Suzu: I am updating a big, ol' serious Kushina/Minato story, called Vainglory. It's probably... sexier than this story?
I haven't plugged it yet, so here's my shameless plug. ~-~-[]=
Intermission 21
- a love story in bits and pieces -
Ptooie.
Kushina's mouth forms a perfectly circular 'o' as she feels something wet and slimy slide down the crown of her head, which elicits hysterical cackling.
Here, the lady doth resist the urge to go batshit ballistic, for there is nothing less cool than screwing up the timing, even if every fiber of Kushina's being wants to artlessly dent somebody's spine ninety degrees to the right.
Really, thugs ought to be made of sterner stuff than tattered outer-clothes and gruesomely yellow teeth. That's all she managed to glimpse before a blindfold was swept over her fog-blurred eyes. Hearing the click-clack of the cargo wagon and inhaling the stench of testosterone and sweat, Kushina grimaces around her gag in a meager attempt to seem pitiful and delicate as rough hands prod at her side. Why did she even pretend to be captured?
"Hey honey, those brats are working for us. They bring travelers to this cliff. We sell the good lookin' ones off for a nice sum of money," someone taunts. As a child, Kushina had plently of imagination. She imagines the man grins slowly, his lips bright with spittle.
Payback will be sweet, she promises. It's just the timing that's tricky… because they probably still have a hold on those kids.
It is no exaggeration to say Uzumaki Kushina is slowly learning the virtue of patience.
Shikaku isn't a slouch when it comes to brilliant ideas. He has them now and then, but still, the quality and quantity is much more than what the average person conjures up.
The Idea © comes into being as he realizes three things while talking to a big, brutish fella by a medium-sized wooden caravan.
1. There is one Uzumaki Kushina inside the caravan. 'Troublesome.'
2. Those kids, who he's determined were working for these brutes all along, haven't revealed their true identities as Konoha shinobi to these slave traders. 'Tch, little brats. We have that much to thank them for, at least'.
And lastly:
3. Judging by the way Minato's face looks (no more details can be spared, the memory is far too terrifying) when the bandit tells them about the "new redhead is gonna make a mint" in the sex trafficking business, someone has got it bad, bad, bad. 'Shit. Guy's a goner.'
Naturally, the execution of The Idea © is up to him, the best friend.
"I'm the bodyguard. They just got married, and I'm the chaperone," Shikaku says, lying mouth glib as a fish in water. Thank kami he and Minato performed henge no jutsu before approaching. The two Konoha shinobi look like two traveling merchants, each with miraculously clean hakama pants.
"Why're you all the way out here, then?"
"Her fiancé lives in the Fire Country, and that's where they got hitched ten days ago. She's from Tsunami. They're going back to her house to pay their respects, as is the village custom. So please give her back," Shikaku adds with finality. The raven-haired man gives the mercenary a scary look—about as scary as Chouza's old, obese cat. Devouring dusty texts on the region in the Konoha library wasn't a total waste, it seems. Take the bait, take it.
The mercenary grins. He's visibly relaxed, given Shikaku's knowledge of obscure wedding customs from an obscure part of the land.
"You." He motions at Shikaku. "We don't need bodyguards causing trouble. Leave. And if I catch you following, you'll get a taste of this." His eyes slide to the large, curved sword attached to his waist pouch. The large fellow's teeth are a horrible, clichéd yellow as his eyes leer at a fairly attractive but fairly harried-looking Minato.
Shikaku looks at the blonde next to him, eyeing his partner meaningfully, and Minato gives a small, curt nod, in earnest.
The tactician resists the urge to roll his eyes. The blonde, who can be pretty thick for a genius, has probably translated it as "Stay safe. I'll go ahead and tell the Hokage. You rescue Kushina."
Shikaku actually means to say: "Stay safe, though Kushina has already eaten you alive. Ciao. Was nice knowing ya, bud."