Sakura checked her ribbon and glasses before she stepped up to join the small crowd of medic apprentices in the back. She was doing her best to not be noticed, but the medics were all ninja, mostly a handful of years older than she was.
A rustling of whispers came as the other apprentices started to step away from her and glance back cautiously and brought her to the attention of the medic organizing the apprentices.
"Haruno," the man said cautiously. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Konoha emergency medical procedure for any medical apprentice to report after a disaster or invasion," she said firmly, feeling both defiant and nervous at once.
"Of course it is," was the response as he checked the scroll in front of him. "Weren't you transferred?"
"I'm training under Anko Mitarashi," Sakura confirmed. "I'm still required..."
"She'll be reporting to the Anbu interrogation squad," the organizer said. "I'm sure they'll need a medic."
"H..hai," Sakura said before bowing and walking away.
Sakura glared back once over her shoulder, entertaining some thoughts of what she could do to these jerks and felt a bit vindicated to see the organizer seemed to get a bit nervous at the look.
"I have to stop thinking that way," Sakura told herself. "Or just stop holding back."
But then she'd stay sealed forever because there was no way Anko would let her leash go if...
"...no, no I don't want to hurt people I don't have to. Not unless they're trying to hurt me first. I mean really hurt me."
It wasn't long before she was coming up to where Anko was reporting to her superiors. The conversation paused as she approached and Anko turned to look toward her.
"They sent you here, kid?" Anko asked, unsurprised.
"Yes, Anko-sensei," Sakura said bitterly. "They said the interrogation unit could use a medic."
"We have a few medics," Ibiki said firmly, looking down at Sakura with not so much caution, but disapproval. "Anko, this one is your responsibility."
"I got that, Ibiki," Anko promised firmly. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan, he's still a bit bent out of shape over your sneaking into the chunin exams."
"She didn't sneak in, she was snuck in," the head of the interrogation unit reminded Anko. "She's in a deep hole as far as earning respect from me goes."
"I know that," Sakura said. It was supposed to sound meek, but it came out sounding more hostile.
Ibiki narrowed his eyes at the pink-haired girl.
"Right part forward, Sakura," Anko said under her breath. "I'll watch her, don't worry about it. Come on, Sakura, we've got a VIP to see to."
She handed the pink-haired kunoichi a small injection vial.
"What's this?" Sakura asked.
"It makes people friendlier," Anko explained. "Make sure she doesn't notice you giving it to her."
The VIP was a blond girl only a few years older than Sakura with a headband from Suna. It took a moment, but Sakura recognized her as Shikamaru's opponent in the tournament, mostly because Shikamaru and Asuma were standing nearby.
"Oi, Asuma-sempai," Anko called out loudly as they approached. "I'm supposed to take your report before we take charge of the girl. Sakura, see what you can do for her."
"Right, Anko-sensei," Sakura said moving to kneel down at the other girl's side.
"You're a medical ninja?" Temari asked as the pink-haired ninja started taking in her surface injuries.
"I'm an apprentice," Sakura said quickly as she pulled Temari's leg straight a bit too quickly.
"Aww!" Temari shrieked as the pain shivered up through her and she failed to notice the sharp prick under the base of her knee.
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Anko said, pausing her interview. "Leave the torture to the experts and just make sure she's good to answer questions."
"Hai, Anko-sensei," Sakura said without sounded either like relief or disappointment.
Temari was disturbed that she wasn't able to tell which, but it came with a sort of dizzy, content feeling.
Off to the side, she saw Shikamaru watching Sakura with caution rather than her, and suddenly wondered what sort of person they'd sent to treat her. Was this how Konoha trained their interrogators? Being medics to captured enemies?
As merely an apprentice, Sakura was more able to tell what wasn't a problem than narrow it down to specifics. The various surface bruises, cuts and scrapes were easy to diagnose and identify. There was at least one cracked rib and probably a few bone-deep bruises. Mostly she just seemed exhausted to point of collapse.
Idly, Sakura pulled back and brought her hands up to her mouth to lick the blood off without even thinking about it.
"Did you just lick my blood off your fingers?" Temari asked cautiously, as the image of Sakura seemed to be warping just in front of her.
Sakura flinched as she realized what she was doing and then considered that she was talking to an enemy prisoner. As casually as she could, she lifted up her sunglasses to reveal the white scaling along her brows and the green, slitted eyes she now had.
"Finger licking good," Sakura said with a smile as she over-dramatically finished cleaning the blood off of her hands.
"Err, Sakura..." Shikamaru said, stepping forward slightly.
"Experts, Sakura-chan," Anko called over her shoulder.
"Right, sorry, Anko-sensei," Sakura said, putting her glasses back in place. "I don't think anything serious is wrong, but..."
"That's good enough," Anko said, turning completely away from Asuma. "Okay, here's the deal, little miss Sand princess. The word from Hokage is this. Until proven otherwise, we're assuming it was Orochimaru giving the orders from disguise. So, until then, we're 'questioning a witness', okay?"
Temari looked from Anko to Sakura and the other Konoha in hearing range and saw that for the most part everyone looked surprised at this announcement, including the over-eager blood-thirsty medical apprentice at her side.
"Sorry to disappoint, little snake," Temari thought to herself as she took in Sakura's expression.
"So we're going to need a time frame on when orders came," Anko said. "When did you first get the orders that this wasn't just a chunin exam?"
"About a wee..." Temari stopped as she figured out what she had just said.
She could blame the fatigue and the sudden relief she'd felt at being categorized a witness, but the truth was that she'd just given information to the enemy, even if it was just the timing of an order.
"A week ago," Anko said clearly, nodding and smiling. "She we go from there?"
"I think..." Temari said nervously.
"Ah, hold it," the special jonin said. "What am I thinking, let's get you inside to some privacy before we ask anymore questions."
Temari's eyes widened as she looked around to see various other Sand and Sound ninja watching her. A pair of Konoha Anbu started moving in toward her, not moving especially hostilely. In fact, they were approaching in a fairly friendly manner. And some of her countrymen were watching that posture.
"Oh no," Temari said, trying to stand up only to fall back down. "I don't want."
"Sakura-chant, make sure our guest doesn't hurt herself," Anko said in a clear tone that seemed to belong to a careless shinobi in the wake of successful battle.
"Right," Sakura said, a bit confused as she moved around behind Temari and held her shoulders just tightly enough to hold her in place.
"Asuma-sempai," Anko said, "I think we've got it from here."
"All right," Asuma said casually as he gestured for Shikamaru to follow him.
Shikamaru watched the interchange of what was going on frowned as he watched the somewhat helpless look on Temari's face. All in all, he couldn't say that she didn't deserve it. After all,she had been part of an invasion force, but it still wasn't pleasant.
Temari tried to protest, but couldn't gather the will she needed to say anything and instead just let herself be led away. Being treated very much like a VIP until she was put into a small, but relatively comfortable room.
Where Anko decided to sit down and started to talk to her.
"That was a very good match you two had in the final rounds," Anko started to say, much to Sakura's confusion.
"I lost," Temari noted.
"You're being modest," Anko said eagerly. "It was a clever show of strategies on both sides."
"Anko-sensei, aren't we going to ask any questions?" Sakura asked.
"It doesn't really matter what we talk about," Anko said. "It just matters what her people think we're talking about."
Sakura looked over to where Temari sat in a drugged slouch, looking utterly miserable.
"This isn't being fair," Temari said dazedly. "I didn't want to attack Konoha."
Anko nodded, noting down that piece of information in her head.
"Ten to one, they know what I'm doing, kid," Anko said.
She didn't bother to note that even if they guessed that much, there was still the possibility that Temari was giving information to Konoha.
Or worse, had given it to them previously.
It was a terrible thing to do to any ninja, and Anko had somewhat lived with the aftereffects of a similar situation with her traitorous mentor, but Temari was the oldest child of the Kazekage, that made her a key source of infromation.
"Sakura-chan," Anko said, writing on a small scroll. "Get us some food and drinks please."
Sakura was about to protest being used for menial labor when she read the scroll and nodded.
"All right, Anko-sensei," she said irritably. "I'll be right back."
Then she left to find Ibiki Morino and deliver the small amount of information they'd already been able to glean.
"I'm afraid that you've over-exerted yourself, Hokage-sama," the medic told Hiruzen. "I don't think you'll be able to reach those levels of activity again even in absolute need."
"I understand," the Sandaime said. "I'm actually pleasantly surprised to be alive as it is. I had this idea that destiny might have had another idea in mind for me at first."
He stood up slowly and started to pull on the Hokage robes again.
"I have guests to see," he said wearily.
"I'd suggest selecting the Godaime soon," the medic said quietly. "If you stay as Hokage, you'll only shorten your life."
He nodded with a smile and walked through the doors, trying to put on his normal expression.
A few rooms down, he found himself faced with an interesting collection of people. Kakashi, Hiashi, Gai and Kurenai along with several special jonin and chunin from his personal staff waited in the room along with a five others, two of whom he was familiar with.
Kodachi and her assistant, Mokya sat in one place, the blind woman looking more recovered than he certainly felt. But then she was still in her thirties, her metabolism hadn't been slowed down by age too much yet.
Beside them was an arrogant looking woman who seemed to be from the Land of Tea though her postures and attitudes were from lands west of even the Wind country. It was easy to forget that this was simply a disguise for the winged creature that led their unlooked for help.
The man beside her was definitely a westerner in appearance and dress, with long black hair and robes like those favored by the Hyuuga clan.
"Ah, I suppose it is common for groundlings to keep others waiting," the disguised woman said from her seat.
"Kiima, you said you would behave," the aforementioned husband said tightly.
In response she twisted her head about and her mouth twitched.
"My apologies," she said. "Old habits come back easily under stress."
"Such a bigot you married one of us," Kurumi said idly. "And then...what's the Amazon term for it...but I think the term most here would know is 'henpecked'."
Kurumi and Kiima shared a glare.
"Perhaps I should apologize for wearing your sister's face," Kiima decided eventually.
"The one you almost killed her for...yeah," Kurumi said.
"Are you still a teenager, Kiima, calm down," Mousse said.
"Your groundling husband is telling you to behave, Kiima," Kurumi noted. "Don't you think you had better listen?"
Kodachi meanwhile shook her head and inclined her face up toward the ceiling in embarrassment herself.
"Mistress Kodachi thinks you're not helping Mistress Kurumi," Mokya noted.
The Hokage looked toward Kakashi with an arched eyebrow.
"This has been going on for the last thirty minutes," Kakashi said.
"Ladies, if we can put aside such differences for now," the Hokage said. "We have things to discuss. Such as how you might have known what was occurring."
"It was a request," Kiima said. "Some Musk loyal to Kodachi and Herb let the word out to the Joketsuzoku about a raid. Since they couldn't move without being watched, they asked us to intervene. Though I doubt it would have made much difference in the long term. Those fool Musk were already failing before we arrived."
"It made a difference of some lives," the Hokage said. "And for that, we thank you."
Kiima frowned and then gave a short seated bow toward the Hokage.
"We shall be out of your hair soon," Kiima said. "The Phoenix do not generally deign to interfere beyond the bounds of our homeland. We tend to leave you groundlings to slaughter eac..."
Mousse cleared his throat.
Kiima glanced at him and cleared her own throat, trying to recover something of a more polite stance again.
"In any regard," Kiima said. "Our task is finished, that is all that should concern you. We have business to discuss with Kodachi of the Musk and I assume she has to get on with the business of freeing her kingdom from these usurpers. I would appreciate it if you allowed us to get on with this business and we'll let you get on with whatever petty affairs you have to deal with."
"I'm beginning to understand the other woman's point," Kurenai noted with a sigh.
"Yes, I am a bigot," Kiima snapped. "I am aware of my shortcomings, thank you for pointing it out in typical groundling tact."
"She's not normally this bad," Mousse noted.
"Didn't mind control your first love into a willing slave?" Kurumi asked.
"That was a long time ago," Mousse said. "And Xian Pu got better. She's gotten a lot better, really, honest."
"Funny that I never see proof of that," the Tendo woman added.
Kodachi gestured toward Mokya, somehow managing to convey a sense of sarcasm.
"Mistress Kodachi is entirely mystified as to the reason why you've never seen the improvement, Mistress Kurumi," Mokya said with a perfectly straight-face.
The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ah, Diplomacy," he noted with the air of someone naming a source of grief.
"We found these in the possession of the last patient," one of the medics said as he brought a small purse forward to the head surgeon.
"Pills?" he said in curiosity. "Have you had them analyzed."
"While you were in surgery," the woman who'd brought them said. "What are her chances."
"Very slim," the surgeon said grimly. "The injury was severe to begin with and she is old with no physical training."
"These might also have an impact," the woman said returning to the pills and starting to read off what they'd found.
"Those are hormone packets to induce fertility," the surgeon noted in surprise, cutting her off. "This woman is deep into her fifties and well past any fertility, why would she be taking fertility pills?"
"I didn't finish, sir," the other medical ninja said. "They've been tampered with, laced with nicotine and certain other chemicals that long-term..."
"Would cause permanent brain damage," the head surgeon said. "You're saying that someone has been deliberately poisoning her with these things?"
He turned the purse over and found the symbol for silver embossed on the back.
"Why would someone do something like that?" he wondered.
Gaara felt much recovered, physically speaking, by the time that his captors had brought him into the village where the other prisoners were. He immediately noticed that the Sand were separated from the Sound and Musk survivors.
The Sunagakure medics were being provided with supplies to treat the wounded, but the Sound were being given only the most absolute minimum care. From what Gaara could tell, the guards on the Musk were only barely restraining themselves from killing them right there.
It was a hatred Gaara was familiar with seeing directed at him.
"Hey, what's up with those guys?" Naruto asked, indicating the separate stockades for the other groups of attacks.
Apparently he noticed the differences in treatment as well, somewhat.
One of the Anbu looked over and then back toward Naruto.
"The Sound attacked civilians," she said. "The Musk attacked anything female, even their 'allies', and few others. The Sand were at least professional in their treachery."
Gaara blinked and looked up.
"Temari," he said.
Kankuro, awake now, looked toward his younger brother and was uncertain whether or not he'd heard what he'd thought he'd heard. It sounded like Gaara was...worried.
"The Kazekage's daughter?" the Anbu asked. "She's talking to Anko-sama right now. She's fine."
Kankuro frowned at the implications of that statement, but he was certain that Temari wouldn't say anything to an enemy.
"You must be her brothers, did you disapprove of this invasion as well?" the Anbu asked.
"Oh, gee, did she pull the whole 'spread rumors of cooperation' thing?" Ino asked irritably, rolling her eyes.
Briefly she caught Kankuro's and Gaara's eyes and held them for a second before turning off to the side.
"Yamanaka-chan," the Anbu said coolly. "I do not know what you could mean. Asuma-sama is looking for you and Akichi-chan, by the way."
The statement was a more obvious reprimand than the Anbu should have used in the situation, and both Kankuro and Gaara got the message. Though it didn't answer the question as to how they knew she hadn't agreed with the plan.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing important," Sasuke said. "We've delivered the prisoners, we should find Kakashi and report to him."
Gaara walked over to an empty patch within the guarded area and sat down without a word. Kankuro, uncertain of why, followed and sat down a few feet away. A few other Sand looked toward Gaara and shifted further away from him as he sat down.
Naruto frowned at that and started to open his mouth.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata said reaching to grab his sleeve. "Not right now."
In a fume, Naruto turned about and started to stalk off. Hinata bowed toward the Anbu.
"Where would we found Kakashi-sama or Kurenai-sensei?" she asked.
"They're both in the Hokage's office," the Anbu said, pointing the way. "But you're probably going to have to wait for them. You might want to head to the hospital first."
"Why's that?" Sasuke asked.
"Ryoko Saotome of Team 7 is there," the woman noted. "And I think Team 7 is you."
A medic came through the door into the room where Ryoko was sitting up with a very proper posture. He stopped, stared and shook his head as he considered the girl's injuries underneath the many medicated bandages they'd wrapped around her to sooth the burns and support other injuries.
"Why are ninja always so bad about following doctor's advice?" he wondered quietly, forgetting that Ryoko wasn't technically a ninja.
There were several people around her talking.
A young blonde girl with a family resemblance was sitting at the side of the bed and trying to make her sister promise not to scare her anymore. The medic recognized Joseibi Saotome from some earlier business regarding her shape-shifting curse.
Naruto Uzumaki was there, which used to be something that the medic would be irritated about. However, he'd heard some rumors recently that made him willing to tolerate the boy, as long as he didn't cause too much trouble. Naruto was also talking loudly and commenting about some battle he'd heard Ryoko had been involved in.
Close to the Uzumaki kid was the Hyuuga heir, of all people, Hinata Hyuuga was talking quietly in between Joseibi's and Naruto's more forceful comments toward the skittish girl on the bed. It was also obvious to the medic that she was quietly holding Naruto's hand.
Kiba Inuzuka stood at the head of the bed, watching Ryoko cautiously and apparently patiently waiting for a chance to say whatever was on his mind. Ryoko occasionally caught his eye and flushed nervously as she apologized to Joseibi and answered Naruto's questions.
A cleared throat behind the medic brought his eyes around to find Sasuke Uchiha standing alone in the corner with his arms crossed. The sound also attracted the attention from the other people in the room and the medic found several people looking at him.
"Excuse me, is your mother Nodoka Sao..." he started to say.
"What's she want?" Kiba demanded, saying "she" as if it were a curse.
"She was injured in the battle," he said, looking toward Kiba curiously. "In critical condition and there are...other things."
"So?" Kiba asked. "Ryoko's not going to see that witch."
"Ki...Inuzuka-san!" Ryoko protested. "I...I ha..have to..."
"Have to what, listen to her push you to..." Kiba's eyes flicked toward Joseibi and the medic. "Again?"
"S...she is my mother," the elder Saotome said.
"I'm with Kiba-kun, Onechan," Joseibi said bitterly, though she looked like she wanted to know more about what's going on.
"Is...is it going to be soon?" Hinata asked.
"She's stable for now," the medic said. "But we can't guarantee the next few days. And there are some things you should know about some pills she was taking..."
"I'm sorry about what happened," Shikamaru said to Temari as he walked up toward her and glanced at the guards outside the door. "My friend made sure your brothers knew what was going on."
"No, no," Temari said. "We attacked you. If you had attacked us and we took you prisoner we'd probably have done the same thing."
She took a deep breath and sighed.
"We're shinobi," she said. "It's part of the risk. Besides, I'm not the only one they pulled that with."
"So everybody's fine with you then?" Shikamaru asked.
Both knew that wasn't as easy as that. Playing the trick so obviously just increased the suspicion that one of the selected was an actual traitor and the others were selected just to cover the conversation.
"I'll be fine as soon as I get back to Sunagakure," Temari said firmly.
It was a few days later that the word came independently from both Anbu spies and the Sunagakure council, that the Kazekage had been dead for weeks before the invasion had happened.
"We have to present an...apology," Baki said as he came forward to collect his team and the other prisoners to be released.
Gaara, Temari and Kankuro stood behind him.
He was acting as the representative to the Konoha Council.
"Accepted," the Hokage said.
Despite the newly opened bad blood, neither Konoha nor Sunagakure could afford an extended conflict. Even if it was obvious that the Kazekage had been working with Orochimaru from the beginning, his assassination gave both sides an easy way to pass the buck and pretend the attack was not Suna's fault.
At least on paper.
"There is one request," Baki said.
"Really?" the Hokage said, frowning slightly. "And what is this."
"We want to make sure this won't happen again," Baki said. "So it was suggested that we...exchange some personnel on a semi-permanent basis."
"You mean an embassy?" Hiruzen asked, avoiding the term hostages. "And do you have a list of the names you would want to be a part of this exchange?"
Baki grimaced and looked over his shoulder briefly and then started listing names.
"And...Temari daughter of the Fourth Kazekage," he said finally, drawing a sudden gasp from the blonde girl behind him.
She looked up slightly in shock and then looked down toward her feet, frowning.
"It's rather convenient that most of these names are already here as prisoners," Koharu Utatane noted.
"It was decided that it would be best to assign individuals to this role who had already shown some good relations with the Leaf," Baki said painfully.
The Hokage frowned at the blatant purpose of this request. Preventing the return of people they felt had been compromised by the Konoha Anbu. Hiruzen didn't doubt that Ibiki had gotten to one or two, but doubted it was someone obvious.
And then there was Danzo.
"We'll be waiting to hear who you plan to send for your embassy," Baki said starting to turn to leave.
Gaara remained standing as his siblings and jonin started to leave the audience chamber and people started to stand up.
"I have a name to suggest for you," Gaara noted.
Baki stopped and turned to look at the younger of the siblings cautiously.
"Oh, and who would that be," the Hokage asked.
"I'm being asked to do what?" Ino demanded shrilly as Asuma talked to her.
Somewhere, many days travel away, on the edges of a port city, a fourteen year old girl was strapped to a table underneath a slow constant drip of water. There was a blindfold around her eyes and plugs in her ears as well as a gag in her mouth.
As each drop of water struck her head, her hands twitched.
After on hour of almost nothing happening, a door finally opened and a girl six or seven years older than the bound one came in. She was dark-skinned with brown hair, an apparent native of the Lightning nation.
She sashayed up to the captive's side and pulled the ear-plugs and gag out of the girl's mouth.
"Okay, time to try this again, baby," the black girl said in a conversational tone. "What's your name?"
"Kin...Tsuchi of Oto..." she was interrupted as the gag was forced back into her mouth.
"I'm sorry, but that's the wrong answer," the woman said with a tsking sound. "Don't feel bad, we'll get you back where you're supposed to be eventually, then you can forget this person you've made up for yourself."
Then the ear plugs were put back in and the woman walked out of the chamber to see a man maybe ten years older than her and terribly skinny.
"Tsh, they're so unpliable at this age," she said. "I have to wonder how permanent any programming we give her will be in the long run."
The woman sighed and shook her head with a smirk before frowning momentarily.
"You know, this whole process always seems so familiar," she said.
"Are you having regrets, Mistress?" the man asked.
"Oh, of course not, Gos-kun," the black-woman said with a shrug. "I'm not one to have any sort of maidenly feelings."
"Nabiki Tendo never did," Gosunkugi agreed.
"Exactly," his apparent employer said. "And I am Nabiki Tendo. The real Nabiki Tendo, of course."
Gosunkugi breathed a sigh of relief as the moment of introspection passed. It would be a shame to lose this one, she was turning out to be one of the better decoys.
Ryoko, still wrapped in bandages in a few places but having been released from the hospital a couple of days ago, stood outside the door to her mother's room in hospital and quietly decided whether or not she should go in.
The last time she'd seen her mother, she'd pretty much thrown everything Nodoka had taught her about honor and behavior into Nodoka's face and simply done what she wanted to do. It had been a curious feeling before that she hadn't exactly been able to pin down, but now she simply felt a lot of embarrassment and shame.
If she went in now, mother was sure to remind her of this terrible sin.
Which was why Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and Joseibi had all practically forbidden her to talk to her mother. Or at least, they said something close to that.
Still, she'd been trying to work up the nerve to present her disobedient face to her mother long enough to wish her well. And this was about as far as she'd gotten yet.
Some deeply unworthy part of her wondered if she was unconsciously trying to put it off until it was too late and be able to say that she tried. She'd just been unlucky that Nodoka was hanging on so long.
That thought didn't reach consciousness, thankfully and Ryoko eventually steeled herself with a heavy intake of breath to enter the room.
Nodoka lay on the bed quietly unconscious with several machines attached to monitor her status and sustain her life. Ryoko approached her cautiously, even sedately and took a seat at the side of the bed, bowing before she did so.
"Hello, Okaasama," she said. "I ap...apologize fo..for taking so long to c...come and visit. Uzumaki-san and Ki...Inuzuka-san say I should not talk to you. Hyuuga-san thinks th...that too. I...I am sorry I could not do the duty you wished me too...I..h..have a d..duty to my comrades and this village. P...perhaps when I n...no longer have a duty, I w...will be free to perform seppuku a..as you asked."
She frowned at that statement.
"I do not think I r...really want to do that," she said slowly.
"That's good," a voice beside Ryoko said.
Slowly, Ryoko turned toward the sound of the voice and found a tall, dark-haired man sitting in the chair next to hers. He was about the same age as Kodachi, maybe a little bit older, and Ryoko couldn't seem to feel his presence at all in the flow of chi around her.
"Ano?" the young martial artist asked.
"Are you Ryoko?" the man asked.
"H...hai," the dark-haired girl said, adjusting her glasses.
"I'm Ranma," he told her.
Ryoko blinked and tried to remember where she had heard that name before.
"Oh! You are one of Kodachi-sama's masters," Ryoko declared cheerfully as she remembered where she'd heard the name before.
The older man laughed once then.
"A..are y..you here to see Kodachi-sama?" Ryoko said.
"My wife went on to see her," the man said. "I hear Kurumi's been around too?"
"I met h...her when the in..invasion happened," Ryoko said. "She t...told Okaasama that she c..could not remove me fr...from the clan."
"Okay, did she say why?" Ranma asked.
"Be..because the he..head of the clan is my brother," Ryoko said. "I d..did not know I ha...had a brother, did you know he has the same n...name as..."
Ryoko stopped talking and let her mouth hang open as she turned slowly to face Ranma completely.
"Yeah, this is a surprise to me too," Ranma said. "We only got Kurumi's message four days ago. Parents, students and sisters."
He waited briefly for Ryoko to respond.
"You don't say much, do you?" he asked.
"Ano?" Ryoko repeated.
Ranma smiled briefly and reached out to experimentally rougly Ryoko's hair.
Instantly, Ryoko flinched away from that and started hastily trying to straighten out her hair.
"P..please do not do that," Ryoko said before pausing for a bit and frowning. "Ar...are you really my brother?"
"Nodoka Saotome is my mother," Ranma said simply.
They sat quietly, Ranma looking toward Nodoka and Ryoko looking from him to their mother. Finally, she said a brief word.
"Ano..." Ryoko said hesitantly.
"What do you want?" Ranma asked, trying to sound a bit more polite than the words implied.
"W...would it be possible to spar?" Ryoko asked. "Later?"
Ranma laughed at the question and shook his head.
"You're certainly a Saotome," he declared.