Nothing overly important to say, sooo...
Second prologue chapter! Enjoy.
Prologue: Chapter 2: It's a Promise.
(Capital of Land of Hot Springs, Two Hours Later)
As ordered, White and Green didn't stop until the had reached the capital. It was a sprawling village, a festival currently taking place. White had thought that tradition only applied to the Fire Country, seeing as the country always had nice weather. Now that he thought about it, the Land of Hot Springs wasn't too different climate-wise.
The festival was a strike of good fortune however, lots of people. Easy for two individuals to get lost in a crowd, he and Green kept moving, they still needed to find a place to wait for the others.
The two shinobi found a non-descript hotel, cheap room, as a good place to hold out. White would've liked someplace 'nicer', but Green insisted that this be the place. If a fight broke out it would limit civilian causalities.
Even still, with the festival there were tons of people and not just the capital's inhabitants, but those from the surrounding villages. He doubted it would make much of a difference, the streets were flooded with joyous crowds.
As they melded with the crowd, many didn't take notice; without an insignia nobody thought of them as official shinobi. Not to mention there were others dressed similarly as part of the show taking place in town. After procuring some provisions, Green spotted their bar along the side of the street, 'Spring's Heat and Sake', and got her companion's attention, "Now all we can do is wait, they wont be long," she had an air of certainty. She was sure of it, like it already happened and the others were just waiting in the room.
He envied her confidence, the boy was still rather sore about leaving the others, and that he could've set better traps. Over the last few hours however, he realized that it was inevitable. The attack would've happened regardless. In fact, his inexperience turned out to be a boon for his comrades, because they were able to turn a weakness into a temporary strength.
He could take some solace in that.
Entering the bar/hotel White took notice of the patrons within. They had chosen a rougher part of the capital to nest up in, and it definitely showed here. The denizens seemed more rugged, tougher than the average civilian. More than one were more than likely part of some shifty crew or gang. "Take her upstairs to the room and wait, I'll stay down here and warn you if anything happens via radio," White ordered.
Green just looked at him, and he could imagine her rolling her eyes at him, "Whatever you say 'Captain'," she returned in a playful tone. That actually stopped him short, how could she be so calm when the others very well could be dead.
He wanted to ask, he really did. But for some reason he couldn't find the words and Green had already taken off with the bundle held protectively within her cloaked arms. Letting the thought slide from his mind White took a seat at a table with his back to a wall furthest away from the entrance, the door in plain view.
Within minutes a waitress walked to his table, "Anything I can get you today, ninja-san?" She had amber eyes, brown long wavy hair, fair skin. Wearing a simple white t-shirt, brown skirt and white apron over it all, with a pair of brown slip on shoes.
White tensed slightly, but couldn't feel any ill will from the petite woman, so he settled himself. The woman gave him a disarming smile, "Sorry, I just know a ninja when I see one. This bar is a popular spot for them."
"Really," White's eyebrow rose at that, "Seems like my kinda place. Any others today?" 'This could spell trouble. . . '
"Depends," she said, her smile turning coy as she leaned on the table, enough that her cleavage was clearly visible, "memory's a bit foggy ninja-san." Despite himself, the masked shinobi found himself grinning, and from within his cloak he pulled a hundred ryo, sliding it over to her. When she reached for it, he pulled it back keeping it out of reach. The waitress smiled again, "Smart. Their was a squad of Grass nin that stopped by early this morning, and maybe about. . . say, forty-five minutes ago a group a Leaf nin."
"How many?"
"Three."
White nodded and slid the ryo to the girl, when she grasped it he grabbed her wrist, gently pulling her closer as he leaned in, "Five-hundred ryo for your silence. Two-fifty now, the rest when I depart? Also another fifty for any good info you hear," he whispered.
The woman liked where this was going, "You got yourself a deal, Sugar," she said, trailing a finger along his jaw, "You ninja types are such a turn on. . . men and the women," she finished in a husky tone. White's smile grew even more, now this was more like it. Handing her the two-fifty, her let her get back to work, easily noting the sway in her hips.
Activating his radio, he dialed into Green, "What is it White, anything to report?"
"Yeah, a group of Leaf nin were here forty-five minutes ago, according to the waitress. Whether they were here for us remains to be seen, but it's the most likely scenario."
A short burst of static, then her electro-toned voice returned, "I've just finished setting tags along the hall way, it'll buy us time."
"What about civies?" He thought she wanted to avoid needless deaths. Kind of the point of choosing this neck of the neighborhood.
"Chakra sensitive triggers, anyone not in the squad with Chuunin or high chakra levels are gonna have a very bad day," she said, finishing with a soft chuckle, "Oh, baby's waking up. Unless it's important, maintain radio silence. Feel free to scout the town," with that the channel went dead.
'Scout the town she says, 'pfft',' he thought, but as the waitress was making her rounds he decided to get some food, "Actually, I'd love to order some food."
Smiling, "Absolutely, Sugar," she giggled, sending a wink his way.
'Maybe a piece of tail while I'm at it.'
(One Hour Later)
White had done what his comrade had suggested and decided to venture the town, maybe try and get eyes on the Leaf nin. Wasn't the best idea in his mind, because if he could see them, then they probably could see him. But if that's how it had to be then he could at least lead them away from Green.
Spotting a bench, the boy took a seat and watched as the crowd around him continued in its joyous atmosphere; Everywhere he looked children and adults alike were smiling, enjoying the day and each others company.
Suddenly he wished he never found the Leaf nin, why would anyone want to ruin such a peaceful setting.
It was always ninja affairs that brought sadness to places like this, and these poor folks were none the wiser to the possible shit storm.
However, amongst all the happiness, White spotted something out of place. A boy, cropped spiky brown hair, tan skin and brown eyes, wearing a blue sleeveless hoodie and black shorts, no shoes. But that wasn't what caught his attention, it was that the boy was standing in the street with a solemn look on his face.
After a rather quick mental debate, White stood up and walked over to the boy. The child seemed to sense his approach and looked up, "Why the long face, kid?"
The boy just seemed to grow sadder, which didn't sit right with the junior ANBU, "I'm not a kid, I'm a grown up like you!" the kid said, a slight defiant tone in his voice.
The child's attitude actually drew a chuckle from the masked man, "A grown up, huh?" The kid nodded, "that's a lot of responsibility, ya know?"
The boy looked up at him, tilting his head like a confused puppy with a face of pure innocence and ignorance, "Like what?"
Mimicking the boy's actions he said simply, "Grown up stuff." The boy tightened his little fists, taking them man's comment as an insult, "Say, where are your parents, Kid?"
The boy's face turned mean and he crossed his arms, which for a kid that only reached to about his thigh was cute. His response changed that, "They bolted when I was younger, left me here at the orphanage," despite trying to look tough in front of the masked stranger, White could see the wetting of the boy's eyes. "Who needs 'em anyway, I'm fine on my own. . . AND MY NAME'S NOT KID!" he yelled.
Kneeling down to the boy's level, White said, "Well till I get a name, you're 'Kid', Kid."
The boy hesitated for a moment, but soon seemed surer of himself, "Yamoto. My name's Yamoto."
"Yamoto, huh?" he smiled, even though the kid couldn't see it, "Ya wanna know a secret Yamoto?"
His interest was suddenly peaked, what could the secret be, he wondered. "What? What is it?"
White picked the boy up and let him sit on his shoulders, "Ya see, Yamoto, I'm actually a shinobi on a super secret mission," the way he said it was laidback, like talking about the weather.
Yamoto's face lit up as if it was the sun itself, a complete turn around from when he first meet the child, "Really!? That's so cool!" The two of them began to walk down the street, looking over the festival, many vendors and the games.
"Yup, but you can't tell anybody. But that's not the secret I'm going to share with you." White continued, making the boy's day even grander.
"Really," he asked, looking down at the ninja from atop his shoulders. His tone was disbelief, "What could be more secretive than what you just told me?"
Chuckling, he gave a simply reply, "My name, Yamoto. And you wanna know why?"
"Why's that?"
"Because I'm going to make sure you never forget this day, friends do that," even though the shinobi couldn't see it, the boy had never had a happier smile plastered on his face than at this moment, so happy was he that he had to rub his eyes to keep from crying. He didn't want to look bad in front of his new friend after all. "So Yamoto, my name's Takeru. And it's a pleasure to meet you."
This was how the walk carried on for the unlikely pair, the shinobi allowing the boy to enjoy himself to his hearts content. Hidden all the while, Takeru smiled up at the boy, understanding the loneliness, he only wished somebody could have done the same for him at that age.
He let the boy try all kinds of food, play all kinds of games and even won him a few small prizes, 'Enjoy it kid, maybe this can start my atonement for what I've done,' his mind flashed to Green's charge.
('Green')
Steam filled the small bathroom of hotel room #17 as a hand swiped down to clear the condensation on the mirror. The action gave way to the image of a woman, soaked with her short curly white, almost pale blue hair matted to her forehead. Her violet eyes staring at her reflection taking in her lithe yet powerful form, she was quite slender; small bust, slim waist, and her height at times made it seem awkward. Like it wasn't proportional or something, but that was just how she felt.
She made to wrap herself in a towel, but stopped upon the slightest hint of a noise. It was something just within the threshold of her hearing. She slowly paned towards the door, her vision dropping south and fixing on the door knob. She never took her eyes from it, not until it twitched just a fraction of an inch 'They're here. . .' she thought, her eyes narrowing as the knob began to turn and the door slowly swing open.
In stepped a Leaf shinobi wearing the standard getup along with a balaclava to conceal his face, his obsidian eyes taking everything in. 'Empty," he thought, 'Still plenty of mist, so only within the last few minutes, the water hasn't even fully drained yet,". Turning to his fellow team, "Room's clear, let's grab the girl and go," he saw both men standing there with shocked expressions, "Wh-"
He was violently cut-off, a spear of water forcing itself through his chest in a shower of crimson rain, behind him the tendril of water came from the tub as it all came together to morph into the naked body of Green, the tendril mutating into her arm and hand both as bloody as the day she was born.
"Woopsies," she giggled sickeningly sweet, but the words came out as the most sinister thing the men had ever heard, going as far as to take a step back from the murderous woman. "What's the matter? You're not afraid of little ol' me, are you?"
Acting quickly one man threw three kunai at Green, as she used her kill as a meat shield to block the pointy weapons, the second man grabbed the baby and dove out the window in a clatter of glass. The previous man, realizing his part was completed, busted out the door into the hallway.
Green's eyes widened to the size of dish plates before yelping "Fuck," as she herself dove back into the bathroom slamming the door in her wake.
(Takeru 'White')
Yamoto had never been so happy, this man, a complete stranger had decided that he was worth the time of day. A shinobi!
Oh how he wished the day didn't have to end, but the boy new a thing or two about shinobi. Basic knowledge of course, being only five. But he knew this man would have to leave, and more than likely before the end of the day. Ninja were like that, there on minute, gone the next.
Currently the boy was eating a poky stick, a box of them in his other hand, still riding atop the elder man's shoulders. Looking down, he asked, "When do you have to leave," it sounded a little funny to Takeru, the chocolate candy warping his voice slightly.
'Truthfully?', "To be honest, I'd be surprised if I'm not gone by mid-day tomorrow." He couldn't lie to this boy, to do so would only crust his trust in adults. . . it would crush his spirit.
Opening his mouth to speak again, he didn't get the chance too as down the street, he saw the second story windows to the local shinobi hotspot blow open, smoke billowing out of them in a firey display. The entire crowd began to panic, men running to provide assistance and women pulling children away to a safe distance.
"Fuck," Takeru said through gritted teeth, forgetting he had an impressionable child within his custody. 'They found us that quick!?' Setting the boy down, he knelt down to his level again, ruffling his spiky brown locks, "Sorry kid, time to work."
Before he could stand, the boy wrapped him up in a hug, they child mumbling again and again 'Thank you!', Holding the kid at arms length he released him so that he could stand. "Never give up hope kid, it'll get better. I promise."
"How do you know?" Yamoto asked, his response was Takeru reaching for his mask and moving it slightly, his right hazel eye meeting with the boy's chocolate brown orbs. Fixing his mask, Takeru gave a two fingered salute before vanishing.
The boy didn't understand at first, but when he reconsidered it, he remembered the look in his eye, 'He's been there,' the boy thought, a small smile working it way back to his face, 'and he beat it.'
('Green')
She had only thrown on enough clothes to save her modesty, she didn't have time to worry about appearances. She had to keep eye's on that Leaf shinobi. Hopping from roof to roof, she spotted the man making a dash several buildings beyond her, and so she took off again. Utilizing her speed, she manage to get within thirty feet of the man, before he whipped around in mid air to cover the space behind him in makibishi spikes.
Grinding to a halt, she watched as her target took to another roof. Raising her hand in the form of a gun, she took her aim carefully and concentrated to the point that it gave the impression that time had slowed. Aligning her aim, she picked her location, 'Let's see you get far on a capped knee,' "Suiton:Mizudeppou no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Pistol Jutsu)!" From her extended index finger, a droplet of water bulleted forward.
It's path remained spot on, tearing through the Leaf shinobi's knee joint, felling him to the ground in a tumble. At least the man had the good graces to tuck 'n roll in order to protect the child from harm. The man rose to his feet, greatly favoring his right leg and tried to hobble onward.
Green giggled, the man wasn't going to give up, and neither was she! With the advantage in her favor she speedily caught up to his position. The man desperately threw himself down into the alley below to escape her clutches, crashing on top of a dumpster with a hollow thud, denting the top. He rolled off the side, and scrambled to keep moving.
Hopping down into the alley in a graceful manner, she slowly stalked her pray. He had sealed his fate by coming here, only so many exits and not much speed with his bum leg.
The man turned to see Green gaining on him, it was almost like a terrible nightmare, looking forward his vision was engulfed in the palm of someone's hand and before he could react, he was put to sleep with his head cratering into the alley wall.
Letting the man slump to the ground, White plucked the baby from the man's arms, 'Kami does this baby sleep through everything,' he thought in utter disbelief. Forgetting that for the moment, he addressed his female counterpart, "And the others?"
"I dealt with them," the baby woke in the junior ANBU's grasp and looked up to him with obsidian orbs, a tuft of black hair covering it's head. Soon the baby began to cry, "Ugh, give her here," she said expectantly.
Takeru, a little out of his comfort zone, acquiesced at once, gently handing the youngling off. "So what happened?"
Cooing the baby back to sleep, rocking her all the while, Green explained softly, her voice soothing, it was almost enough to put Takeru in a trance, "I was in the shower when they came in, I killed one off quick."
Nodding, the hazel eyed man assumed the rest, "I take it another took to the halls," Green confirmed it with a nod of her own, "then this guy makes three." That mean's they should be safe now, for the moment. At least until the others returned.
The Leaf shinobi began to regain some semblance of mind groaned, before much else could occur he was silenced by a water bullet delivered by Green to the head, spilling gray matter across the walk and wall. "Wait, how'd they get passed the traps?"
"My guess is that they spotted 'em, then suppressed their chakra as much as they could. Explains why I couldn't sense them. Plus they weren't much of a fight, so they might be low Chuunin."
It was finally at this moment that Takeru took in the kunoichi's state of dress, or lack thereof, for that matter. She simply had a tight tube top hiding her modest chest and what looked to be black sweat pants. Her skin was almost of a porcelain color, pure as snow, and he could now see her hair as well, giving him a better description of the nameless squad mate.
The hair, just as the voice the night prior screamed out to him. The jutsu she used as well. . . what was it about her? Was he supposed to remember?
"Stop staring," she growled though it held no malice, snapping Takeru back into attention, a blush under his mask for being caught, "we have work to do."
(Kiroo '0', 'Red', and Huyu 'Blue' - Outskirts of the Capital)
Luckily the three hadn't been attacked on the way here, but no doubt the enemy had eyes on them. They needed to regroup and fast, 'This mission needs to get done ASAP,' Kiroo thought, glancing at Huyu who's massive being was supported by Red, limping into town. After checking the main square, they got news of the incident further in town.
It was there the trio saw the blown out windows and structural damage to a hotel/bar. The 'Spring's Heat and Sake' it was called.
Asking the local populace yielded some troubling info. From what they could gather, three Leaf nin went in and only one came out through the window, then after an explosion, a woman hot on his tail taking to the roofs.
"Red," he started, "Give them a shout on the radio, get a position."
"Roger. . ." she drawled out, and with some maneuvering placed her middle and index fingers to the radio around her neck, "Anyone read. . . we're kinda sitting genin out here."
Crackle over the radio, then the line was picked up, "Glad to finally hear from you bastards, everyone good?" It was White.
"Mostly," she said, with something akin to guilt in her voice, "Where ya held up?"
"Old warehouse, you'll know it when ya see it." the line then went dead.
Red relayed the info, and after twenty minutes of searching, they found what they were looking for. On the bottom of the large door, in the right corner was the number zero in red chalk.
Entering the building, Kiroo immediately took command, "White!" The boy shot to his feet in shock, but ready to comply, "slide over that table," turning to Green "I need clean water stat, Blue's been hit, and if we don't handle it now, he's dead." Everyone went about completing their task, as Kiroo and Red pulled the large man onto the table provide by Takeru.
White took in their figures, The Captain looked a little roughed up, but relatively fine. Red was missing her cloak, leaving her in her fatigues, flak jacket and mask, she looked unharmed, sans a few scratches here and there.
Huyu though, he was hurt. Bad. How bad, he didn't know.
Green had a bowl of water ready and the Captain pulled a med-kit from within his cloak, handing it to the woman.
With Huyu laid out on the table, the others unclasped his cloak and witnessed the damage therein. A metal fragment had broken in half, which was lodged too close to his liver for any of the other member's liking. Half the man's pant leg was soaked in a dark color, and upon carefully removing his flak jacket, his shirt was mostly soaked as well.
Green turned angrily to her Captain, "You left this go untreated!?"
Kiroo was about to speak, but Huyu defended him in a strained utterance of words, "You try that *pant* the next time you *pant* have Uchiha comin' at ya *pant* with a chip on their shoulder."
Green fixed the man with a hard glare, but it withered fairly quickly. "Everyone, grab a limb. I'm going to have to remove the fragment." Doing as told, they prepared themselves for what was to come. White cut a piece of leather from his sandal, and Huyu opened his mouth understanding the gesture. Grateful for it really.
Biting down on the leather, Green counted down from three in her head, then dug into the wound fishing for the shrapnel. Blue's body tensed tenfold, as the others tried to hold him still and flat against the cold metal surface of the table. But for all the man's struggles to free himself, he didn't utter more than the occasional grunt.
Green was getting worried, Blue's resistance was starting to fade, 'He's losing way to much blood,' looking to Kiroo she asked, "Do you have any soldier pills, something to help coagulate the blood, put more chakra in his system?"
The Captain grunted a 'no' as he forced Huyu's arm back to the table, "We gave him four already. . ."
"Four!?" Green was furious, anymore and Huyu was likely to die from overdose. But she couldn't hold it against the Captain, if he hadn't then the man wouldn't have even made it into town. Looking back into the wound she redoubled her efforts, 'Faster. . .I need to be faster!'
As the giant's strength continued to fade, Red did something completely unexpected, tossing her mask from her face, she removed Huyu's as well and looked him in the eye. His dark to her one left green eye, the right was a pale white, as if it had frosted over, with a small scare running diagonally across it. And when she spoken, it was without her usual monotone drawl of words, this time a passion burned inside her, "Look at me Huyu," she said, using the man's name for the first time, "Look into my eyes, don't you dare let go, you hear me!?" She was all but yelling now, "So help me Kami, you better hold on dammit!"
"Ena. . . . ," the man said, his voice losing its natural strength, Kiroo's grip subconsciously tightened on the man's arm, not that Huyu could feel it. The captain knew the man was dying, that his friend was dying. He could see it in the way that Green worked faster, he could see in the normally stern man's face. As before he constantly looked rigid, but now it was as if every muscle in his face was relaxed and content, the sorrowful smile on his face, "What did I tell you, Ena?"
Red, known now as Ena, wanted to cry. Her soul demanded it, her training forbade it. But what truly kept the tears from falling, was the look in the giant's eyes.
"Don't cry for me Ena," he said, no longer struggling to get up. Instead, Ena placed her hands on both sides of Huyu's head to hold his gaze on her and only her, "Now please, tell me one more time. . .what I said."
Chocking down a sob, Ena thought back to their time together off mission. The relationship the two showed that only a few knew of, Kiroo being one of them. "That one day, we were gonna have a beautiful little girl. . .," Huyu's eyes closed slowly, his smile deepening, "That you'd have to chase off all the boys, and hope to Kami she became anything, but a kunoichi. Preferably a painter."
'Green' worked faster, and Kiroo saw her body trembling but made no comment, he only listened. Takeru could only watch the scene unfold, at a loss for what to do, but he had long let the man's leg rest free. If it were to be his final moments on this earth, he'd let him be without restraint.
Huyu slowly nodded his head, "Keep going," he pleaded in a faint whisper, some blood finally leaking from his mouth as a tell-tale sign to his internal bleeding.
"You said that we'd have a boy, too. That'd he'd grow up to be strong and handsome like his father. Protect his sister when you couldn't, and live as a successful shinobi. They'd both be happily married, grand-kids and all that jazz," she finished.
Chuckling weakly, Huyu turned his head to Kiroo, trying with the last dregs of his might to lift his right hand from the table. Kiroo chose to instead grasp the man's hand in his own, and Huyu lead Kiroo closer in to have his ear.
"Promise me, you'll get her out alive," there were some many underlining emotions in that one request, that Kiroo didn't know where to begin. Huyu never begged, but he knew that this was the one and only time this dying man would ever do so. "I know of your fate, do not let it become hers."
And with a request like that, from a friend, a comrade, and a brother in arms, there was only one correct reply.
"With my life, if need be."
Kiroo leaned back, but didn't let go, as Huyu turned back to Ena, "I love you. . . never forget that."
As Ena nodded her consent, Kiroo felt the man's grip lose all the strength it had left. It was completely limp, held up only because of his refusal to let go.
Green's hand emerged from the wound covered in the man's life force, holding onto the offending piece of metal. Looking at his face in victory, unawares. Her eyes locked with his lifeless ones, and her mind raced, 'No. . . no. no. no no no! This wasn't how it was supposed to happen!' Her movement suddenly became frantic placing her ear to his chest.
There was no beat.
Without hesitation she began CPR, hands thrusting onto his chest to keep blood flowing through his heart, "'White' put pressure on the wound now!" Not realizing his lack of movement she pushed 'Red' aside and breathed air into his lungs, the man's chest rising slightly. She started thrusting again, but with each one, her breath became more labored. Eventually Takeru had walked to the other side of the table and grabbed her hands bringing her to a stop.
The only movement in the room was Green's silent trembling, when White let go she let her own hands fall to her sides.
In a fit of rage Green grabbed the water filled metal bowl and hurled it across the warehouse to 'clang' against the wall. From her position, she shaped her right hand into that of a gun again, 'Dammit!' she fired a round of her Water Pistol Technique striking the bowl, 'Dammit!' again she fired.
The poor woman repeated this process a couple more times. Clang after clang till she had finally exhausted her anger.
The room was once again silent, and as Kiroo looked at everyone he knew they had to rest. Finally resting Huyu's hand back onto the table, the man set his eye's on his friend's lover.
'I mean it.'
No words had been spoken for the rest of the day, Kiroo sealed Huyu's body into a scroll and the group settled up to rest, allowing each other to sort through the ordeal in their own way.
(Later that night)
Takeru couldn't sleep, not with what had just occurred hours prior. He was amazed that the others could.
Is that what happens when you've been in ANBU for as long as they have?
Of course he'd seen comrades die in the field before, but the way this one went down. . . it just didn't sit well. And the fact that he was ANBU, his death would be recorded sure, but it wouldn't go down on their memorial stone.
For all the man had done, Huyu wouldn't even receive the public knowledge of his accomplishments like those in the regular forces. No honor.
He felt the man had been cheated. Yet how many people had he put into an early grave?
It wasn't just Huyu then. It was the entire shinobi caste, they were the prey to themselves. Takeru had decided he'd never forget this moment, this was something he need to learn from. But the lesson had yet to reveal itself.
Hearing a shuffling of feet, Takeru saw Green vault up into the rafters that lined the ceiling and sat down. 'Guess she can't sleep either,' Takeru pretended to be asleep, but really he was just watching her. He had no idea what was going on in her head, but he hoped that she be fine by morning.
"What did I say about staring?" her voice almost made the poor boy jump out of his skin, but knowing he was caught, he saw no reason not to join her. Hopping up to her position, he took a seat next to her, a foot or so distance between.
The words came before he could stop them, "Today, when you flipped out. . . why was that?"
Green sighed to herself, then looked at the boy to her left, "I'm a combat medic. Yet, I don't have the fancy jutsu like Konoha and that Tsunade bitch does," note that she never would have called Tsunade a bitch in her presence, not if she wanted to live anyways. She just wished for a moment, that she could have some of Konoha's medical knowledge. "In my career, I've lost sixteen people, Huyu makes seventeen."
"It must be hard," Takeru couldn't understand, not the way he wished he could, for her sake.
"Wanna know the worst part?" Takeru was slow to answer this one, did he really want to know? His silence was taken as a yes, "The last three, before this mission, they were all Genin. Poor little Genin brought out to fight in a war way before they were close to ready." Green seemed to close in within herself, but kept speaking, "The old fucks of our village's start 'em and they expect the young to fight 'em. But, there was one thing I learned from this war."
That got White's attention, "What lesson could you get outta that?"
She turned to the boy once again, she still found it funny how everyone perceived him as such, 'Little newbie,' "Maybe one day I'll tell you."
Takeru smiled at that, but when his eyes caught movement within in the dark, he knew it to be Ena. "What can you tell me about Huyu?"
It was random, Green thought, though it did make sense for him to be curious, "It has the same merits to my lesson. He was in the same class as Ena and the Captain. From what I've heard, they were even in the same Genin squad back in the day."
As the two conversed, both ninja remained unaware of the Captain's eyes has he observed their budding relationship. It was good, he thought, while it lasts.
Truth be told, it very well could be snuffed out tomorrow. . .