AN:
Thank you DreamingIn2Eternity for reviewing! Also thank you BisounoursEnGuimauve for following. Another thank you goes to KingBilbo for favoriting.
Sorry this took so long, but I did warn that I am an infrequent updater.
Thank You all for the support and on with the show!
The morning seemed cold and grey to Eowyn. She alone in the quiet room, for Faramir had been moved out of the room yesterday evening, and Merry and Pippin had promptly left the Houses of Healing after breakfast. The Shieldmaiden walked over to the window and was disappointed by the view. She stared out at the street below her, not quite taking in the scene before her eyes.
"So I am denied the view of a land I should go fight in," she thought miserably. "Just as I am denied the privilege to fight in that land,"
The loud creak of the door drew Eowyn out of her thoughts. Unhurried, the Rohir turned around to see Lothíriel, the healer, standing in the doorway.
"Hello," greeted the dark woman. "I was wondering if you would fancy a stroll in the gardens,"
Eowyn considered to offer for a second, and then nodded. Lothíriel's face lit up with a large smile. The healer practically skipped over, grabbed her uninjured hand, and dragged her out the door. Eowyn already found this level of enthusiasm to be draining, but her curiosity over Gondorian flowers kept her moving. Eventually Lothíriel slowed down as they entered the courtyard. Gliding up a short set of stairs in almost elven grace, the healer pushed open a plain door and walked through it. The Shieldmaiden attempted to follow her just as gracefully, but her foot got caught on the hem of her borrowed dress and she stumbled. Her face grew hot, and she glared at a few Riders who dared laughed at her. Eowyn untangled herself as best as she could with one arm, and quickly entered the gardens. Lothíriel was standing just outside the door; it seemed that she had just realized that her companion was no longer with her.
"Are you alright?" she asked, a concerned look in her light green eyes.
"What do you mean by alright?" the blonde thought bitterly while nodding affirmatively. The healer did not look entirely satisfied by the answer, but she did not press.
"It's a good thing you arrived in spring, so we still have flowers around," Lothíriel said cheerfully. "Do you like flowers?"
"They interest me," Eowyn answered shortly, but as warmly as she could.
The olive-skinned woman nodded. "I prefer the plant-creatures of the sea myself. They are quite pretty to look at, and edible too!"
"The sea?" the Rohir asked, confused. "What is this sea?"
Lothíriel came to a standstill, a stunned look on her face. She then shook her head fiercely, and led them down path deeper into the gardens.
"Of course you have never seen the sea," the healer said with a laugh. "This must be the farthest away from home that you have gone,"
Eowyn nodded, numbly realizing that, before this, she had never been outside of Rohan's boarders.
"Alright," continued Lothíriel as she knelt down to admire a lily. "Imagine the largest lake you have ever seen. Now stretch it so it covers the entire horizon, and extend it all the way to the far west; its depths could cover even the tallest mountain. That is the sea,"
The Rohir did not even attempt to stop her jaw from dropping. "Does such a thing exist?" she asked softly, her voice filled with disbelief.
"Does what exist?"
The two women looked over to see Anko standing by a trellis next to Rin, who was rubbing a cat's belly.
"The sea," answered the healer with a laugh. The girl's face became incredulous.
"Of course it exists!" she cried. "Have you not seen pictures of it?"
"Anko," interjected Rin gently. "They don't have cameras. Their painters don't seem to like depicting pictures of the landscape, so it is highly unlikely that Eowyn would have seen a picture of the ocean,"
The brown-eyed girl was gaping at the Rohir in shock. "Wow. That...It just seems impossible to me that you have not seen the sea. Jeez, I live smack in the middle of a forest, yet I know a lot about the ocean,"
"Well, one can always learn," said Lothíriel gently. Then the healer shook her head slightly and adopted a business-like stance. "How did you two get in here? This is a private garden!"
"We followed the adorable fleabag-I mean, cat in," answered Anko, scooping the grey cat off the ground and holding it up to the two women. "We wanted to see Eowyn anyway,"
A stiff smile crossed Eowyn's face; it felt fake even though it was genuine.
"I wanted to sign Yuki-hime's cast," continued the energetic shinobi, putting the cat down and gesturing with a strange writing implement. "And so does Rin,"
A flicker of surprise crossed Lothíriel's face. "Sign it? Whatever for?"
"It's a way we wish for the injured to get better and it's a show of support," explained Rin. "Do you mind?"
Instead of saying yes, Eowyn croaked:
"Are you nobility?"
The two girls blinked, then then looked at each other in confusion. "How many girls are literate in your country?" asked Anko, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, twirling the writing tool between her fingers.
"Rohirric does not have an alphabet," answered the Shieldmaiden.
"And in Gondor, only nobility needs to bother learning how to read," added Lothíriel hastily, a flush of excitement on her cheeks. "However, not all nobles teach their daughters how to read,"
Both foreigners were quiet for a second, and then Rin spoke.
"This is a disgrace," she said plainly. "I'll take the issue up with Hoshi. However, Eowyn, I recommend that you find a good linguist who knows Rohirric and create an alphabet for your language,"
"Speaking of Hoshi," said Anko, "Can you get him over here? I want to write a message for Yuki-hime, and I doubt she can read Hiragana or Katakana,"
"Just write your name first, if that is alright," the brunette said, slightly irritated, but deferred hopefully to Eowyn. She gave them a small nod, curious as to what Hiragana and Katakana were. Will great glee, the brunette's companion removed a cap from the tool, gently took her cast and across the top of the cast on her hand wrote her name. To Eowyn, it merely looked like this: みたらしアンコ.
"Tada!" exclaimed Anko with great relish. "That is my name in Katakana. I'll get Hoshi to write a message later. Rin, you can sign now."
"She just left to find Hoshi," said Lothíriel as she stroked the grey cat by the white roses, clinging to the trellis.
"Ah, good," murmured Anko. "He has nice handwriting. It makes up of for his grammatical errors,"
"He is no commoner then," remarked Eowyn. "Being able to read, write and speak, not only in the Common speech, but in elven-tongue as well. But he seems a bit..." she clawed for the proper word, trying and failing to describe just what about the boy was so…
"Off?" supplied Anko seriously. "Yeah, I fancy that he was dropped on his head as a baby. Half the time in Konoha he seemed to be lost in his own little world, and got spooked by the smallest things. Gosh, earlier today simply retelling an experience of his made him lose his marbles for a while,"
Lothíriel stopped stroking the cat and stood up. "He may simply have elven blood," she proposed gently.
The Shieldmaiden frowned. "Forgive me, but I do not quite understand your reasoning," she said, readjusting her sling.
"Hoshi has pointed ears, and a faint aura about him that I was able to see when he was healing. Hoshi, in spite of being taller, seems younger that his peers," the healer said, counting out a second point on her fingers. "Elves do sometimes seem to live on a different plane of existence, which is where the absent-mindedness comes in. As for his moments of delusion, I would blame it on the time-travel he accidently went through and possibly his use of shinobi magic,"
Anko blinked. "You know, that actually makes sense. Have you considered becoming a scientist?"
Eowyn sighed, and walked away from the trellises and their white roses, leaning against white walls of white stone. The chatter of the two girls faded as she walked further into the garden. Fiery red lilies mingled with soft, yellow primroses and simple daisies. Shrubs with fragrant white flowers capped off the end of some paths, accompanied by a row of short shrubs with bright purple flowers. But the narrow pebble paths crowded between the two walls devoured all of the Rohir woman's attention. Eowyn wanted a view, a wide horizon. She felt trapped. Finally, the path led her out, under a stone arch smothered in honeysuckle, into a courtyard. Small trees were planted along the stone walls and provided shade for the benches beneath them. Bluebells, periwinkles and cornflowers grew about the stone space in squares of short, green grass. But Eowyn had swiftly forgotten about them when she found what she was waiting for. The blonde rushed to the wall and looked out. The panorama laid out before her hungry eyes was stunning. The city lay bustling below her, and she could see the giant carcasses of the mûmakil rotting on the Pelennor, the silver ribbon of the Anduin, and, still further off, the mountains surrounding Mordor. But it was all through a rather small window.
"Do you enjoy the view, my lady?"
Eowyn couldn't stifle her surprised yelp, and whirled around to see Faramir sitting in one of the benches, holding a furled scroll in his hand. The former Steward's son was dressed in simple, yet fine robes, and his dark golden hair held a reddish gleam in its waves. The small smile on his face seemed to warm his sad, grey eyes. If Eowyn turned her head just so, she could easily see the bandages that covered his shoulder and chest. Catching herself in the girlish action, the Shieldmaiden tossed her head up and stiffened.
"Of what I can see, I do take pleasure in," she answered stiffly. "But wherever I go, I am not permitted to see all that I can possibly take in,"
"Perhaps you are simply not looking in the right places, my lady," returned the Gondorian gently. "Pardon me for being so bold, but I can bring you to a place that has what you may be looking for,"
A smile tugged on her lips and forced itself to appear on her stony face.
"Your offer is most welcome, my Lord," she uttered back with a hint of shyness in her cold monotone. Faramir stood up, waited for Eowyn to walk next to him, and then led her out of the courtyard of blue flowers and benches.
\/\/\/\•/\/\/\/\•/\/\/\/
Eldarion sat on a set of steps in a secluded courtyard, staring into a fountain. He idly twirled a senbon between his thin fingers. The thin boy still felt anxious and a bit ashamed about his new breakdown that morning. The reasonable part of him had abruptly disappeared and reappeared as he recounted his tale. He had finally managed to control himself, but the smell of meat still made him gag like a cat with a hairball.
"Maybe there is something wrong with me," Eldarion thought. "But I never had these problems before I ended up in Konoha,"
A gentle breeze tugged at his hair, which had grown a little past his shoulders. The elf-like boy pocketed the senbon, and curled up into a ball. Pair of sparrows and a blue bird had flown into the top tier of the fountain and were bathing. Droplets of water flew into the air as the small feathered bodies puffed up and wings splashed in the small basin. The chatter of the three birds added a soothing background noise to the stillness about him. Eldarion hummed, feeling peaceful. He was acutely aware of the splint on his arm, which was still throbbing. He drummed his other fingers against the stiff bandages, remembering that he only had one of his red armguards left; the one with his guan dao. Eldarion blinked, realizing that his left hand was rubbing his throat, looking for his necklace.
"Gone," he thought miserably. "Just like the stupid fan it 'paid' for; So much for fair prices,"
With a chorus of chirps and splashes the small birds took off. His right hand clenched into a fist and he stood up.
"It was never said that I couldn't get it back," he thought. Just then Rin appeared in the courtyard.
"Found you!" she breathed in triumph, looking like she had just run for miles. "We need your writing skills,"
Eldarion blinked, confused. "Why?"
"Rin?"
The two children looked through a short tunnel to see a bemused Eowyn standing next to Faramir. The adopted Uchiha suddenly understood.
"Oh, since you are here," he said to Rin. "Is there a particular message you would like for me to write?"
The brunette nodded, and then answered Eowyn. "Yes, I just found Hoshi. You don't mind if he writes something on my behalf, right?"
The White Lady, apparently understanding what they were talking about, shook her head and walked up to him. Faramir watched on with fascination.
"Do you have anything to write with?" Eldarion asked Rin. His teammate nodded, then gave him a bright pink permanent marker. The lanky boy stared at it for a second, then back up at the medic. Rin rolled her eyes.
"Write 'Get better soon' with an exclamation point" she said. "I'll sign my name under it,"
Eldarion nodded absentmindedly as he wrote out the message across the top of the cast. When he finished, the Gondorian held out the marker and its pink cap to Rin, who took it and scribbled her name underneath the message.
"Aren't you going to sign?" asked the petite medic.
Eldarion raised an eyebrow. "Not in that color marker," he said with a slight scoff. "Where is Minato-sensei?"
"He's down by the Front Gate," Rin answered with a bemused look on her face.
The adopted Uchiha flashed her an enormous smile, hoping to distract the medic from further questioning.
"Thank you very much, Rin!" he said, jogging past her then jumping between a set of columns that marked the edge of the courtyard, and a very steep drop. Eldarion easily absorbed the shock of the fall, and then ran through the streets until he reached the edge of the sixth level. Without attempting to slow down, he concentrated chakra on his feet, and with strong push from his long legs, the young Gondorian leapt up and over a wall and plummeted onto the roofs below. The rush he got from his reckless actions was rather addictive, and he appreciated his home city in a different way. Eldarion hit the tiled roof in a run and skidded. In a futile attempt to keep upright, the lanky boy pitched forward, and tumbled head-over-heels. Using all the strength he had, the genin held himself upright as his feet hit the tiles again. Vertical once more, Eldarion jumped to another roof. The trip down was not eventful until he landed on a rotten roof in the second circle and fell through in a shower of wooden splinters and ceramic tiles. Eldarion panicked for a second, but managed to land properly on the stable attic floor. He took a minute to slow his racing heart and overcome his shock, breathing slowly and deeply, counting to ten in Westron, Sindarin, and Quenya. After counting in Quenya finally worked to calm him down, the adopted Uchiha left the building and jumped on to another roof. He ended up repeating the experience at least three times in the first circle, convincing him to get several of the buildings somehow repaired and walk to the front gate. Eldarion stood beside the wide open gate, with the damaged doors still fastened on their hinges. There was the bustle of horses and carts, and the hum of chatter. He decided to walk out of the gate, looking for a head of spikey, yellow hair.
"Hey Hoshi," greeted Obito, just outside the gate, as his brother walked past him. Eldarion jumped, surprised.
"Hello Obito, have you seen Minato-sensei?" he returned, rubbing his right ear. The blue-clad Uchiha had his goggles pulled over his eyes, and was covered with grass stains.
"Sure!" he answered. "Do you want me to bring you over to where they are?"
"They?" Eldarion asked, confused.
"Yeah, an army from Loss-are-Nat has just arrived," replied Obito, leading him off to the southwest side of city. "Does the name Forlong ring any bells?"
"Forlong the Fat?" returned the taller boy, a bit bewildered.
His foster brother's jaw dropped. "You actually call him that to his face?" he asked, incredulous.
Eldarion shrugged his thin shoulders. "He was dead by the time I was born," he explained. "I don't think that people call him that to his face, but that is how I know him,"
"You and everyone else," muttered Obito as removed his goggles and put them on his head. They picked their way through the bits of debris and parts of corpses, walking in the shadow of the city's wall. A little ways west, just beyond the edge of the White City's wall, Eldarion could see a stock of sunshine-yellow hair among a sea of darker heads. Slightly impatient, the grey-eyed boy lengthened his stride and picked up his pace. His foster brother was forced up to a trot through the longer yellow-green grass.
"What do you need to talk to Minato-sensei for?" asked Obito, attempting to rub out a grass stain on his elbow.
"I need to find out where Yuu's team went. I want my necklace back," Eldarion said, surprised by how distant his voice sounded.
"Oh, Minato-sensei rescued your necklace," replied the Uchiha airily.
The tall genin stopped walking, stunned. "He did?" he asked, shocked. "Why?
"Believe it or not, you owned a pretty important piece of jewelry," Obito said with a shrug. He suddenly tensed. "Wait, you do know that it was valuable, right? Why else would Emi and company want it?"
The pointy-eared boy scowled, and recalled the event in which he lost his necklace.
Sho was being held back by a bored-looking Kin, while Emi looked just as indignant as her male teammate, who was bleeding profusely from his nose. Eldarion was in a defensive position, with a row of senbon in his hand, which had a smear of blood on its back. Kakashi was standing in between the two of them.
*"Now let's all calm down. Hoshi, is it so unreasonable that you give up an heirloom for the one that you lost?"* said the Hatake calmly. Eldarion's grey eyes flickered with uncertainty, and his body relaxed a bit. Obito was standing near the Suna nin, looking rather disinterested.
*"If you don't hand it over, we'll bomb the sh!t out of this street,"* threatened Emi casually. After a moment of consideration, the tall genin handed over the necklace. The short-haired kunoichi darted over and snatched it, running back to her teammates, who briefly huddled up, whispers flying about before they broke apart and disappeared down the street.
Ending his recall, Eldarion fixed Obito with a questioning look. "Other than personal importance, I cannot see why Minato-sensei would go out of his way to get my necklace back to me,"
"You claim that your hearing is good, but you didn't seem to hear why Yuu's team wanted your necklace. That gem in its center is the exact same kind as Shodai Hokage's necklace," explained his brother.
The pale boy's eyes widened. He had heard stories about the infamous necklace in Tsunade's possession.
"Of course, only Emi and Kin seemed to realize it, but you know what kind of power that sort of thing has, right?" said the round-faced Uchiha as they started walking again.
"A useless one?" Eldarion shot back. "The Shodai's necklace responds to his chakra and his chakra only. The necklace I have-"
"Is filled with dormant healing chakra!" interrupted Obito. "The sort that if tapped one can get bifurcated, decapitated, or some other form of mortal wound and it could be shrugged off like a scratch!"
The Gondorian would have liked to say that he stopped in his tracks and was shocked by the power that he had been unwittingly carrying around. But that would be lying, and he had been telling enough falsehoods to last him until adulthood.
"That is interesting," remarked Eldarion, surprised. "But not wholly unexpected. It is a type of elfstone, and traditionally in elven crafts the maker puts an incredibly small amount of their will into their work. It is not exactly their fae, but it is close to chakra. But such things are tied to this world, and cannot last long without it. In short, even if you found a way to rob that gem of its "chakra", it would be utterly useless to you,"
Obito huffed. "That's stupid," he grumbled.
"Welcome to the complicated subject that is the Eldar, gwador nin,"
They walked in a restless silence for a time. Obito kept looking over his shoulder, and Eldarion kept hearing footsteps.
"Hey Hoshi, don't you feel that ACK!"
The world flew upwards all of a sudden, and the next thing he knew was that he was stuck neck-deep in the earth, with Minato-sensei, Aragorn, Imrahil and the army of Lossarnach staring at them.
"KAKASHI!" screamed Obito at the top of his lungs, his face red with embarrassment and anger. Eldarion could feel his own face burning up. Wiggling around in the soft dirt, he turned to see the calm Hatake standing over them with his arms folded across his chest.
"A good shinobi never lets his guard down," chastised the silver-haired chūnin. Obito proceeded to curse at their teammate; meanwhile the thin genin pushed his hands through the soil, bringing them together in a hand seal. Eldarion lifted his chin and stuck his tongue out at Kakashi.
"Shiranui"
It actually took the chūnin longer than expected to dispel the fire-based genjustu. Maybe it was using his tongue as a pointer instead of his finger. A little less than a minute after the illusion was cast, Kakashi broke out of it with a cry of pain. He looked flustered and was gasping for air. Eldarion felt incredibly guilty; all he wanted to do was scare his teammate and get out of the dirt.
"Sorry Kakashi," he apologized, doing his best to appear as contrite as he felt. The Hatake glared at him.
"That is a lethal technique," he rasped, sounding like he had inhaled a bucket of smoke. "There was no need to react so strongly to a simple demonstration,"
"How were we supposed to know that?!" cried Obito. "You could've let us know!"
Kakashi was silent; he clearly hadn't thought about that.
"Anyway, can you let us out?" asked Eldarion, wriggling around in the dry soil.
The chūnin suddenly looked sheepish. "Ah, about that,"
Obito rolled his eyes. "For crying out loud," he grumbled under his breath before yelling:
"Does anybody have a fraking shovel?!"
Eldarion winced. "Obito, you shouldn't curse in front of nobles," he murmured to his irate brother.
"Maybe you like looking like a vegetable, but I don't," snapped the Uchiha. Eldarion sighed. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Minato-sensei walking over to them, looking rather embarrassed.
"Sorry about that Obito, Hoshi," he said, grabbing them by the scruffs of their necks and yanking them out of the ground. Eldarion immediately grasped his waistband, even though he had secured his pants with a piece of elvish rope. He felt his loose leather shoes get pulled off his feet as they were stuck in the dirt. Obito had his sandals pulled so the ankle was clinging onto his foot. Both of them were covered in dirt from their neck down. As soon as they were out of the holes Minato-sensei put them down.
*"Yuck!"* exclaimed Obito as he flicked a grub off his arm. *"I have dirt in places that should not be talked about,"* he grumbled
Eldarion's eyes widened involuntarily for a moment, and then he shot a look at his brother.
*"It was not necessary for you to inform me of that,"* he grumbled, dusting himself off and gently tossing a few renegade worms back into a hole.
"Incredible," murmured a deep, smooth voice. The lanky boy looked up to see a fat, armored man perched on the back of a large palomino horse. He wore a simple purple cap atop his shiny bald head, and sported a short, snowy white beard. The man's cheeks were red, and crow's feet lined the corners of his bright blue-grey eyes.
"So this is Lord Forlong of Lossarnach," he thought, intrigued.
"These shinobi are quite the find," said the Lord of Lossarnach. "How did you enlist their services?"
Aragorn looked slightly uncomfortable. "Ah, we ran into them by accident in the Mines of Moria. They come from a different world of sorts, and they couldn't return to it at the time, so they offered their services,"
"Oh, on that note, our rates might have changed," interjected Minato-sensei. "But that will have to be address later. We have yet to calculate how much a pint of oni blood is worth,"
The looks on Imrahil's and Forlong's faces were priceless. Aragorn looked exasperated, and ran his hand over his face. Eldarion wished he had that machine that captures faces and scenes, oh, what was it called?
*"We need a camera, Hoshi,"* muttered Obito into his ear. He nodded eagerly in agreement, doing his best to hide his amusement on his face.
"You sell blood?" asked Imrahil deliberately, a look of utter disbelief on his face.
"Good grief no!" cried Minato-sensei. "Aragorn is paying us a percentage in orc blood, so we need to calculate how much he has to pay in currency or other valuable things. Hoshi will help me in the calculations,"
Kakashi and Obito burst out laughing, and Eldarion felt his face grow hot.
"Sensei," he started in a small voice, embarrassed.
*"Not in the math,"* the jōnin added quickly, reassuring his other two students. *"Merely on the projected population of orcs, to see how rare they will become"*
The pale genin nodded, his face still flushed. Aragorn shot him a questioning look.
"I am not good with numbers," he explained.
Kakashi suppressed a snort of laughter. *"3 times 6 equals 9"*
Eldarion shot a glare at his teammate. "Ha ha, can we move on?"
Minato-sensei walked over to his two students, moving away from the Gondorian lords, who were beginning to converse among themselves.
"Well, what brings you down here?" asked Minato-sensei.
"A little bird told me that you have my necklace," he said with a shrug, giving his sensei and expectant look.
The jōnin looked rather sheepish, and rubbed the back of his neck. Alarm bells set off in the elf-like boy's head.
"Ah, about that…"
"What did you do with it?" Eldarion asked coolly, trying to remain civil.
"Well, Orochimaru and the rest of Konoha's science department wanted to take a look at it, so I sent it over with a frog," explained the jōnin. "Sorry, I should have asked first,"
"Good thing for them that you did not, otherwise they would not have it," he said icily. "I let it go too easily last time. If you had wanted to do such research yourself, I would not protest,"
"Calm down Hoshi," soothed his yellow-haired sensei. "I'll get it back to you soon,"
Eldarion breathed deeply, and nodded. "Thank you Sensei. I hope nobody was harmed when you recovered my necklace,"
Minato-sensei smiled. "I had no trouble with asking them to give it back," he answered. "And they didn't give me any trouble in returning it. A vial of oni blood and a seal seemed to be a good trade,"
"Minato!"
They looked up to see Imrahil beckoning them over. Forlong had dismounted, along with one of his men, and the rest of the army was reporting to Minas Tirith. Aragorn was looking rather uneasy as they approached, and Eldarion was acutely aware of his lack of footwear.
"I was never told how you came upon Hoshi!" said Imrahil, a curious look on his face. "Aragorn claims that he hails from Gondor,"
"Well, we found him in the desert," answered the jōnin. "Hoshi is from Gondor, but he hails from a different age,"
Forlong's eyes lit up. "A different age, you say? Then do you know if we have a chance against Sauron?"
"We get rid of him," Eldarion answered dryly. "Otherwise I would have not been born,"
The fat lord laughed, finding his remark to be amusing. Aragorn, however, looked a bit more anxious.
"Forgive me for being so bold," said Imrahil. "But you do not look entirely human. Is one of your parents one of the Eldar?"
The pale boy inwardly winced. This was one topic of conversation that drove him nuts.
"Yes and No," he answered with a straight face. "However, I am classified as one of the Dúnedain,"
"Oh, are you Aragorn's relative?" asked Forlong innocently. Aragorn's grey eyes widened; he did not seem to be entirely comfortable with what he recognized as being the truth.
"A cousin, nothing close really," Eldarion lied smoothly.
Imrahil did not look utterly convinced. His green-grey eyes flicked between the ranger and the elf-like genin, making the lanky boy feel rather uncomfortable.
"Ah, family," said Obito, throwing an arm over Eldarion's shoulder. "He's an adopted member of my clan," he stated proudly. "You don't usually get to pick your siblings, but I get pretty lucky,"
The pale Gondorian smiled, then put his brother into a headlock and mussed his short, black hair. Minato-sensei, Imrahil and Forlong laughed as the Uchiha wrestled out of Eldarion's grip, protesting the entire time. The lanky boy could see Aragorn's wistful expression out of the corner of his eye. He wished the ranger would smile more often.
"We should go to the city," said Forlong. "It is nearly time for the midday meal, is it not?"
Obito's stomach growled in agreement, much to the Uchiha's embarrassment. But the sheepish look was quickly replaced with a sly grin.
"Race you to the gate!" he yelled over his shoulder, running at top speed. Without so much a second thought, Eldarion shot after his brother, along with Kakashi.
"Cheater!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Uchiha Obito is a cheater!"
\/\/\/\•/\/\/\/\•/\/\/\/
Minato leaned back against the wooden booth he was currently sitting in; staring at the pint of ale he had just been given. He looked over at Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, who were drinking the ale like it was nowhere near lunchtime. The jōnin had just spent the entire morning being dragged around from one military meeting to the next as the shinobi representative. Hoshi should have been the representative, but the boy had run off after Aragorn had found him breakfast. He was already exhausted, after spending a portion of the night tracking down and trading Hoshi's necklace for a bijuu-suppression seal of his own design and a vial of the precious black blood. Minato was so far gone in his exhaustion that he did not care that he fell asleep during Lord Húrin's report on the city's damages.
"So, alcohol at lunch?" the jōnin commented, relieving a platter of the leg of some small fowl.
Gimli gave him an odd look. "What else would we drink?" he asked, punctuating the remark with a swig from the stein.
"We drink water, soda, tea, soda water, and coffee in the mornings," answered Minato.
"Soda?" asked Legolas, pronouncing the word oddly.
The Yellow Flash frowned slightly. "It's that drink we give Hoshi when he is delusional. He hates it, and I have a feeling that none of you would like it very much either,"
Aragorn nodded absently, and put a picked-clean bone on top of a pile of other cleaned-off bones.
"Minato, can you remind me which students are going to the Morannon and which are staying here in Minas Tirith?"
The jōnin wilted and nearly dropped his tired head onto the splintery table. "Do you mind if I remind you later?" he asked. "I am just sick to death of all this planning. Can we talk about something else, please?"
The trio of Ardians looked at each other, a thoughtful look on their faces.
"Well," said Legolas, putting aside his ale. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Your homes, your friends, women, I don't know, anything but war planning," Minato said, all but whining, much to his disgust. The ale was starting to look appropriate right now.
"Hello Strider, fancy meeting you here!"
The quartet looked over to see Merry, Pippin, Rin and Anko sitting at a table that had been dragged to the end of the booth. Pippin was the one who had uttered the cheery greeting, while Merry was nose-deep in the stein. Rin and Anko were gnawing on the roasted wings of some large fowl.
"So Sensei, when are you going to ask out Kushina-san?" asked his small student innocently. Minato's blue eyes widened in shock. "Rin!" he hissed, his face growing warm.
"Don't blame us for wanting to know," commented Anko. "Minato-sensei and Kushina-san have been good friends for years-"
"And nothing more!" he interjected urgently.
"So they claim," continued Rin without skipping a beat. "But it is obvious to a rock that they were made for each other. *Admit it Sensei, Hoshi saw you pulling a Jiraiya a week before we got into this world.*"
The jōnin couldn't do much else other than sputter. All the others, bar Legolas looked amused. The blonde elf, however, looked confused.
"What does "pulling a Jiraiya" mean?" he asked. Minato shot the two girls a warning look, promising hell if they were to define that term.
"Looking at a woman while she bathes," answered Hoshi, who had just appeared, drizzling the fowl's leg with honey.
Legolas looked appalled, Gimli, Pippin and Merry laughed, and Aragorn seemed to be surprised. Minato finally allowed his head to hit the table.
"Hoshi, go run three laps per level, and if you are not done in five hours, you are to write the report to the Hokage when we return. Understood?" he growled.
"Yes, Sensei," he answered obediently, sounding confused. There was the sound of the chair being pulled away from the table and Hoshi walking away. The jōnin could feel a small hand patting him on the back.
"There, there Minato," soothed Merry. "Hoshi didn't know any better. Besides, it does not lower our esteem of you one bit, right Pippin,"
"Indeed, Merry," agreed his cousin. "I am sure Gimli shares our sentiments, right Gimli?"
There was a belch, and the table shook slightly as a stein was slammed onto its surface.
"Of course I share your sentiments!" declared the dwarf enthusiastically. "However, if the women of your land are anything like Miss Anko, then what you did must have been a risky endeavor,"
"A risky and disrespectful endeavor!" exclaimed Legolas, still sounding appalled. "This must have been a one-time event, I assume,"
"You must feel a great deal of affection for her to do that," said Aragorn softly. "Or is lust a better word?" he added in a mutter.
"It sounds like you did something like that before, Strider," said Anko innocently. Minato lifted his head to see the ranger's face turn bright red, and Rin smack the back of her fellow kunoichi's head.
"That was inappropriate," said the medic. "Apologize, Anko,"
The violet-haired girl frowned. "Sorry for embarrassing you?" she ventured sincerely. "Yeah, sorry for putting you on the spot,"
Aragorn shook his head mutely. Legolas was openly gaping at him, as were the Merry and Pippin.
"Welcome to the club," muttered Minato, sympathetic.
Gimli elbowed Legolas in the gut. "Leave the lad alone would you?" he grumbled good-naturedly. "What's done is done, no need to dwell on actions that do not affect the fate of Arda,"
The elf closed his mouth, but shot the tall man an indecipherable look. Merry and Pippin turned back to their food as if the incident never occurred. There was a moment of awkward silence, which was broken by Anko.
"So, ale during lunch…"
Minato couldn't help but laugh along with the others. It truly was nice to have a reprieve from planning the upcoming battle.
"Sensei?" asked Rin. "When are you all leaving for the Black Gate?"
The jōnin mentally groaned. "It looks like I spoke too soon,"
