Two weeks after the Winter Festival …
"I protest." The voice was quiet, even tempered, yet demanding all at the same time.
Tsunade looked darkly amused as she sat back in her office chair, crossing her arms. Her eyes narrowed on her current victim. "You don't have that right." She paused a moment, as if to savor the next word. "Genin."
Sasuke didn't let his emotions show on his face, though he was pretty sure that the lady Hokage knew of his disgust with the whole situation.
"Then I request to be tested immediately for jounin." He steepled his fingers and focused to keep his breathing calm.
"Genin can not test for jounin, that's the rule. It was put into place to keep untested new ninja from dying before they could become of actual use to Konoha." Tsunade mirrored his movements with her own hands.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes on her. "These are not normal circumstances. You could make an exception." He guessed, but was pretty sure he was right.
"Yes." She nodded, waiting for him to nod in return looking relieved. "But I won't."
"Might I ask why?" He managed to keep the snarl out of his voice and off his face.
Tsunade nodded, then waited. Several moments passed before he gave in and actually asked the question. "Why then?"
"The chuunin exams are too near. I don't have the manpower or the resources to test you properly when so much is being put into the other students." She smiled, but it wasn't a friendly one. "Students who, I might add, never betrayed an oath to this village. I'm afraid your wish to avoid acting as a genin loses precedence to that."
"So, we're back to that, are we?" He said shortly, then sighed.
Tsunade leaned forward, resting her chin on her fist. "We never left that, as you put it. You may have won over the council, but I'm not such an easy target. You've already proven willing to break a solemn oath. How can I possibly trust in your words now?"
Sasuke just watched her, his eyes wary. "Is that why you've not asked for my oath? Don't I have to give one to you though, in spite of that?"
"I won't ask you to swear to me or to the village until I am certain that an oath from you is worth more than just the exhalation of air as you speak." She said coldly, her eyes deadly serious.
Sasuke nodded, as far as he saw it she was just one more person in a very long list that he had to convince of his trustworthiness. "Fine. I suppose now that your medics have cleared me to go back to training, that I should report to my new ….team."
Tsunade grunted and waved him away.
He sighed and continued to stand there until she looked back up at him. "You haven't told me who my new sensei will be."
The blonde smiled with enough evil pleasure on her face that Sasuke knew that he was in for it now.
o.o.o.o.o
Gai sighed.
The sound was enough to make Kakashi put down his book and stare at the other man. He debated on whether or not to ask anything, then decided not to get involved and picked up his book again.
A moment or two later, the copy-nin realized that he and Gai were no longer alone at their table. Cautiously he peered over the top of his book and then smiled at Inuzuka Tsume. The nin-dog kunoichi bared her teeth at him without flashing fang, that was close enough to a smile he guessed.
"I need advice." She opened without preamble.
Shocked, Kakashi actually put the book down on the table.
Gai sighed again, looking away.
Her attention caught, Tsume turned to stare at the Mighty Green Beast of Konoha. Looking over at Kakashi she asked a different question. "Is he sick?"
The copy-nin shrugged, then frowned. "Come to think of it, he hasn't said more than three words to me since he sat down."
Frowning, both ninja stared at Gai who just shook his head at them. "No, dear rival, I am not ill. Of the body, I mean. I pursued to break my own record in push-ups this day, and have set a new standard in training. I am as strong as ever, even more so! The blossom of youth is not mine as it once was, but I bloom still upon the branch of strength and vitality!"
Tsume sniffed, but didn't interrupt. Gai's version of 'training' could be a bit on the intense side. "So, what gives? Upset about Hana dating your former student?"
Gai perked up at that as Kakashi's eyes widened. "Ah Neji! My student has taken my advice to heart and won the hand of a beautiful blossom. It is always good to see your students prevail!"
"Neji and Hana?" Kakashi whistled. "I hadn't heard about that."
"Well, you and your team were out on a mission last week." Gai sighed, though this time with a wide smile full of sparkly white teeth.
Tsume shook her head in amusement. "The Hyuuga lad even came to me for advice. Asked me about Hana's birthday, favorite colors and foods, and asked if she had any food allergies. It was all very odd."
The copy-nin laughed. "No doubt he was just trying to avoid being termed 'relationship lazy' and 'forgetful' again." Kakashi paused and contemplated Tsume carefully. "You did give him good advice, I hope?"
Tsume's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I can't believe you'd doubt that. Hana is not only my daughter, but my heir." She turned once more to Gai. "So, what does have you so upset?"
Gai sighed morosely, going from emotional high to emotional low. "I miss my beautiful young TenTen. Matsuri is a delight, of course! Yet, my team will no longer be the same. Gone, all gone. Lee and Neji have been asked to take on genin teams later this year, and thus our team is no more. I just feel like a parent must when their baby birds have learned to fly and are now on their own."
Kakashi rolled his one visible eye at the flowery speech, even as he nodded in agreement. "I felt much the same when Naruto and Sakura teamed up to defeat me in training. Like I'd lost a step somewhere. Still, Gai …at least TenTen is a fine reflection on your teaching and training ideals. She will represent us well, no matter where she is."
"Unlike Sasuke, you mean?" Tsume asked pointedly.
Kakashi's face fell into stoic lines as he turned once more to the Inuzuka clan leader.
Tsume held one hand out, palm up. "I ask only because that's the crux of my coming to you for advice."
"Oh?" Kakashi asked a bit wearily. "How so?"
Tsume growled and curled her lip a bit. "It seems he's to become a member of my genin team. I'm his new sensei."
Kakashi whistled low in sympathy even as Gai heartily congratulated Tsume on being given such a fine opportunity to reform the young man in question.
o.o.o.o.o
Baki was concerned. He watched as Kankuro ran across the courtyard, hastily gobbling down an apple.
The guard beside him watched as well. "In a hurry I'd guess, he's got a date tonight."
Baki nodded at Iwao, not answering.
The man continued. "He's got a date with …."
"I know who he's dating." Baki snarled, interrupting the younger shinobi. "If he weren't dating the Leaf kunoichi, she wouldn't be here in Suna teaching at our Academy in the first place."
Iwao nodded, not intimidated at all. He wouldn't have been assigned to the Kazekage's personnel if he weren't made of stern stuff. "My youngest brother is at the Academy this year, he's been gushing about how she knows every weapon in existence."
Baki sighed, barely keeping from snapping the head off the guard. It wasn't Iwao's fault, Baki knew his temper wasn't the best these days. "I don't know that anyone could know every weapon, still, I'll admit she's off to a good start even though she's only been here a week."
The guard nodded, not sure where this conversation was going, he waited to let Baki speak first. But the wind shinobi didn't continue. Finally, Iwao cleared his throat. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"I've heard a rumor." Baki started, then turned to pin the guard with a hard stare. "That our esteemed Kazekage was …different ….while in the Leaf village?"
Iwao stiffened, but nodded. "I and the guard detail were there, sir."
The wind shinobi sighed, praying for patience. "I know that, that's why I asked you here!" He growled. "I want to hear about it."
The young man squared his shoulders as he narrowed his eyes on his superior. "We are part of the Kazekage's guard detail for when he's on foreign soil. What passes there, what we see or hear, we tell to no one." He swallowed grimly. "Sir."
Baki growled impatiently. "I know that! I trained and picked you all myself! I'm not looking for anything harmful. Kankuro told me that …that …Gaara had met a girl." He said this as if saying that suddenly a giant carrot had appeared in the sky. As if such an idea was an impossibility.
Iwao thought it over long and hard before sliding his eyes away. "I would not …deny …such a thing. Nor would I call the Kazekage's brother a liar."
"Kankuro's views may be skewed by wishful thinking, however." Baki said softly, his eyes taking in every nuance of the other man's face, heart rate, and any other tell-tale signs that would help him judge this conversation later. "Since his return from Konoha, the Kazekage's temper …has been less than good." He said in a mild understatement. Not that Gaara was taking it out on anyone else but himself, still, Baki hated to see him like this.
Iwao grunted, caught in a quandary. "In such a case, I would tell you to trust the puppeteer on this one."
"So it is the girl." Baki growled and shook his head. "According to my …source …the girl wanted to come back to Suna with him? But the Hokage intervened?"
The guard shrugged. "I would be unaware of such motivations, sir. I do not know the reasons. I know only what I see."
Baki nodded. "Well?"
The guard grimaced. "They said goodbye to each other and it didn't look like either wanted to go. Then the Kazekage surrounded the two of them in a sand dome. I do not know the reason."
"But you can guess."
"No." Iwao's eyes met Baki's straight on. "I can only hope."
Stiffening with surprise, Baki shook his head.
The guard made a decision. "This is a breech of my duties, but sir …all of us there, all the guards hope that the Yamanaka girl will be allowed to visit Suna. Soon. And to stay."
"Before this visit to Konoha, Gaara had been calm, contented even." Baki said quietly. Alone, he added, though only to himself.
Iwao took a deep breath. "While in Konoha, I have …I would almost swear he was happy. Or close to it."
"Happy?" No other word to describe Gaara could have shocked Baki more. "On what do you base that observation?"
Throwing caution to the wind, the guard motioned Baki closer. "He fell asleep in her presence several times. Also, by the time we left, he was no longer using his sand armor around her. And, on a few occasions, we actually heard laughter."
Baki looked away, suddenly stung. He'd long ago written off his student as someone who would die alone and horrifically. Ever since the sand demon had been removed, however, things had become better. Still, Gaara would not have been someone that any one would have deemed a 'happy' person.
"Thank you." He said softly, dismissing the guard. Baki stood there for what felt like eternity, then reached into his cloak and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper. "Gaara," he whispered to himself alone. "Forgive me for breaking your trust, I do this for your own good."
o.o.o.o.o
Ino shook her head, smiling ruefully. "No, that's alright. I'm fine."
Sakura looked still looked worried though as the two girls sat in the medic's lounge at the hospital. "Come out with us, really. Or ...I could break it off tonight and it could just be us girls, Kiba would understand."
A real laugh escaped her then, as Ino shook her head again. "No he wouldn't. He's all about your these days."
"I'm sorry." Whispered Sakura.
Ino reached over and lazily whacked her pink-haired friend with a patient chart. "Don't apologize for being happy. I'm happy for you." She smiled gamely. Actually, although feeling hurt, she really was delighted for her friend. "I'm serious."
Sakura caught the chart Ino was wielding as a weapon and put it down on the 'done' stack. She picked up the next chart and handed it to her blonde friend before taking one for herself. "Two months will be gone in a flash. We'll just keep you busy, that's all." She offered in moral support.
"Yeah." Ino whispered, her eyes suddenly misty and shifting away.
Sakura growled. "That's it! You're coming over tonight and we're eating a ton of ice cream and watching really gory movies all night."
Ino shrugged and shook her head. "He hasn't written. Two weeks, and I haven't heard a thing." She looked up miserably. "Is Tsunade right? Was I just on the rebound and this …we …didn't mean anything?"
Sakura stuck out her chin and said what she needed to say to cheer up Ino, even though she wasn't sure she was right. "He cares. You'll see, at the end of two months, you'll see that it was all real."
Ino nodded, knowing that she was choosing to believe those words without even the slightest evidence that Sakura was right.
"Besides, you haven't written him either." Sakura said, guessing.
Groaning, Ino dropped her head onto her stack of patient charts. "I've tried! I just …I don't know what to say! Besides, he's the guy, he should write first."
"Does he know that?" Sakura said gently, pulling Ino's long ponytail out from under her cheek. "He was raised as a weapon. Alone. You know that. You told me yourself that it was unbelievably charming how he didn't know how to 'date' and you got to teach him."
Ino blinked up at her friend, then raised her head hopefully. "You're right." She whispered, horrified. "Maybe he's in Suna right now wondering why I haven't written to him! What was I thinking?"
Sakura continued to comfort her friend, praying that she hadn't just pushed her friend in the wrong direction.
o.o.o.o.o
"Surprise!" Neji smiled, whipping the blindfold off a grinning Hana.
The Inuzuka heiress looked around at the elegant picnic spread out in the Hyuuga library and laughed. "This is wonderful! I can't believe you did all this."
Neji sighed happily and gestured for her to take a seat on the blanket. He pulled out a bottle of wine and presented it to her for her inspection.
Hana nodded and waved at him to go ahead. Neji ignored that she didn't seem to notice that he'd scrounged three stores just to find this one wine. He opened it and poured her a glass, handing it to her with a simple flourish.
"An indoor picnic? You didn't have to go to all this trouble." Hana took the wine, sniffed it and took a small sip before putting it down.
"You don't like the wine?" He asked, sniffing his own before tasting it. It seemed fine. It was too sweet for his tastes, but then, this was for her after all.
Hana winked at him and shook her head. "I'm fine, I'm not much for wines."
Neji blinked, wondering if he'd written down the wrong wine. He'd have to check with Tsume later. He'd thought he was buying Hana's favorite. In the meantime, he reached into one of the two baskets and pulled out a wrapped present.
Hana's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! What's the occasion? I …I didn't get you anything. You should have warned me somehow."
Neji paused, then quirked his head at her. "It …it's for your birthday." He said hesitantly, wondering if she was one of those women who didn't like to celebrate birthdays. "I don't mean you're …I hope I haven't offended you."
"Birthday?" Hana blinked, then grinned widely. "You're a tad early."
The young Hyuuga fell still, suddenly aware that he may have fallen into a trap. "Your birthday isn't today?"
The kunoichi shook her head, still smiling. "April 13th, actually. You're about two months too early. I know your 'undateable' picture mentioned you were forgetful …but it didn't say anything about being …premature." She said with a small leer.
Neji groaned, his eyes huge with mortification. "I'll kill her."
Frowning, Hana looked at him questioningly.
"Do you like this wine? I mean, is it your favorite that you absolutely love?" He asked bluntly. "And are you allergic to nuts?"
"No and no." Hana told him, sitting up straighter as she gazed at him. "Who told you all this about me?"
"Your mother." He growled, sighing deeply.
"You asked, or she volunteered?" Hana questioned, trying not to laugh.
Neji shook his head morosely. "I didn't want to live up to my reputation of being forgetful or relationship lazy. I asked her for some information. I was so pleased to find out your birthday was today and that I hadn't missed it."
"Don't kill her." Hana whispered, scooting closer to him. "Please."
"Why shouldn't I?" He groaned. "She tried to make me look like a fool."
Hana shrugged, tilting her head toward him. "You don't look foolish from here." She told him gently. "In fact, you look pretty delicious."
Neji's temper slipped out of his fingertips as he looked into her dark eyes instead. "Oh?" He teased, blowing a breath out over her lips.
"If you go to hunt her down, then you wouldn't be here with me." Hana purred, closing the distance between them.
Neji met her half-way as their lips met in a clinging kiss. He pulled back just long enough to pull her closer to him. "She'll get a reprieve, for now."
She grinned, and pulled his head back down to meet hers.
o.o.o.o.o
Ibiki groaned and sat down at the table with Kurenai, looking over the menu before ordering his usual grilled fish.
"He didn't mean it." Kurenai said, trying hard not to fight a smile.
"Yes he did." Ibiki told her, then went ahead and smiled for the both of them. "He's just telling me without words where I stand."
"He's a toddler." She explained. "Besides, he still doesn't like to talk much in front of new people."
"He's a monster." He told her.
Kurenai mock scowled at him, slapping at his hand as it reached for hers. "My son is not a monster."
"I mean that in only the best way possible." Ibiki assured her. "All little boys are supposed to be little monsters. If they're angels? THEN you have to watch out."
The pretty brunette kunoichi sighed and let him capture her hand. "I don't know what to do with him."
"He's protecting his mother from the evil monster." Ibiki leaned in to whisper. "That would be me." He informed her, as if she hadn't already caught on to that.
Kurenai bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "You're being so good about this."
Ibiki shrugged. "So he peed in my boots? I've dealt with worse." He paused and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Of course, that was by men considerably older and more dangerous than your son, but he has to start somewhere."
"He did look adorable as he ran away giggling." Kurenai laughed abruptly.
Ruefully, Ibiki shrugged. "To you he was adorable. I think he was trying to taunt me." He ran his thumb over her knuckles in a gentle caress. "Thank you for cleaning my boots."
"You're welcome." She smiled at him.
"And thank you for letting me stay at your place last night while the boots dried." He said with a wink and a leer.
Kurenai pulled her hand out his grip and slapped his hand. "You slept on the couch!" She reminded him.
Ibiki nodded. "It's closer to your bedroom than I was two weeks ago."
"You're impossible!" She scolded him lightly. "Two weeks ago I had to TELL you that I was flirting with you."
"Hey." He grinned. "I'm with the program now."
"Besides, it's too soon for you to be any closer to my bedroom." She said, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
Ibiki smiled and waited for whatever punchline she had in store for him.
"If my son had found you in my bed, it probably wouldn't be just your boots that had pee in them. He'd have aimed for your ear instead."
Ibiki shook his head. "No, remember? He's only a toddler, you said so yourself. His aim isn't good enough for that yet."
o.o.o.o.o
"You want her to do what?" Kankuro asked, stunned.
Baki handed the paper to TenTen. "You heard me."
The puppet master shook his head in disbelief. "This could be seen as treason. Sending missives to foreign nationals, even allies, behind the Kazekage's back? Do you have a death wish?"
"No." Baki said solemnly. "TenTen is the only one currently in Suna that can send a private letter to Konoha without raising any eyebrows. No one will even question it."
"What's in this letter?" TenTen asked suspiciously. She new Kankuro trusted his former sensei implicitly. She did not.
Kankuro grabbed it and opened it, smoothing it out. "It's crumpled." He commented, then read through the letter. "There's nothing here but some flower names. Or plants, some I've never heard of."
TenTen took the paper from him, scanning the contents. "I don't get it."
"I don't either." Baki said quietly, retrieving the letter and folding it back neatly. "But I'm hoping she does."
"Ino." Kankuro sighed and scowled. "Gaara would kill you for interfering."
"There are dozens of these up in his office, they overflow the waste basket. Yet he's mailed none." Baki told them. "And his temper hasn't been this bad since Shukaku was removed."
Kankuro nodded and stood, walking over to stare out over the desert village. "You're right about that." He allowed carefully. "But this …sending this to her could make it worse. Especially as we don't know what he means to say in this letter."
"No letters have come for him. She's not written either, but then, she might expect him to write first." TenTen took the letter from Baki once more, weighing it in her hand. "If she rejects him, sending this to her could make it worse."
"Or better." Baki sighed. "It's a gamble."
"Your gamble could get us all in a lot of trouble." Kankuro grimaced then turned and nodded at TenTen. "I'll take responsibility."
TenTen pulled out some paper and started writing even as Baki shook his head. "My idea, my responsibility. Besides, I stole that from his trash can. This is on my head."
Kankuro rubbed his eyes wearily. "I just hope 'cactus' and 'azalea' mean something good." He barked a humorless laugh. "I didn't even recognize the other plants on that list."
"Ino will." TenTen guessed as she quickly penned her note to the Yamanaka kunoichi. "I hope so anyway."
o.o.o.o.o
Don't shoot me. I know Kiba didn't make an appearance, but he will, I promise!
However, I will be out of town for about a week for family stuff. I'll update when I get back. Hopefully I'll be able to update some of my other stories as well. There's just a lot going on right now. Nothing bad, just a lot.
THANKS for reading and remember, REVIEWS are always welcome ... LOL!
