Thanks to wildcrazythings for editing this chapter for me.

I don't own anything.


Chapter 3


"Hey, Captain."

"Hmm?"

"You know," the boy questioning his captain glanced away with a slight blush, "since… since…"

"Just spit it out Toke." Isshin grumbled, as he adjusted his position to find a more comfortable perching spot where he could lean against the main trunk of the tree they were up. After he did, he sent a quiet look to Toke urging the adolescent to continue. Although he already suspected what he was about to say.

"Your sister isn't with them today."

"Meaning?" There was no threat in his words, yet his tone carried an air of caution that went straight over Toke's head.

"It's been a while…" the man was now fiddling with his fingers that rested in his lap. "… sooo… could I maybe…"

Isshin sighed out then looked up to the two other shinobi that where hiding in the above branch, one of them giggling like a teenager while the other appeared to be fixated on the scroll in his hands. "Go for it." He finally responded as he then just completely gave up on all three of them.

Isshin hadn't even finished before Toke shot up to the next branch up and joined his two teammates in the gawking session.

"Ha ha ha. Toke! Good that you joined us boy-o." The oldest member of their team smacked Toke on the back almost causing him to lose his balance. "Oi Captain, you're the only one that ain't up here." He then called down to the second oldest member of their team who was doing a decent job at ignoring them.

Still, this did not deter Daichi. "You know. This really could be considered a great team building exercise. So you should be leading this Cap, it'll help develop team efficiency and trust. And it's like the kid said. Your sis didn't show up. Sooo…"

No response from Isshin, which only made Daichi chuckle. "Now. Don't be all haughty Cap. I still remember back when you were nothing but a young strapping boy of, I think it was fifteen. You were a bold one back then. You know Toke, you Cap'n when he was your age thought that instead of watching from a distance, he might have a go at-"

"So, what do we have here today." Isshin spoke as he suddenly appeared next to Daichi, an arm spread over his shoulder and his fingers digging painfully into a nerve on Daichi's shoulder bone. To the other two teammates it looked friendly, till you saw the pain contorting Daichi's face. "Lay off." The older man shoved Isshin away. "Well now you here. Have a look at the chest on that one."

Daichi pointed to one of the many women that had congregated at the lake in order to wash their clothing, and themselves. It was a swelteringly sunny day and many of them had stripped down to nothing but thin under layers as they washed the clothing, those that where in the water were actually wearing nothing. A few where even playing around, splashing water at each other and jumping on their backs.

Daichi muttered something about vibrant beauty at its finest, but everyone seemed to ignore him as he fully took the opportunity to enjoy the moments in this war ragged world that that they all endured. Still, neither of the men really paid much mind to the joys of freedom that in that moment they all emitted in that exuberant atmosphere.

All they we really focused on where the giggling accessories that women carried.

"I've seen bigger," Isshin idly commented.

"Yeah, and you almost lost your eyes for it. Ms Kirrin would have killed you if it wasn't for your father." Daichi humourlessly added to which Isshin then frowned at the memory.

Toke gasped and looked at his Captain with misplaced admiration as he whispered. "I only ever heard of Ms Kirrin." It always seemed somewhat unusual to people that Toke could sound so naïve, when appearance wise he could have easily passed for nearly twenty, the tall lad was just shy of fifteen.

"And your captain here, got so close," he loomed into Toke as his voice diminished to but a whisper, "he almost t-" His face smacked into the branch they were all perched on.

"Ah, careful Daichi. My hand slipped."

"Slipped my ass!" He yelled, blood trickling down from his nose. Realising how loud he had spoken, he smacked his hands around his mouth and glanced back to the lake.

Things where continuing just as they had been for the last twenty or so minutes, and Daichi released a sigh of relief. Wiping his nose he grumbled. "Now look at me. People are going to think I'm a pervert."

"You are a pervert Daichi."

"Yeah, but I don't need other people to know."

"Cap. Look, there's that medic that you found," the till now quiet Jian informed their group. Of all his group, Jian was definitely the one that Isshin worried the most about. While his talents with the pen where impressive, he suspected that he did not utilise it responsibly.

Daichi was still fussing himself with his nose, checking that nothing was broken that he wasn't the first to look. But as always, the first to comment. "That starved woman was nothing but skin and bone. Can't see what would be of interest there."

Despite himself, Isshin did look down at the lake. And while her nakedness was something that he paid attention to, he noticed more how isolated she was from the rest of the women. This didn't seem to bother her as she continued to lather her long hair before dunking under the water to rinse it. As she emerged from the depth, her hair almost shone in the sunlight with its ridiculous shade.

She settled herself in the shallow water for a little, probably enjoying the coolness, before she emerged and walked out. It was at this point that Daichi had finished sorting his bloody nose out and looked. "Which one is she again?" To which Jian pointed at the auburn woman that emerged from the water. Isshin wanted to groan at Daichi's new level of idiocy, exactly how many exotically coloured women did he think hung around within the clan? "Damn. Now I was not expecting that."

Neither was Isshin in all honesty. In the few weeks that she had been kept around, she'd gained the weight she must have lost traveling, and it did her many favours. Gone were the protruding ribs and hipbones, the ashen hue replaced by a lively olive tone and while she did not have any muscle definition, she held a lean gracefulness that was eye catching as her body bounced softly towards where her clothing was piled.

"Hm, I was suspicious at first. But it does seem that the cap-"

Daichi went crashing down into the branch below with nothing but a "Screw you Isshin."

"Ah," Isshin sounding moderately disappointed, "my foot slipped."

"Captain." Jian spoke in his soft voice that always bugged Isshin. "Do you think that I captured the atmosphere?" As he then held up the paper that held a mixture of ink doodles. Well they couldn't really be called doodles as they contain detailed images of individual women, most of which he could name…

"What are you going to do with those?" Isshin sighed.

"Sell them," Jian spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, without out a shred of shame or remorse.

"To who?" Outraged that this was happening.

"If I sell them to the cook then I get extra servings for a week. To the armourer and he gives me some new weapon and free maintenance for a month, he wanted drawing of Na-"

"I don't really want to know the details to be honest," Isshin dismissed the man and he turned back to drawing when Isshin's eye caught onto his new drawings.

"Erm. Jian." Isshin scooted a little closer. "Why are there six drawings of the new medic?"

"She is in popular demand at the moment."

Isshins head dropped as he resisted a groan. If his sister ever found out what his teammate was doing, she would personally see to their castration. The threat of his sister aside, Isshin personally didn't like the fact that Jian was distributing naked images of the unsuspecting women while spying on them when they were meant to be on guard.

After a long sigh, Isshin acted. "Okay. That's enough. This is the last time you're doing this." He muttered before taking the scrolls off of the shinobi. The man looked a little startled and then panicked when Isshin with one hand held the seal for a weak kanto, and before Jian could respond, the scroll with all the images was in flames and being dropped to the ground.

"Captain!" Jian howled, the loudest thing that Isshin had ever heard come out of his mouth.

At that exact moment, Daichi had jumped back up to their branch. "Oi, Isshin. Where do you get off throwing people off trees? Now I missed the sight of that healer, she's already got half her clothes on now! If you wanted to keep the sight all t… what's wrong with Jian?"

"Captain destroyed Jian's drawings and told him that he couldn't do it again." Toke was the one to speak up when no one responded. Jian too busy moping and Isshin ignoring all of them. His last thread of patience rapidly dwindling.

"What?" Outraged, Daichi turned to Isshin. "You can't do that. I already paid him with my last bottle of wine." Which was the last straw for Isshin.

"First off. I am the Captain of this team. So think long and hard before you start undermining me. Secondly, you are not even meant to be having wine, that you own some and are trading it breaks so many encampment rules that I am sorely tempted to report you-"

"Um.. Captain…"

"- to Izuna so that I could have the satisfaction of having your ugly face stuck on a pike so that I wouldn't have to listen to all the crap that comes out of it."

Daichi laughed. "Oh bring it on kid. Your about fifteen years too early to take me on."

"So you admit that your over thirty then?"

"Wait. No. I didn't say that."

"Captain, I really think-"

"All your bullshit about being-"

"That ain't bullshit! I am twenty-seven. I meant that I could hand your ass to you like a I had a hundred years of experience!"

"The only hundred year old person I now is having their ass wiped for them."

"That aint what I mean either."

"- need to look at this Captain."

"What Toke?" Isshin snapped at the youngest member, sending a glaring look at the boy. The fourteen year old sort of shrunk under the state but pointed towards the lake. All three of them all then turned to see what Toke was desperately going on about.

Only to be hit smack in the face by a water style jutsu torrent that sent them all crashing into the next tree, then the next one before they all then tumbled to the forest floor along with a confetti of branches, twigs and foliage.

The four of them laid on the ground, a stunned wet heap of shinobi, mud and leaves. From the direction of the lake they all heard a faint, "That'll teach you perverts" along with loud round laughter and cheer. Isshin was mostly relieved that the distance meant that they couldn't tell who they were, and the women didn't seem to hold much interest in pursuing them.

Some women where just satisfied with violence.

Which Isshin on most days could just accept, when it wasn't directed at him.

Fortunately that was the majority of the time seeing as he managed to keep out of trouble.

"Well." Daichi began, as he ways did. With a groan, he sat up and rubbed the back of his now sore neck and looked over to Isshin to was sitting upright too. Toke and Jian had yet to make a full recovery, looking to still be stuck in a daze. "This hasn't happened to me in a while."

Isshin scoffed with a nod before glancing over to Daichi. "This is the last time I take a scouting rota at this time of the day." Then began running his hands through his wet hair.

"You say that every time." Daichi spoke with a wide grin. "And every time I manage to persuade you."

"Hn. How about next time I just refuse to listen to your advice?"

Daichi laughed loudly. "You'd be dead if that was the case." Pulling himself to his feet, Isshin did the same.

Quietly shaking his head Isshin chose not to respond. "Let's get these two up. I think the women have proven that they will be fine on their own without scouts."

Inare stared in the direction of where the attack had just gone and then back at the three women who had combined their efforts to pull off the combo. She laughed with them, even though she knew that she was likely unwelcome to join in, then went back to shaking out her few items of clothing.

It was a strange sensation to be part of such normal routine. Although it had to happen, she just never applied such mundane actions to a shinobi encampment.

This was only the third time that she had left with the other woman to go bathing, and the first two times she had been too uncomfortable to even remove her clothing and settled for washing her body bit by bit.

When she had realised that none of the women really gave her more than a second glance, she went full out and just decided with the heat and sweat a dunk in the cool lake would be the welcoming relief she needed.

It had been a short few weeks since she had been strangely welcomed into the Uchiha encampment as a medic. Inare was still very uncertain of how she should feel about all of this. On one hand these where shinobi, fighters that where revered as the greatest warriors of this unstable world and this was a very large Clan that clearly had its own agenda in land acquisition. Yet, she was alive. She was fed, no longer starving, her strength was back and she beginning to gain weight, all while feeling more like her former self.

She could not lie to herself about any of those fact, just that one was easier to ignore for now.

Now washed, dressed and with a pile of wet laundry. Inare decided that she would make her way back before the other women joined. It wasn't as if she walked with them.

Using one of her borrowed skirts as a sling to hold all her wet clothing, she began the short journey back to the encampment.

As she moved away from the lake, the sound of the women diminished, and Inare rapidly found a rise of comfort. While solitude had become a comforting aspect of her life, being surrounded by such energy was change that she revelled in.

Idly, she wished that she was comfortable enough to return and join them in their conversations, songs and laughter. Hisoka had not been around to help her integrate this time, and Inare had failed horribly on her own. Inare was admittedly an awful socialiser and the women here where already fixed in their own social groups that she had no entry to. She was not necessarily outwardly disliked by these Uchiha, there was just a very large air of caution and distrust.

Of which she could understand and was in no rush to prove otherwise.

As she began walking, she could already feel beads of sweat dripping down her clammy skin, making her frown. The heat the last few days had been ridiculous, by the time she made it back to the encampment she would no doubt be covered in sweat.

It was hard to get used to. While her old home had been just as sunny, the air had invariably been chilled. How she missed her old home on days like this.

"Look who it is!" Someone cried out joyfully, and Inare froze to a stop at the sound of an unknown man's voice. Cautiously, she turned to see a company of four men of varying ages suddenly drop from a tree. Inare held back of completely recoiling in shock at their sudden appearance as she quickly recognised Isshin, the man that arguably saved her from infection, blood poisoning and starvation.

"Hello." She greeted kindly, with a small smile that only afterwards did she realise felt more forced than necessary. She only knew Isshin from a small encountered right at the beginning of her entry to the Uchiha encampment, and this new man that had actually spoke seemed overly friendly. That put her out of sorts.

"Don't tell me you don't remember me?" He asked, looking someone downtrodden. Isshin took the opportunity to push the man aside.

"Sorry Inare. He can be a little-" at which point Isshin was then pushed out of the way and the man came forwards again, stepping a little too close. She then noticed water dripping from his hair and clothing. All four of them were drenched.

"I bandaged you up when you were all starved and beat up, the names Daichi. Good to see that you gained the weight and all. Now, I'm no healer myself, but I have been told that I have a magic touch. So you have to remember me!"

Inare would never have thought about it unless he had said so, but now he asked he was incredibly familiar. The rugged features and poorly kept beard quickly reminded her of the man from Isshin's team who'd woken her up once. She was reminded of a discomfort he had arose in her, but the easy smile was a little hard to be put off by.

But still…

A smile lit up Inare's face. "Yes. I remember. I apologise, how could I forget? I would recognise your face anywhere." Gradually her tone morphed form joyful surprise to one of drowning sarcasm. "A bunch of peeping perverts like you lot are hard to forget."

Stunned silence greeted her, and her eyes danced across the faces of all four men. From the youngest red faced embarrassment, a very blank uncaring face, Isshin's obvious shame and the oldest mildly panicked look that told her he didn't know how next to respond.

Shaking her head at the silliness of it all, she told then, "I won't tell anyone it was you guys."

Relief then passed them all. Except the person with the blank face, who Inare just then realised looked like he was nodding off.

Daichi laughed loudly, clutching his belly as he did so. Once it died out, he stood straight and smacked Inare on the back. If not a little too hard, and she had to take a step forward to take the impact. "You're a sparky little one!" He said with a smile. "Come on, you're going the wrong way for the encampment."

Despite herself, Inare actually smiled at the statement. Even though she knew she should still be angry that not five minutes ago all four of these men where probably looking at her naked. But somehow, she found the small part of it all where the humour lied.

Which was a very small hard to find place. Now on second thoughts, she probably should tell someone.

"Unlike you, our new medic has some sense of directions." Isshin interrupted dryly as Daichi began heading off on his own. Despite the cold tone to his comrade he still offered Inare a kind look which she reciprocated. "You were going the right way." Obviously feeling the need to clarify for her.

"I know I was."

"Ah, hmm." Daichi seemed a little stunted at that as he looked around the trees. "That explains a lot," he mumbled to himself before going off again in the direction that Inare was travelling in.

The youngest of Isshin's group laughed and Inare peeked a look at the tall boy. The one that had not made a single sound was likely nearer her age. Isshin, she had still to decide how old he was but decided that the fact mattered little to her.

All but Isshin followed after the oldest member of their group, and Isshin then nodded his head in their direction and Inare followed.

They walked in silence side-by-side that Inare did not feel the need to break. Isshin on the other hand did. "Erm. Just so you know… we weren't peeking… at anyone specific. It was just an… you know… an overall glance." He had hardly began before they both knew he was digging himself into a deeper hole at this rate.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, so you don't have to worry about what I think."

Clearly looking a little disappointed with her lack of care, he tried to further clarify. "I didn't mean it in that sense. More of the sense that I… well we weren't targeting our focus."

"Captain." Jian whispered to him almost out of nowhere and Inare almost jumped at the body sudden appearance. Isshin nodded, a mild look of relief dotted his face. "You know what you said earlier about me…" He drifted off hoping that his captain would get the hint.

Isshin cleared his throat a little nervously. "If you can get full permission," which he doubted Jian would ever receive. The boy was too quiet and sometimes surrounded by a sullen atmosphere to ever receive such permission from a woman. "Then got for it. If not. Don't. Or there will be consequences Jian"

Inare gave them both an inquiring look, obviously wanting to ask what they have been talking about, but Jian's sudden change of demeanour from gloomy to near depressing had Inare blanching a little and feeling even more out of place than she did before.

What could possibly change someone's mood that quickly?

In the end she chose not to think too much about it, and almost wiped the thought of that boy named Jian from her mind.

Till he turned to her at the just outside the south entrance to the encampment with an expectant look.

"Miss Medic." He greeted her. His tone cool and carrying very little trace of emotions. "Would you possibly be interested in a whetstone?"

Her brows rose. "A whetstone."

"Yes. I have many that I could offer you."

A smile grew on her. "I'm afraid that I have no use for a whetstone." She told him with a short laugh, a little confused by the strange offer.

"Ah." He paused. Thinking. "How about some sake?"

Her brows now rose in interest. "I wouldn't mind some sake. What you offering for it?" Expecting maybe he would want some salves for injuries, or extra bandages.

It was something that she had come to experience with the encampment life, how the people would trade continuously. She had been offered weapons, food and nice little luxuries such a soaps for bandages, salves or even just healing bothering blisters.

"Please give me permission to draw you naked."

"Use your goddam imagination!" Isshin shouted at the boy before his fist came crashing down on the poor Uchiha and sending his instantly unconscious body crashing into the ground.


Just expanding outwards to have some more Uchiha's thrown in the mix. Dont worry, its not going to be all cheer with the Uchihas, i wanted to get a nice mixture of both human and war. :)