Arms folded, patience gone, and the stench of humans hanging around was too much for Yousei, she would give anything to be able to pull out her little daggers and slit the throats in front of her but that would be going against their laws. She looked at the lot in front of her and simply stated, "Never."

"Come on sempai, you can do anything," a group of young girls, barely hitting puberty, pleaded pathetically to their senior, the blonde girl leading was actually on her knees begging, "all we want is a hair clipping, we don't care which one it's from."

"That is disgusting. What section are you girls from anyway?"

"Well, I'm an Omou, those two are Kou and she's a Sori."

"Don't you know that is forbidden for the groups to interact before you are of age."

"We're of age."

"The age is fifteen which you are clearly not."

"Sempai…"

Yousei's eye began to twitch, what were those shinobi doing to her people? "Get back to training, and I don't ever want to hear you requesting my assistance for something so meaningless again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sempai…"

The group dispersed, defeated, back to their individual training leaving Yousei to chew on her hair in frustration, a bad habit she had had for her entire life. Munching gently she stormed past the others training, there was so many out today which was also frustrating. Ryūzoku had always kept to themselves but lately have been taken to trying to impress the stupid guests, well the girls were while the boys sulked in the houses or with their tutting companions. Things were changing and they were changing too fast.

Yuka rubbed her tired eyes, she had been up all night making sure no one broke into the visitors rooms, and gave a weary sigh, "No, I don't know when they'll be back. It all depends if they found anything or not and how exhausted Kizoku would be, it's not exactly a short distance to fly you know."

"I asked if my sister was safe," Kankuro continued the conversation while waving to a group of girls who were busy sparring, "you know, what if the dragon eats her?"

"I'm sure that he'll find something else to eat besides your sister…"

Gaara, however, was ignoring the giggling locals and his brother's 'concern' as he had other matters on his mind, "When will this meeting be held exactly?"

"Well, Kaura is very tired at the moment and you're too busy worrying about your sister so basically when everyone is ready."

"That was an extremely vague answer."

"It's the only one you're getting. Anything else?"

"Yes, what is she doing?"

"Oh, her?" directly heading their way was Yousei, still chewing profusely on her hair like a starving rabbit, but it didn't concern Yuka in the least, "She does that when she's pissed and trying not to hurt someone. Mind you I haven't seen her chew that hard since the day Kaida nearly broke her whistle…"

"You know I really don't get her," Kankuro stopped flirting with the locals long enough to join in the conversation, "everyone else seems to be happy to see us so why not her?"

"Yousei's year group was probably the most brainwashed, you won't see any of her year group because they're already married and therefore banned from ever leaving their houses and husbands."

"That doesn't sound too good."

Yuka nearly fell over at his stupidity, "Of course it's not good, they're slaves and don't even realise it because of their upbringing. I'm just glad that Yousei has chosen not to be married and is still fighting otherwise we'd be losing our best spy."

"Thanks Yuka but you should probably know," Yousei pulled the hair from her mouth as she meet with the trio and joined in their conversation, keeping downwind from the shinobi, "I'm engaged and therefore retiring."

"You're nineteen…"

"I've had this lecture from Momiji, I'm getting married so deal with it."

"Married at nineteen, sounds like hell to me," the puppeteer decided to voice his opinion, there was nothing else for him to do after all, "so what is your husband, like ten or something?"

"Shut up pig."

"Hey," he held his hands up in a fake defence, "I'm just going off observations here, little brats back talking to their superiors and what not."

Yousei began to tap the handle of the blade on her thigh, contemplating whether or not to cut him in front of her friend, "Your observations are off, he's actually fifty four."

Oxygen escaped all of the warriors, no idea what to say to the statement. Eventually Yuka choked up words, spurting them out painfully, "Not Ryuu! That man should've retired twenty years ago when he had that series of heart attacks."

Completely lost Gaara raised his hand, "Ryuu? Please explain."

"Fattest piece of lard you will ever meet, hasn't left his house in six years and is current leader of the Sori."

"Well, love does strange things…"

"What's love got to do with it?" both Yousei and Yuka became generally curious, having heard the word from their companions but never fully knowing the term, the smaller girl speaking out with all thoughts of cutting gone from her mind, "we're talking about marriage. Is there some connection between the two?"

Yuka pulled out her notebook, ready to take notes, "What does it even mean?"

"What does it feel like?"

"When does it happen?"

"Does it hurt?"

"Is it real?"

"Can you touch it?"

"What do you mean by the term 'falling in love'?

"Does that hurt?"

"Yousei don't be stupid, it's like a drink right?"

"I thought it was a book?"

"How do you fall into a book?"

"How do you fall into a drink?"

"It's liquid!"

"But cups aren't very big."

"You can still fall into them."

"I guess, but that means you can break it right?"

"Whoa girls take a breath or something," a small chuckle escaped Kankuro as he was interrogated, he never thought he'd have this kind of conversation with anyone…not even his naïve younger brother, "what you are asking is a very complicated subject and not a matter that can be explained very easily. If you want to know about it we'd have to go somewhere to have a proper conversation."

Yousei quickly returned her hand to her thigh, pulling her dress material back and revealing the knife attached to her upper leg, "Touch me and you will bleed."

"I wasn't planning on touching you at all."

"It's a good idea."

"I'd like to see more of your leg though so if you want to lift your skirt a little higher…"

There was a quick flash of metal as Yuka caught Yousei's hand, Gaara's sand also in the mix, holding her knife away from Kankuro's throat. He wasn't fazed, he had prepared himself for it, but none of that stopped the fact that the knife grazed the very outer of his skin. It took a bit of effort on her part but Yuka managed to push the blade back to its owner, shaking her head in disappointment, "Don't attack the guests."

"Whatever," the blade returned to its holder while Yousei backed up slightly, "I don't even know why I'm still standing around, I have a wedding to plan."

She didn't wait around long, going back to her hair munching and jumped over the surrounding rocks to escape. Yuka let out a small sigh once she was sure her friend was well out of ear shot and turned to the two shinobi, "You really want to do me favour?"

A small smile lingered on Gaara's face as he raised an invisible eyebrow, "What would that be?"

"Help me stop this stupid wedding anyway you can."

"What's in it for us?"

"I have a dragon, you have sand."

"It's a deal then."

The rush of beating wings made a few heads turn before going back about their business, it was just a dragon returning what was so great about that? The blue claws landing gently and a loud yawn echoing around the stones, Kizoku lay his head on the ground and let his heavy eyes start to close, "We're back. Get off."

"Aw, poor Zu-Zu," Kaida was first off so she could give her companion a small kiss of thanks, "how about I clear out the hot springs and we take a nice long bath huh? I'll scratch your belly."

"With my scrubbing brush?"

"Yes with your scrubbing brush."

"Alright, you win," he slowly got back to his feet and followed the two girls up the winding paths of Dragon's Peak in search for the others. Of course it didn't take long since Kizoku was very keen to go bathe and he pounced at the group he spotted, his voice sounded raspy and tired, "Don't run, please don't run."

Temari slid over the scales and jumped into her two startled brothers, "What did I miss?"

"You're okay, good," Kankuro sighed relief at her safety, quickly recovering from it and getting back to the topic at hand, "so what exactly do you want us to do about it?"

Yuka shrugged casually and gave Kaida a friendly welcome back wave, "I don't know, I've never had to deal with a situation like this before."

"Well you know her, we don't."

"Yeah I know that she's as stubborn as a mule and she won't listen to a damn word that I say have to say to her."

"And we'll do any better?"

"Let me guess," Kaida rose her hands to her head and began to gently massage her temples, "you're talking about something stupid that Yousei is going to do."

"You're not one to talk Miss I-Fall-Off-My-Dragon."

"Shut up, besides I know how to fix the problem."

"What's the problem?"

"Doesn't matter, just get her and meet me in the hot springs in ten minutes."

She left without another word, leaving the others to stand in confusion. Eventually Yuka returned to her senses, remembering the others around her, and pointed down one of the many paths, "The hot springs are this way, you're welcome to join us."

Blood slowly began to drip from Kankuro's nose, "You have mixed bathing?"

"Well…I guess we would but the men don't bathe much."

"Gross."

"Yes. So if you find your friends feel free to bring them along, you guys really need one…"

She too ran off without another word, leaving the siblings standing in yet another confused silence. Mainly they were surprised at how quickly the girls changed subjects or made plans and acted on them without another thought on the matter. A few awkward seconds passed before something clicked in Gaara's head, "Did she just say that we smelled?"

"I think so."

"Yes she did."

Steam wafted gently, rising out of the natural hot springs on the top of Dragon's peak, giving a warm and comfortable feel even before people slipped into the boiling water. Chirping giggled from the young local girls began to break the tranquil feel of the hot springs and that only increased with the incoming shinobi. Yuka couldn't stop her eye from twitching in anger at the base of the springs, her orders once again being ignored, "Get out right now and get back to training."

"Oh my God they're actually heading this way."

"Do I look alright?"

"You're naked, of course you look alright."

"What should we do?"

"Get out!" she tried again but was completely ignored. The shinobi, who now stood at the base with her, being the only main concern in their little busy brains. Being ignored becoming too much for Yuka her fists began to shake in straight frustration, "Bloody hell, GET OUT‼"

"Get out."

A soft, familiar, twinkle was terrifying to the juniors in the springs, making them all jump out and vanish before the voice could speak again. Each of the visitors sighed happily and slipped into the pools with ease, thankful that the amount of steam covered them up completely, a deep sigh escaping the Hokage, "This feels so goooood…"

"Glad you like it," their host quickly followed suit and dove in, swimming around a bit before resurfacing and waving into the mist, "come on in Yousei, the water is great."

Feet landed gently at the top of the pools, the owner being not the least bit amused, "Why the hell did you call me here?"

"To have a bath. Why else?"

"I'm fine."

"Get in or I'll get our visitors to hug you again."

The threat was enough to get her into the water, not happy, but she still got in the water. An eerie silence hung over the now cooking group as they settled into what felt like an uncomfortable truce, the shinobi being too frightened to even converse amongst themselves. Hoping for some sort of distraction which was quickly fulfilled when a reptilian looking creature jumped in, sending water flying everywhere but leaving plenty of room for the other visitors to swim around in. The dragon rolled over onto his back, his dark eyes swiftly catching onto them, "Hello there, I see you found the baths alright."

Now unnerved about the dragons, Sasuke gave a sharp nod, "Yes we did, I didn't realise that dragons bathed."

"Of course we do, we made these springs large enough for even Momiji to fit into and still have lots of room for others to still bathe."

"How thoughtful."

"I'd like to think so."

"Alright I have the scrubbing brush and now we just have to wait for Yousei to show up," Kaida quirked without even bothering to observe the situation.

"I'm already here moron."

"Oh, hi Yousei!"

"Idiot."

Starting to scrub the dirtied underbelly of her purring dragon, "So you know why we are here right?"

Yousei simply jumped up and began to scrub with a pumice stone she always brought with her, "Yeah I'm helping already, you're so see through Kaida."

Speaking from the heavy mist, the Kazekage spoke his piece, "She was going to convince you to not get married."

"You're getting married? Wait. Who said that?"

Kizoku blew the steam away, letting all members in the springs see each other for the first time. Seeing the bare toned bodies of the Leaf and Sand shinobi for the first time gave all the Ryūzoku girls light blushes, and small smiles. All thoughts about why they were actually there vanished completely. It was no surprise that Yuka was the first to recover, and to quickest to spot her friend's reactions, "Stop staring Kaida, it's rude."

"Hu-efh-sd f-efa-fsed."

Flexing his tanned muscles, Kankuro gave her a warm smile, "You'll have to use your words."

"Wow you guys look good."

"We know."

"Bet you can't beat me in volleyball."

"What?"

A ball seemed to appear out of nowhere and smacked him in the face, Kaida recovering from her shock and now looking for competition, "It's something to do instead of just lazing about, so be a man and hit back."

"You're on‼"

The duo began to beat the poor ball between each other, with kunoichi and two Leaf shinobi joining in also. Yuka drifted over and joined the Kazekage in relaxation, never really seeing a point in working up a sweat when the heat did that for her, "See we're not that bad."

"We aren't either," he replied, eyes on the game but focused on the girl behind it, "I wish your friend knew that."

"Don't hate her, she'll come around in time I hope."

"I think I've come up with a solution to your marriage problem though."

"Oh?"

"She's a spy correct?" Yousei slipped off the dragon and grabbed a towel for her nose, seeing the blood dripping from it made him smirk lightly, "We could use someone in the village like that to get messages to the other villages or to find information we don't contain."

"Move her to the village?"

"It would stop the wedding."

"And give her time to look at the local cuisine," now loving the idea Yuka began to get excited, "it's perfect Lord Kazekage, I'll tell Kaura and she can go back with you when you leave."

Gaara began to get slightly worried with Yuka's intentions, "Sure…"

Off in the distance the topic of conversation finally stopped the blood from escaping her nose. She hated herself for being attracted to the shinobi, and was completely jealous of the fact that Kaida was so at ease with them. Yousei looked at her blood soaked towel then back at the pools, deciding to leave before she had second thoughts about her stupid marriage.

No! Her rightful marriage.