guard who offered a quick bow towards the Daimyo before departing.

"Ah, Akuna. She's improving faster than I had expected. You've done well. I wish I had considered your tutelage sooner. I may not have had to remodel the west wing."

"She's worked hard, Kaito. It's been more than 5 months since her last tantrum. The promise of being with Enoki has kept her focused. I don't think she understands that going to the academy means being apart from you and Junko, though."

"I've been concerned about that as well. I'm starting to think it may be for the best. That little display a moment ago tells me she spends far too much time with Junko."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing you know. Your wife is quite charming after all."

Akuna watched as his friend's smile relaxed and his expression became more contemplative.

"I still don't think she's ready, Akuna." Kaito sighed. "Her empathy is far too transparent. She'll never survive if she cannot mask her telepathic abilities. It needs to be second nature to her, like breathing."

Akuna understood and agreed completely. He had been working on that very skill when Kaito entered. She was beginning to grasp the concept of masking her chakra but the telepathy was proving to be much more difficult.

Amaya was a natural telepath. She didn't need to rely on jutsu or chakra to know the thoughts or feelings of others. In battle this would prove to be a huge advantage. She would posses the ability to read her opponents thoughts while reserving her chakra for her own attack or defense. What Akuna was beginning to realize this morning, however, was that since the ability wasn't driven by chakra it couldn't be masked by chakra either. It seemed they were at the mercy of her emotions and everyone knows the emotions of a child can be quite volatile. It was quite likely her empathic control would only improve with maturity.

Kaito had been hoping for a more optimistic prognosis but he was not entirely disappointed. Akuna had been successful in getting her to speak rather than show. It was progress. Kaito couldn't recall Amaya ever stringing so many words together at one time, at least not in his presence.

"The Council will convene in 3 weeks. Satoru, it seems will be advocating Amaya's attendance at the academy" Kaito commented.

"He is your man. He would not approach the subject if he wasn't certain he could convince the others."

"It's good to know we have at least one man on The Council."

"I trust him Kaito. I believe if confronted, Sakiko would side with you as well. The others though…" he trailed off, there was no need to finish. The Daimyo was well aware of where the loyalties of The Council lay. "I will be there to represent the Princess."

"Thank you. There's another matter to be addressed requiring your presence."

"I plan to nominate you, Akuna."

"So then it's true?"

"Yes. Katsuma is unwell. He is not expected to live much longer."

"Was it wise for Tanaka to choose Katsuma to replace Yagura as Mizukage? Surely he knew Katsuma was not long for this world. The old man's health was failing even then."

"It was because of this, The Council did not object the appointment."

Upon Yagura's disposal, Tanaka had appointed Katsuma Kage without consulting the Council. Such actions by a Daimyo would have been an outrage under normal circumstances. Generally the Daimyo could nominate a candidate for Kage but the decision ultimately fell to The Council.

"I'm honored, Lord Kaito, but, all due respect, I would rather stay here and remain Captain of the Guard."

"I understand, but as Kage, you would be in a better position to keep an eye on Amaya and protect her."

"Of course" he nodded. "I will accept your nomination."

Although he wished to stay close to the Daimyo, Akuna had hoped Kaito would figure a way for him to stay close to Amaya. Katsuma's ailment was rather fortuitous, now if only The Council were to agree with the appointment. Although, Akuna was obviously loyal to Kaito, he did not believe those whose loyalties lay elsewhere would disapprove of his appointment. Makoto, the ring leader of those opposing the Hikana Clan, was Akuna's grandfather. Some bonds can never be severed regardless of political disunity. The bond between family is one of those. He only needed Makoto to convince the others.

"Thank you Akuna. I'll leave you to your work then." Kaito turned to leave, but stopped just as he reached the door.

"Oh, Akuna? One more thing…"

"Please, speak to her about those eyes."