A/N: Okay, so I'm improving...at least on the frequency of my updates. The quality of the writing is up for debate, but I'm pretty happy with it. One thing I would like to defuse before it gets pointed out is that Naruto and Tayuya's speech is very different from their norm, mostly because of the situation they're in. For reference, see the last section of the previous chapter where Naruto explains their plan, and that should explain pretty well. Even so, please let me know what you think--I really hammered this one out pretty quickly (in relative terms) so there wasn't as much deliberation on this as there usually is. I hope you enjoy it. Also, I am stateside again--huzzah!


Tayuya woke to the sounds of life getting started in the small village in Tea Country that she and Kyo had settled in nearly a three weeks ago. It seemed impossible that her life could have changed so drastically in a month, but by now she was no longer amazed or surprised about anything that involved Kyo.

After their initial arrival in Tea Country, Tayuya and Kyosuke had spent a couple of days learning the local customs and trades as he had outlined when they arrived. When Tayuya felt like she had a pretty good feel for her new trade as a seamstress, and the appropriate demeanor to match, Kyosuke had moved them out into the countryside to wander for a bit. They had traveled between several of the small villages learning more about rural life in Tea Country so they could eventually go to ground somewhere. After about a week they found a suitably small and out of the way village to settle in. Surprisingly, she had managed to fit the role of blushing newlywed pretty well. This, of course, was helped by Kyosuke's command performance as a new husband—properly doting and concerned for his new bride's well being and comfort.

'Kyosuke,' Tayuya thought, 'is so good at what he does that I doubt he even realizes he's doing it half the time.' Oddly, the thought both depressed and delighted her. On one hand, Kyosuke's act stirred feelings in her that she wasn't sure she had a name for, as she had never experienced them before. On the other hand though, knowing it was all an act was somewhat disappointing.

'It would be nice, I guess, if someone actually did feel that way about me,' Tayuya thought morosely. 'But, I guess I'll just have to enjoy the imitation while it lasts.' Tayuya never dwelt long on unpleasantness, mainly because she had had so much of it in her life already.

Kyosuke had managed to find his niche in metalworking, of all things. He had spent some of his money on various works of metal in the seaside market and decided that with some practice he might be able to make comparable products. As usual, his modesty was nothing short of ridiculousness, and after about a week of practice his work was on par with the better metalworkers in the country (that they had explored anyway). In fact, he actually worried that he might make a name for himself and draw attention, and so started to design flaws into his workmanship in order to degrade the quality of his products. Such a skill required yet more affinity with his craft, and it was no surprise to Tayuya when he successfully accomplished that goal too.

'It's like there's nothing he can't do,' she thought as she went about her morning rituals. Her dyed hair was now combed out of its thick tangles that she used to keep it in and she found herself with a lot of very fine orange hairs that had to be put up in a bun every morning. Having never had to do this before, it had taken some practice before she was able to properly put her hair up. Some of the other women in their village (it was so small that the people didn't even bother with a name, they just called it "The Village") had helped and given her a lot of advice on womanly topics. Some of the advice was definitely not needed, or really wanted for that matter, but since she was impersonating a newlywed, it would not have done to express that sentiment.

When they had moved in Kyosuke and Tayuya had shortened their names to 'Kyo' and 'Taya,' in keeping with the customs of the rural in-land communities. There were no family names, and that suited Taya just fine. The village they lived in was small and allowed them their fair share of privacy. Privacy was good for them, and not for the usual reasons.

Over the last month they had been making preparations. While they hoped that this reprieve would last a long while, they were under no illusions that they would not eventually be found or recognized by someone. So they prepared.

Kyo spent any time not spent in his shop out in the forest trying to re-awaken some of his ninja skills. He sought out dangerous predators and put himself in harm's way in order to dredge his battle skills to the surface of his mind. It seemed to be working. He could now call on a number of his techniques at will. Taya helped him to try and name them so that they would be able to talk about them without having to describe them each time. She knew, of course, what the Bunshin, Kage Bunshin, and Henge were, along with a few others. The rest they made up names for, but even then they were getting hard-pressed to name his seemingly bottomless well of techniques.

She had once joked that he must be related to the Copy-nin Kakashi with all of the jutsus he knew. Naruto had reacted very strangely to the name 'Kakashi' and that had actually led to jogging some memories out of Tayuya. They had been getting ready to sleep (in separate futons on opposite sides of a shoji screen) while discussing his progress for the day…

Tayuya suddenly got excited. "Hey, wait a minute. When we went to grab that Uchiha bastard the Copy-nin was talking to him right before we showed up. He might have been the Uchiha's teacher! And you and your friends fought so hard to get that jerk back that you must have been close to him…maybe you were even on that kid's team! And if you were on his team, and Kakashi was his teacher, that would mean that Kakashi was your teacher too, right?"

Kyosuke didn't seem convinced. "I don't know Tayuya, it seems pretty thin. You say this Kakashi guy had the—what was it? The Sharingan? Anyway, that's probably why he was talking to Sasuke, since according to you the Sharingan is an Uchiha bloodline. I doubt they would make such a legendary ninja a simple teacher. He was probably giving Sasuke a special lesson in his bloodline or something."

Tayuya had continued to fill him in on major events and people—apparently he had been paying attention and absorbing everything she told him. When she really thought about it, she realized that she could tell him pretty much anything and he would believe it. That kind of power was almost scary, and the way Kyosuke was turning out, it would be like total control over a weapon of mass destruction. She couldn't do that to him though—somehow he was just too earnest and kind to try and manipulate like that.

'And since when did I turn sentimental?' Tayuya thought to herself as she finished getting dressed. Kyo was already gone, of course, out into the woods to do his morning workout. He would open the shop for business in about an hour and then they would both get to work on fixing the various metal goods and clothes of the village that required mending that day.

Taya moved to the dining area in their small house (which had been built by Kyo over the course of a few days with the help of several clones that he had henged to look like various people they had met while traveling the countryside. Apparently, he had a photographic memory now, too…). She stirred the ashes in the fire pit and added some fuel to start building the fire up to heat the water. The wooden tub with the leftover rice from the day before was close by and she opened it to start preparing some onigiri for breakfast. When the water started to heat up she retrieved the miso paste from a small cabinet Kyo had purchased from the village carpenter as part of his plan to generate good will between the various merchants in the village. Taya finished preparing the miso and rice just in time for Kyo to return from his workout.

As Kyo walked in the door he brought with him a breeze of the cool, sweet air of the unpolluted rural country that they lived in. She was surprised the first few times after he returned from his workout that he did not stink of sweat and body odor. Eventually, when she worked up the courage, she had watched him go through his workout and then retire to a waterfall somewhere deeper in the woods to shower off. She had even seen him stop the water from flowing with just his chakra, and had decided then and there that she didn't need to spy on him anymore.

"G'morning, Taya-chan," Kyo said brightly as he came in the door, clad in his usual loose hakama-style pants and t-shirt.

"Morning, Kyo-kun," Tayuya beamed as she greeted him. This was the act—although as time went on, Tayuya was finding it easier and easier to call him by the familiar name. "How are you this morning?"

"Meh, same as usual Taya-chan. It was a good workout, but nothing new today," he replied as he sat down. Kyo rarely bragged about things, but he had noted that lately it was getting harder and harder to find the kind of dangerous predators to square off against that jogged his survival instinct. He had been very careful in his encounters to avoid killing the animals (most of the time), but inevitably they decided that the competition was too great in this area and must have moved on. Incidentally, the local farmers and livestock breeders were noticing a severe drop in the disappearance of their animals.

"In any case," he continued, "I think my combat skills are about as far as I can get them without actual combat or some serious instruction. I've been thinking more and more about the seals on my scrolls and something is bothering me about them." Kyo paused to take the bowl of miso and plate of onigiri Taya offered him.

"Bothering you how?" Taya asked.

"Well," he started, "maybe not so much bothering me as it is kind of an itch. Like there's something there that I need to look into. It's kind of that feeling when you're trying to think of something and it's right on the tip of your tongue but you just can't grasp it."

Taya nodded. "Sounds like it would be worth checking out," she agreed. "I don't remember a whole lot about them, but I can try and show you what I do remember." Kyo nodded as he and Taya paused in their discussion to eat a bit. Suddenly Taya looked up at Kyo with an urgent look on her face.

"Whu?" He asked with his mouth full.

"You don't remember hand seals, do you? You use them in your jutsus, but you don't know the actual separate hand seals," she explained. "Again, I don't remember all the particulars, but since the snake-teme was trying to create his own jutsus he was always talking about them. I should be able to remember enough to give you a little head start, and maybe it'll be enough to jog your memory. You probably knew all about it before whatever happened to you happened." Taya somewhat enjoyed helping Kyo try to recover his memories—it was almost like game. Besides that, in their current situation it was about all she could do anyway. They shared the household chores and each had half of the business that they shared, but she knew that in terms of survival most of the burden lay on Kyo's shoulders.

"That's a good point," Kyo agreed after a moment of thought. "When I remember a jutsu the hand seals kind of come as a blur—or not at all if I can do the jutsu without them. If I knew more about how they worked I might be able to remember more jutsus, or even make my own. Thanks Taya-chan! You're a huge help," he grinned at her from ear to ear.

"Yeah, whatever," she said, but inwardly was pleased at his praise. 'Are most people like this and I just spent most of my life with the wrong people, or is Kyo just some sort of crazy exception to the rule?' she wondered.

Kyo and Taya finished the rest of their breakfast in companionable silence, each hoping that it would be just another quiet day.

When they finished, Kyo and Taya cleared their eating area and washed everything in the wash basin in the corner, which was fed by a hand pump that pulled water from the nearby stream. Kyo rinsed and washed the dishes and Taya dried and put them away. To any outside observer it would have looked like the very picture of domestic tranquility, and in all honesty it was as close a facsimile as they could make it without actually being married. Taya had already come to terms with this fact, and Kyo was starting to see through his act and realize that he was slowly moving away from putting on a show towards just being content with his current lifestyle.

'This isn't so bad,' he thought as he handed Taya the last of the dishes. 'I think I could really live like this, someday. Hopefully once I get my memories back I can go back to my home and just live like this.' Taya turned around and grinned at him after putting the last dish away. 'Hopefully.'

III TKI III

Kyo always made sure to open his shop at the same time as his fellow shop owners in the village. The flow of life in the village was predictable enough that one could count on local business for about the first two hours of the day before the travelers from the nearest large town started making their way through the village. In this way if one of the people in the town needed help it would almost certainly be given before the visitors arrived, and everyone then stood a fair chance of doing the maximum amount of business that day. The economy of the village was fairly simple, and it all rested on one shared axiom: what's good for one business is good for all the businesses, and when all the businesses do well each individual can expect to do well. Essentially, everybody worked together to make things better.

It was idyllic, but Kyo knew it could never function in a larger environment, since there would be too much competition. In the village, there was only one tradesman per craft.

Kyo opened the large double doors to his metalworking shop and helped Taya set up her cart and stand with all of her sewing and mending materials. She worked outside so that her cloth goods would not be endangered by the hot metal that Kyo worked with. Once she was set up and started to work on one of the mending jobs to be completed from the previous day, Kyo went back into his shop and started on getting himself ready for business.

First, he moved to the furnace and bellows and heated the remaining coals from the previous day. They had been burning all night and doubled as the main heat source for the house, their bedroom being just on the other side of the wall from the shop. By the time evening set in the coals were cooling and maintained a very comfortable temperature in the living space. Taya had been impressed by Kyo's ingenuity, but he insisted that it was not anything special, that all metalworkers had their homes set up that way.

As he heated the coals Kyo added more, little by little, to ensure that he would have steady heat in the furnace all day. He went about intermittently setting up his tools and working areas and returning to bellows periodically to make sure the new coals caught and burned steadily. Eventually his shop was ready for work and he picked up a project that was left over from the previous day: a sickle that had been broken on a rock while one of the farmers in the village had been reaping his crops. Kyo had re-forged the blade the day before and let the metal cure overnight in a tub of cold oil to harden the steel. On this morning he put his grinding wheel into motion and got to work sharpening the oiled blade to a fine edge, moving from the grinding wheel to a whetstone, then to a polishing stone, and finally using a leather strap to strip off any remaining metal burrs on the edge.

During his work a few neighbors had dropped by to say hello, and to request some work to be done.

"Ohayo Kyo-san! I hope you are well today. Would you be able to sharpen my cleaver? It's been too long and I can barely make the cut all the way through my meats."

"Of course, Kenichiro-san. I would be happy to, just as soon as I finish with this."

"Good morning, Kyo-kun, might I ask you a favor? I'm afraid Toshiro and I dented our favorite baking pan, could you straighten it back out?"

"Certainly, Mai-san. I hope little Jirou-chan is feeling better."

And such was the morning routine. Kyo finished his work on the sickle and returned it to its owner, happily accepting some fresh fruits and vegetables in trade for his effort. The cleaver was sharpened and the baking pan restored to its original shape. All in a day's work for the village's lone metalworker. The village had been very happy to have him settle there, since before it had taken a day's walk to the next town to have anything of that nature repaired. The metalworker there was glad for the reprieve as well, since he had work from his own village to cover as well as the traveling customers he dealt with. In fact, it had been him who had pointed Kyo and Taya in the direction of their village in the first place.

While Kyo was busy with his own tasks, Taya finished mending the dress that had been brought to her the day before and returned it to its owner. When she returned to her cart she found a young woman by the name of Yura waiting for her. Yura was about Taya's age and not yet married, so Yura always asked Taya questions about married life (sometimes embarrassing ones that Taya didn't properly have answers for). As Taya got closer she could see that Yura was nearly shaking with nervous energy.

"Ohayo Yura-chan! What can I help you with?" Taya inquired pleasantly. In spite of Yura's inquisitiveness, Taya considered her one of her closest friends in the village.

"Oh Taya-chan, I have wonderful news! Shiro-kun and I are going to be married!" Yura nearly shouted.

Taya's face split into a genuine smile. "Oh Yura, that's wonderful news. Congratulations!" Taya had found that on the whole Kyo's initial assessment had been correct: most marriages were arranged and bride and groom rarely knew each other before wedding. She knew that in Yura's case, however, that Yura and her betrothed had known each other since they were children and were very much in love with one another. A very fortunate arrangement, to be sure.

"Thank you, Taya-chan. I know that traditionally the mother of the bride usually takes care of the wedding kimono, but in my case, my mother cannot." Taya nodded. She knew that a terrible sickness during the previous winter had left Yura's mother bedridden. "I have no sisters either," Yura continued, "but I can not think of anyone that I would consider to be more of a sister to me than you, Taya-chan. Would you be willing to make my wedding kimono?"

Taya was taken aback by the request. "Oh, I'm not sure, Yura-chan. I'm flattered of course, but that might be a bit out of my league. I can sew, but I'm not sure I could make you a kimono worthy of your wedding celebration." 'Crap! I can't do something that big, I'm nowhere near that skilled…'

Yura looked disappointed, but not deterred. "Taya-chan, you give yourself no credit. I have seen some of the dresses and clothes that you make—watched you make them right here in this stand, even. I know that you lost your kimono in a flood after your wedding, but you must remember some of it. I know you can make a beautiful wedding kimono for me. Please, Taya-chan? As a wedding gift for me?"

Taya sighed internally. 'Why is it that I've suddenly become so soft-hearted?' she mused as she turned to look over her shoulder at her currently brown-haired "husband." He felt her eyes on him and looked up and waved. Turning back to Yura, she said, "Okay Yura, I'll do my best to make a wedding kimono worthy of you." Yura nearly squealed in happiness. "But," Taya continued, "I want you to tell your mother that if she feels up to it I would very much like her help in designing it. She may not be able to sew it for you, but she can still help decide how it will look."

"Oh Taya-chan, you're such a wonderful friend. Of course I'll tell Okaa-san—she'll be so happy to help you!" Yura embraced her friend and Taya returned it. "Thank you so much, I can't wait to see it."

"You're welcome, of course, Yura. I couldn't tell you no anyway," Taya said happily. "When is the wedding though? How long until you need your dress?"

Yura beamed at Taya and said, "One month. We'll be married one month from today."

"I'd better get started today then," Taya said. 'Holy crap!,' she thought, 'I hope I can pull this off.'

Taya and Yura chatted for a few more moments before Yura bid her friend farewell.

III TKI III

Kyo watched Taya and Yura out of the corner of his eye as he worked. Yura was very excited about something and Taya seemed to be getting caught up in it too. 'Looks like Shiro finally got it together enough to set the wedding date,' he thought to himself with a grin. He set himself back to work on his current project, looking up occasionally to see Taya going through what appeared to be her entire stock of fabrics. Occasionally they needed to visit one of the larger villages in order to get more materials, and it may be that it was time for another such trip.

Taya had exhausted her stock of fabric in her cart and gone indoors, evidently not finding what she wanted or needed, and Kyo was about to finish up on his task when he looked up to see a friendly face approaching from the main road. He rose and doffed his apron before wiping his hands on a nearby rag to greet the man.

"Tanazuki-san! What a pleasant surprise to see you." Kyo greeted his fellow tradesman with genuine happiness. Tanazuki Toumaru was the metal worker from the neighboring village that had taken Kyo and Taya in for a time while they were looking for a place to settle. It had been his suggestion to move to their current home and he and his wife, Suzume, were a kindly middle-aged couple who treated them almost like son and daughter.

"Ohayo, Kyo-kun. It has been too long since we last saw you and Taya." The two men exchanged short bows before Kyo gestured for the older man to come into his shop. "Suzume-chan sends her blessings to both of you, of course, but she was not able to come with me today."

Kyo set about pouring saucers of tea for the both of them, as was customary in the region for nearly every occasion, being Tea Country. They silently completed the tea-drinking ritual before resuming their conversation.

"Tana-san, I am embarrassed that you have come to visit us. We are indebted to you and Suzume-san and we should have been to see you before now," Kyo said, genuinely embarrassed at the situation. Fortunately, the older man was not the type to worry about such things.

"Kyo-kun, I told you when you and Taya decided to come here that it would be a long and difficult thing to start your own shops. I expect that you have been too busy to be much concerned for an old man and woman in the next village. But your sentiments are appreciated." He paused to take a sip of tea, which Kyo mirrored. "The truth is," he continued, "that as much as I enjoy seeing you and Taya, I have come here on business. I have a favor to ask of you, Kyo-kun."

Kyo became very intent and leaned forward, eager to know how he could help his friend. The tone of his voice had been very serious and he wondered at the sense of urgency in the man's voice. He waited patiently as Tana shrugged off his small traveling bundle and retrieved a cloth bundle from it. He lifted it up to the small work table and unwrapped the cloth to reveal something that shocked Kyo.

Tana had revealed Kyo's own ninjato within the bundle.

Initially Kyo had the instinct to run inside and open his sealing scroll and make sure the blade was still where he had put it during the escape from Water Country. He had schooled his features pretty well, he had thought, and after a moment's reflection realized that it was impossible that what was lying on the table in front of him was not his own sword. Instead it was a perfect replica. The ninjato did not have many distinguishing features, which was truthfully its most distinguishing feature. Most blades had some decorative qualities to them, usually an artistic brand or stamp from the sword-maker to mark his work, or perhaps even a particularly designed tsuba or colored hand wrap for the owner's family or clan. This blade was completely blank of distinguishing traits. It held no human essence, as if it had been made by human hands, but was coldly and soullessly manufactured by a machine. The handle, wrap, and hand guard, which was nothing more than a square metal plate, were all a very flat black color. The blade had no stylization, simply a meticulously sharpened edge. He could see from the gradient of the steel surface as the edge cut through the cross-section that the tang extended nearly the full width of the blade. This was a tool for killing, and more than that it was a tool for silent, soulless, emotionless, cold-blooded assassination. And it was made exactly like his own, with no detectable variation save one: the blade was broken.

When Kyo finally tore his gaze away from the blade and looked back to Tana, the older man's face looked grave. "Tana-san, who brought you such a thing? And why? Why have you now brought it to me?"

Tana sighed. "I am sorry, Kyo-kun. You must forgive a nosy old man. The reason I have brought this to you will require some explanation. Yesterday a very odd man brought this to my shop and asked—rather insistently—that I repair it. I told him that I was not a swordsmith and that such work was out of my league. He offered me a large sum of money and asked again that I fix it. The second time, he did something and I thought for a moment that I had seen my own death at this man's hands. And worse than that, that he had killed my dear Suzume-chan alongside me." He paused and looked down to the ground beneath the table. Kyo's eyes hardened and narrowed. "I was so frightened that I agreed to take the job, even knowing that I would never be able to repair it, but also knowing that if I didn't this man would murder us without thinking twice. I was beside myself all of yesterday and last night I finally told Suzume-chan. Her worries increased my own anxiety and I did not sleep at all last night."

Tana sighed and wiped his now sweating forehead with a rag he had drawn from his pocket. Kyo could see that the ordeal had taken quite a toll on the man. "Tana-san, I'm so sorry—that is a terrible situation. But that still doesn't explain why you've brought it to me—I assume you wish for me to fix it in your stead?"

The aged metalworked nodded and sighed. "Yes, Kyo-kun. I have brought it to you in hopes that you will be able to repair this blade. My reason for doing so is also why I must apologize to both you and Taya-chan. While you were staying with us, I happened to see you as you were preparing for bed. As you changed into your evening clothes I noticed that you had numerous scars on back and chest. I have only seen scars like those on veterans of wars. They are very clearly sword wounds."

Kyo sat back, somewhat in shock. Tana waited, as if debating whether or not he should reveal something to Kyo. "Once, during the last great war between the ninja villages, I was living near the border of our country and Fire Country. A badly wounded Konoha ninja had escaped a battle and made his way to my village, and my family took him in. He had been injured numerous times and we were unable to save his life, but I have never forgotten what a sword wound looks like, Kyo-kun." Tana fixed Kyo with a level gaze. "My friend, I don't know what has happened in your past, but I know that you and Taya are probably running from something. I don't know whether you were a ninja, or a samurai, or a ronin, or even just someone who was unfortunate enough to anger someone of those three classes, but you were the only one I could think of who might be able to help me. Please," Tana bowed and placed his hands palms down on the table, "Please Kyo-kun, help me to make this man happy, that he might spare mine and Suzume's lives."

Kyo's gaze had returned to the blade by now. He truly had no knowledge of how to re-cast and forge a blade of such quality, but was genuinely curious as to how it had been broken in the first place. No doubt it, and its owner, had run afoul of someone of either stronger skill or with a stronger blade, or even both. He looked back to Tanazuki, still sitting in a submissive, begging posture. He didn't know whether or not he would be able to do as the customer asked, but he would try for his friend's sake. He reached out to his friend's hands, lifting them off the table and giving him a friendly grin as he lifted his head.

"My friend," Kyo said, "of course I will help you. I don't know whether I will succeed, but I will try my best for you. How long do you have before he returns for the sword?"

"One month," he said. "He told me he would return in one month's time from yesterday to retrieve his sword." Tana was now smiling tearfully at his young friend, touched by his willingness to help.

"Well," Kyo's grin widened, "I guess I'd better get to work then, huh?"

III TKI III

He wandered seemingly without aim across Fire Country, headed towards the border with Kusa on his way to the land of Earth for his next assignment. He had already sent his debrief from his last mission back to the Taichou, detailing all except the loss of his ninjato. He hoped that the old man in Tea Country would be able to repair it. Being a tool himself, and fully understanding that fact, he knew how seriously the loss or damage of one of his own ninja tools would be taken. Particularly his issued ninjato, which was made exactly to the Taichou's specifications, modeled on his own ANBU katana from his days on active duty.

No, Danzo-sama was not forgiving of his subordinates when they lost or broke their tools, and often it resulted in the negligent one's own damage or loss.

Even more troubling were the events that led to his sword being broken. The ANBU team had caught him completely by surprise following the successful completion of his last assignment. It troubled him because ROOT operatives were always notified of Konoha ANBU teams operating near an objective, but no mention had been made of the team he encountered. It was dangerous for a mere tool like him to make suppositions regarding anything outside of his mission, but it seemed to him that there were only two explanations for the unanticipated ANBU encounter: either they had also been after his target, or they had been after him. Both were equally troubling, as the Taichou's sources within ANBU had never failed in such a way before, as far as he knew.

He derailed his train of thought as he continued his silent journey towards his next target. It was not becoming of a tool to think too much.