AMEGAKURE:
She left her afternoon work at The Forgery with a grin. The men had cheered her up somewhat and Konan was feeling rather happy. It was a shame she'd ruined it.
She'd finished Hikoya's book a while ago and it had her in circles for days. She had been oddly happy to stay in bed and not do anything, only emerging for food and the bathroom. Had she been depressed? Had a book managed to depress her? She didn't know, but when Jiraiya hadn't seen her for a good three days - he forced her out of her dark hole and brought her back to the living world with alcohol and light.
She worked off her worries with the kids at The Warrens and used her frustration at the unknown to power her weaponry making. She'd all but forgotten about the little 'mission' that Jiraiya had sent her on, thought nothing of it until she was walking home and found herself walking past the route she'd taken.
When she reached her apartment block, she found herself knocking at Jiraiya's door.
"You're alive, then" He joked, opening the door for her and letting her inside without question.
"Is the guy-we're-not-aloud-to-talk-about alive, too?" The front door slammed shut in an instant, Jiraiya staring her down. "I've given you plenty of time to think of a cover story to satiate my curiosity" She lied. She'd forgotten to ask, and was using it to her advantage by making him think she'd done it on purpose.
"Why can't you just do as you're told and forget about it?"
"Because I'm not a kid any more. And Anbu is serious - it's not a juvenile crime" She folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
"I'd never intentionally put you in harms way, you know that" He fell onto the couch where the unconscious Anbu figure had been. His head fell back, his eyes closing over.
"You can relax" He murmured, waving a finger towards the empty chair opposite. She sat on the arm and drew her legs up. "The Anbu member was from Konoha" Konan felt her stomach flutter. "There were two of them; the Anbu uniform - it was a necessary disguise, that was all. When they made it here, to me, I had to separate them to keep them both alive. I sent one with you - and kept the other here"
"He looked half dead" She whispered, remembering the limp body but unable to recall any severe blood loss. Or wounds, for that matter.
"Exhaustion. Certain things had taken their toll - he'd been back and forth from here to Konoha several times in the space of a few days" She'd never been outside of the village, so she wasn't sure how exhausting even one trip could be.
"You're lying" She guessed.
"No, I'm not" He sighed and she waited for a flicker of a tell - but it didn't come. He really was telling the truth. "The friend that I had you lead away - you can take comfort in knowing that you saved his life" He continued.
"I...what?" She frowned.
"He's alive and safe" Jiraiya's lips turned in a miniscule smile - but only for a second.
"Is he still in Ame'?" She asked with a frown. Jiraiya put up his poker face and she knew he wasn't going to tell her. "Well what about your unconsciously exhausted not-Anbu guy? Is he okay, now?"
"I believe so" You believe so, she mouthed. "He's stubborn; as soon as he could breathe and walk and count to ten, he was out the door and heading back home"
"To Konoha" She confirmed, and Jiraiya shrugged.
"Or elsewhere"
"He left his friend?"
"They had no intention of staying together for long; it'd draw too much attention"
"So he used you as a rest stop?" Jiraiya nodded with a small laugh at that.
"I guess so"
"Then...his friend is still in Ame?" When he didn't respond, a shudder tickled her spine.
"Leave the matter be" He said. "It has nothing more to do with you" She allowed herself to nod, but she would openly admit that she was curious.
000
The rain was horrendous. It hadn't stopped its attack in days and the clouds were blocking out any fresh air. The humidity was the worst part; Konan has a hooded layer on top to keep her dry - but she was already warm, despite the material's thinness. She wasn't enjoying the morning, and was even more irritated to find that some parts of The Warrens had been flooded. Her greenhouse had suffered; the plants weren't thriving at all.
"Damn" She whined.
"We'll fix it" Hikoya was grinning at her side, his hand holding onto to Teru's. "It's just garden-work, right?"
"No - there's no point" She said sadly. "I'll have to redo it all"
"Then we could turn it into a class project" Teru suggested, and Konan smiled at the idea.
"Maybe" Because secretly, it was her greenhouse and she was just a little more than possessive over it. "Don't you have a class to get to?" The kids left without another word, but Hikoya was back in an instant.
"It'll be alright" He said confidently. "Just you wait" And then he was gone.
Konan had stayed behind, well into the night, to try and fix what she could of her greenhouse. She'd lit the place up with torches and lamps and eventually managed to clear out the ruined ones and rescue some of the others. It wasn't as bad as she'd first thought, but she walked home in the rain smelling of soil and damp and her fingernails hated her for it. She'd forgotten to take the water bottles to The Forgery, and it was closed up as she walked past it in the early hours of the morning. No matter, she'd take them in the morning instead. She was working there for the day anyway.
KONOHA.
"For you"
Sasuke had been training in his room again, all day and for most of the evening; Tsunade wouldn't let him use the training rooms until she was certain that her basewas secure - and though she'd checked a dozen times, she didn't seem to want to risk it.
Kakashi had been helping him keep up with his practices, but the room seemws to be getting smaller and smaller and Sasuke was knocking things over repeatedly.
Training had been halted, Kakashi presenting a long gift wrapped and bound in brown paper.
"From you?" Sasuke asked, taking the surprisingly thin and weightless gift and trying to find an opening.
"No" Kakashi said.
"Tsunade" Sasuke presumed.
"No" The boy paused his unwrapping.
"Then...who?"
"If I tell you, I fear you won't accept it"
"Itachi" Sasuke froze, putting the gift down on the desk without opening it any further. "He thinks a gift can make up for what he's done?"
"No" Kakashi walked over to the desk and picked the gift back up. He shoved it towards Sasuke -width-ways so as not to injure the boy - and released it. Sasuke had to catch it and he did. "Open it" He instructed.
Sasuke peeled off the brown paper easily, carefully avoiding the cloth that was wrapped protectively around the sword's blade and instantly noticing the detail.
He'd never been one to marvel at weaponry - they were used to kill, they weren't meant to be beautiful. But he could see now why some people did. The gift was a fine one, a sword with a thin, precise and deadly-sharp blade. The detail was impeccable and the weight of its entirety was barely anything at all.
"Why?" Sasuke breathed, confused as to why his brother would offer him such a thing. "It won't make up for-"
"He's not trying to make up for it, Sasuke" Kakashi interrupted, a hand on the boys shoulder. "Right now, that isn't his first priority. Keeping you safe, is. This is his way of making sure you have something that belongs to you - something for you to rely on - should you need it"
"He came to you?" Sasuke frowned, and then remembered that he had told Tsunade to keep Itachi away from him, anyway. But still...
"His situation is complicated, Sasuke-"
"I know that!" He burst. "How many times have I been told that? By my mother? By my father - by you?! And still nobody will explain to me why" He seethed.
There was a knock and Sasuke froze. Kakashi pushed him aside, behind the little alcove where a useless bookshelf stood. Weapons at his fingers, Kakashi watched the door open and then slipped his weapons back into his pockets.