Who you callin' Hyuuga?

by Ikasury

The Raikage is preparing his village's defenses in the only way he knows how, gaining more power! He's already obtained 2 bijuu, does Kumo really need anything more? Why yes! How about a Hyuuga to start with... and this time, they actually get her... (Long developmental build up, world building, and Chuunin Exams are here!)

38. Conger Eel

A/N: i'm not happy -.-

this chappy took forever for various reasons (finals, school, vacation, re-starting school, etc.) so it feels all sorts of choppy and not right... that and like a fluff chapter, i know there's a reason in there somewhere but either i'm too miffed to notice or don't remember... probably both... i apologize this wasn't 'better' but i needed to put something up and that last scene finally decided to finish, i know i had other more extravagant conversations to put there, but it ended up like that and i'm not sure how i feel about it -shrugs-

i'll do better next, as it should be more plots!

ENJOY!

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Two days later Xiao woke up…

In the meantime Yorihi had had to explain why she'd left the hospital early, deter the hunter squad that had been sent after her (headed by her Aunt and Uncle), give a lengthy detailed explanation what had happened, fix some damages from her 'little' outburst, suffer three hours, each, of lectures from her Uncle, Aunt, Kouhai and the head of the hospital, the Commander of Company V… she was a very scary pale woman with slick purple hair and intimidating pink eyes that gave her the impression of an Eel… definitely someone she didn't want to meet ever again if she could help it.

Kemui-sama was still off on some 'diplomatic' mission, or that's the least anyone would tell her…

… and her Father had just taken one look at her, after being dragged in by all the above after her and Uenkai had been ambushed at the sweets shop, by her Uncle's team no less, inciting much flippant laughter from her Grandmother, and the great Oni had just "Hmphed" at her before waving the others away.

She spent an entire minute standing at attention under her Father's scrutinizing gaze before a devilish grin spread on the large man's face and he scooped her up in a big hug, extolling how proud he was seeing her with that headband around her eyes. The blonde Oni hadn't even heard a word about the whole 'escaping the Hospital' thing or the chiding or any other such nonsense. His Daughter was now officially a genin, he couldn't be more proud!

Yorihi may or may not have made an 'Eep!' sound before her Father finally put her down, hand patting her head affectionately before turning to the boy that had been chosen to be her partner. In all honesty the Raikage knew next to nothing about the boy, he'd left the decision up to Kemui so he trusted her judgment in picking the young man for some reason… not that he knew anything about how it was his new assistant that had decided and the white haired assassin just 'approved' but details…

The boy and the Oni stared at one another for a good long minute, serious teal eyes never wavering from the great Oni's beady black ones. Bachiko made some comment about 'posturing' in the back of Yorihi's mind that she didn't get but had to suppress the urge to giggle; they looked far too serious for this situation.

After a moment the Raikage had shooed them away with only a mild threat to break the boy's spine and crush his hands and feet while ripping out his esophagus if he ever let anything untoward happen to his Daughter… surprisingly this was probably the least threatening threat Uenkai received from the blind girl's family in the two days since.

He had only expressed this quite bluntly as they stood outside the glass doors to the Raikage tower after another run-in with the girl's 'grandmother', "What did I do to deserve this?" as his left eye may or may not have twitched… the black haired grinning smoker of a desk clerk was rather… creative in her description of just what exactly she'd do to him should any 'funny business' happen to her precious Granddaughter… also that no one would ever find the body, she'd make sure of that.

Yorihi had just flippantly shrugged, saying it was all pretty normal to her.

Uenkai had just looked down at her… eye twitching.

That was two days ago… he'd since received every manner of threat possible from various levels of Kumo shinobi, finding out they were all 'related' to the small blind girl somehow. He was still fuzzy on how exactly the head of Admin. knew the girl, let alone this short weirdo with pierced dark eyebrows, platinum blonde hair and never opened his eyes… it was weird. He'd had the joy of meeting her Aunt and Uncle, the village's Jinchuuriki, whom only gave him fanged grins while showing a small portion of their demonic chakra, no words needed. A crazy redhead he wasn't sure if it was a girl or not and a pale blonde with dreads that said if he didn't take care of 'her' rival he'd wake up with several swords in an uncomfortable place… not to mention 'missing' a few pieces, the pale blonde boy with the dreads seemed rather concerned with him keeping his interest away from what he referred to as Kumo's princess… not that Uenkai had any idea what the hell that meant as the little blind girl was more an Oni like her father than anything else. –'Princess'… yea right…- There was also this weird couple that politely threatened to flay and dismember him if something happened to the girl, as she was important to someone they highly respected…

… and the list went on and on, Uenkai was half convinced the girl didn't even know half the people that threatened him as she seemed to jut quirk a brow at some of them before shrugging if she was there and didn't believe him if she hadn't been. Seriously, why didn't she believe him about the old man with the scar around his left eye and the limp that Uenkai was almost sure was a Commander or something. The grandfatherly man had only grinned, expressing he and his would be 'watching' the boy for a friend.

"I'm not that important?" had been her confused response. He wanted nothing more than to disagree with the rising death threats he was getting…

Uenkai merely had to look to the side as they walked into the hospital, a trio of other newly minted genin pausing to get out of the smaller girl's way. The tallest, a boy with grayish-blonde hair and bigger than him gave something of a salute commenting 'Boss' that the little girl waved at with a smirk, while a girl with sherbet orange hair and scimitars waved with a smile and another boy with mint hair and cold eyes just nodded. Yorihi seemed to at least know them as she waved by them with an honest grin… but the second she was past the trio turned on him with dark glares. The large boy with the grayish-blonde hair only had to crack his knuckles and Uenkai got the message. He just growled under his breath and followed after his teammate, the girl completely oblivious to the exchange. –Now I'm being threatened by newly-minted genin… great…-

There was a man with red eyes reading a magazine at the nurses' counter who didn't even bother to look up at them, just waving his hand in Yorihi's direction in a 'shooing' motion, already knowing why the girl was here. The nurse didn't even bother to register Uenkai existed as he followed the smaller girl, slightly scowling.

"Seichi-san!" the smile on the girl's face was audible as Uenkai glanced up past his small teammate to a large man stepping out of one of the rooms.

The dark skinned semi-giant paused momentarily to glance down at the girl with bright red eyes, something subtle about his features that made one think he was smiling, "Yorihi-hime?" his voice was clipped and deep yet strangely soft while addressing the girl who just walked up to him with a grin. They seemed to share a knowing 'look', probably translated via their eyebrows before the large man simply closed his eyes and gave the barest of nods, "They took her off the meds this morning, she should wake up some time today…" and with that he turned, stepping out of the barely restrained girl's way.

Yorihi quickly stepped into the room, not another word needing to be said, leaving Uenkai to stand out in the hall and try not to stare at the older jounin so obviously. –Where the hell does she meet these people?- it was a reoccurring thought with how much of her 'family' he'd met in the past two days, each with their own variation of how they were going to skewer him alive should anything 'happen' to the arrogant little girl.

The large man with the sandy red hair and brilliant crimson eyes just stood still, arms crossed and imposing as he stared down at the boy without blinking.

Uenkai decided to just stare back, teal to red, and it took every effort he had to not give a threatening frown. He was honestly waiting for the man to start in on his own creative manner of ending his life…

Instead the man just seemed to turn and start walking down the hall.

The teal haired boy's shoulders sagged, that hadn't been what he was expecting, "Oookay…" with a flippant shrug he stepped forward and reached for the door, intent on following his teammate.

"Harm my sister or her friend," that deep low voice called from a few feet down the hall, causing the young teen to turn to the jounin, spying only his back. The tall man glanced back over his shoulder just enough to show one of those threatening red eyes, before seemingly rolling his shoulder with a subtle, "Hmph…" and continuing on his way.

Teal eyes blinked. –What was that…- somehow it sent a shiver down his spine and was still technically more intimidating then the Raikage's colorful adage to how he'd just break him. With a quick shake of the head the teen finally just decided to open the door and follow his teammate, seeing what she was doing and shutting the door as soon as he was in the room. –The 'sister' that man mentioned must be Tenkyuu's friend…- over the two days of being dragged through the 'family' he'd learned it was safest to refer to the girl by as non-personal a means as possible, such as 'hey you!' or 'Oi!' or anything that didn't deal with directly addressing her by name. The girl seemed to understand, or just accepted it, but on the occasions he couldn't help but be direct he said her surname, that was non-personal enough to not suggest anything to her crazy family, he hoped, as literally ANYONE, apparently, could be part of it and they might use it as leverage to use against him… or reason enough to kill him. She'd just shrugged, for some reason calling him 'Kumori-kun' before even thinking about it…

The girl was surely going to be the death of him that was for sure.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head Uenkai moved slightly away from the door, in case anyone else came in, but far enough away to leave the girls to themselves. His blind teammate had at least attempted to visit this friend of hers over the two days previous, incurring the wrath of that scary eel-woman that ran Company V, one of the medical companies, and who was currently the one heading the hospital. That had been an enduring lecture he'd been forced to participate in before being dragged off to see the Raikage. Every day seemed to end up with him in front of the Raikage or near that damn tower being grilled by someone shady and high ranking, especially that desk clerk. Maybe it was just because he was now associated with the Raikage's daughter and this was some manner of hazing… or this was really just a 'normal day' for the little girl, if so he was starting to understand how she had such indomitable endurance and flippancy around people.

But that was all speculation for another day… right now was her seeing her friend.

After the lecture two days ago, she'd tried again yesterday and he'd waited outside, finding no reason to be there as he didn't know the girl nor planned to. Today was different just because the girl's friend was supposed to be waking up today… and he figured he might as well get the death threats over with.

Uenkai just huffed in the corner, arms crossed as he leaned on the wall, watching as the blind girl fidgeted in the chair near her friend. It was strange watching her, he'd only known the girl for a few days and they'd both either spent them fighting each other or being put through the ringer by superiors. This was probably the first time he'd seen the girl so… still, so silent and he didn't want to believe it but she seemed hesitant, like a little kid not knowing what to do. Without thinking the words left his mouth, "Is this the first time you've sat at a friend's bedside…?"

Instead of stiffening the girl seems to… relax? That wasn't right but she seemed to become less tense, "No," her normally so loud and threatening voice was soft, still somewhat harsh but he'd come to recognize that as just the way she talked and after meeting her father it made sense. There was the barest of shakes of her head but he noticed the fingers on her lap tightened, "When I was young… something… happened, that hurt a lot of people I care about…" she didn't cry, if anything the frown on what little of her face he could see from that angle tightened and he'd say she was more angry then sad, "I nearly lost something very important then… so I guess I just don't like hospitals much…"

There was a flippant shrug from the teal haired boy as he moved his head to look in front of him, the small girl only in his peripheries, "Don't think anyone likes them…"

He wouldn't know it but Yorihi was watching him without turning her head. It wasn't easy for her to talk about stuff like what happened with the Nibi when she was young, or anything from before really, because a lot of it still didn't make sense to her. She had been involved but unconscious for most of it, just waking up with no idea who she was or what happened with random flashes of things that didn't make sense. But that wasn't what made those memories hard to face again… it was the feeling of loss and how close she'd come to forgetting someone so important to her… then there had been the time after, her quick exposure to what being a shinobi was all about and training. Her life had been full of many things, mostly hard lessons she wasn't sure others, especially around her age, understood or even could understand. Watching Uenkai, the stony blank look that came over his face as he looked away… she could see he understood, if at least a little…

-Maybe…- pale hands tightened in her lap –maybe Kemui-sama chose him because she could see in his eyes some of the things I've dealt with… maybe we're supposed to learn from one another…- the older boy still annoyed her, his backhanded tactics and superior ideology made her want to hit him, but when he was quiet… when he thought she couldn't see him there was a stoic look about him, something thoughtful and while bruised and beaten didn't show it. That look, it was almost admirable…

A small smirk picked at the edge of her lips as Bachiko decided to show up, taking up most of her lap and forcing her to pet him. –And he has been dealing with everyone's hazing quite well…- Yorihi had not been involved with whatever plan her family was enacting with the constant string of smiling death threats but she had found it somewhat amusing watching Kumori's reactions, the way he'd stiffen up or scowl was funny. Just the fact that she could tell he was biting his tongue so as not to insult a 'superior officer' and keep what small bit of face he had left never seemed to get old to her. She'd ask them all later what they were doing, since it didn't make sense to her that they'd honestly be threatening him on her behalf, they all knew she was strong enough to handle herself. –It must be some game…- it was the only thing that made sense.

Bachiko snorted in her lap as she pressed down his long ears in an absent pet, he could easily skim her thoughts and couldn't believe his Master could be so oblivious.

"Mmm…"

Tattooed brows twitched as hidden white eyes blinked at the sound, the wispy ghost cat in her lap cocking his ears up straight as they both turned towards the bed.

"Ugh…" dark eyelids pressed further as the bedridden girl slowly moved, not quite shaking her head but somewhat rolling.

Immediately Yorihi stood up, holding Bachiko in her arms, as she leaned over, tilting her ear more towards the bedridden dusky-pinkette that seemed to be waking up, "Xiao-chan?"

Instantly a fist went towards the blind girl's head, which she 'Eep!'ed at and reflexively dodged, while Xiao, still obviously quite asleep mumbled, "Shut… up… Oku…" the arm that had shot out as a fist dropped effortlessly as the girl rolled over and away, covering her face from the light, "Uhrmm…"

Again, both Yorihi and her cat blinked, in fact she could see thanks to her hidden eyes as Uenkai blinked his own teal eyes not sure what to make of the display.

To make things even weirder…

"XIAO-CHAN!" everyone conscious jumped from the sudden emergence of a boy in a silly plated hat as Oku miraculously 'appeared' from under the bed, arms wide as if to give a bone-crushing hug as he smiled widely in an attempt to glomp the obviously still sleeping girl…

This time the automatic fist met its target… hitting Oku square in the nose, stopping his glomp and resulting in the boy uselessly falling to the floor.

Three sets of eyes blinked.

It was at this moment, with her fist still obviously extended that the sleeping medic-aspirant decided to crack open red eyes. She came face to face with the long snout, beady black eyes, and whiskered features of Lior, Oku's badger, hanging off the side of her bed right next to her face. Narrowed red eyes stared at the badger's black ones for a good long minute, obviously still waking up, before Lior just made a snort, pulled himself up fully onto the bed, curl in a ball by her chest as the girl sleepily brought her arm down and nuzzled the angry ball of black, white, and grey fur, mumbling, "Lior-kun, I missed you…"

The badger huffed in triumph.

There was a pathetic whine from the other side of the bed, though Yorihi was probably the only one that could see the dirty-blonde boy grinning, obviously happy his partner was 'okay'.

Apparently that small display had been enough insanity for Uenkai, as his angsty teal eyes narrowly turned on his teammate, one hand absently pointing between the one curled up in bed with a vicious animal and the other groaning on the ground, to say, "Is this normal?"

Absently Yorihi nodded, "For as long as I've known them," and sat back down, glad things were okay. Bachiko may have snorted but she decided to ignore him, "Xiao-chan, are you finally awake?"

There was an unintelligible grumble from under the white sheets as dusky-pink hair moved, "Yes, Princess, I'm awake," the older girl rolled over with half open eyes to flatly stare at her friend, dragging the ball of angry fur with her and setting him on her stomach. Immediately her red eyes narrowed on the new plate covering the younger girl's eyes, then seeming to recognize there was another voice, one she didn't recognize. Red eyes slowly turned towards the unknown figure; an older boy with teal hair and eyes scowling at her. The half-awake girl blinked before she turned to Yorihi, absently pointing at Uenkai, "Who's the hot guy?"

It sounded like metal hit the floor rather hard.

Uenkai's left eye was twitching as the older teen seemed to seize up, not having expected such a comment.

Luckily Xiao, in her half-awake state, didn't seem to be paying either male present any mind, her lazy red eyes solely on her female friend as she moved to sit up straighter, her body feeling heavy and her mind was already trying to catalogue what drugs they probably used on her.

Yorihi was oddly still… before her head tilted slightly to the left with one brow rising, "You mean Kumori-kun?"

Even half-awake a dusky-pink brow rose at the way the younger referred to the older guy. She yawned, then scratched her head absently, "If that's the tall, dark, and broody guy standing over there," again, pointing causing Uenkai to maybe narrow his teal eyes in a mild glare at the younger girl.

There was another pitiful whine from the floor as the boy in the silly plated hat seemed to crawl up the foot of the bed, pouting cutely as he held onto the railing rather pathetically and whined, "Xiao-chan~"

He got a plastic cup in the face as the red eyed girl just scowled, "Go get me something to drink," she glanced to the other male trying to out scowl her, "And take Mr. hot-and-broody with you!" why she grinned that last bit no one would ever understand.

For whatever reason this seemed to kick a bit of a spine back into Oku, as the boy immediately jumped to his feet, expert overly-cute scowl on his face as he walked up to the taller boy and seemingly thug-off stared at him with his eyes closed.

Yorihi had to bite her lip to not laugh.

Uenkai was rightfully weirded out, frowning obviously as his teal eyes turned to the younger girl, hoping for some kind of help with what the hell was going on. Sadly she was facing her friend… not to mention she was blind so visual cues were effectively useless. –damnit- he turned back to the younger genin, taking note the boy did possess a hitae-ate plate sewn into that stupid hat on his head, and growled down at him, quite familiar with Kumo-thuggish-interactions, "You first kid…"

The pale boy just seemed to cock his chin threateningly with a snort, before turning towards the door and opening it, turning back a moment, suddenly back to 'cheery' as he smiled at his bedridden partner still petting his badger in her lap, "Anything specific you want Xiao-chan?"

The girl just seemed to close her eyes with a wide yawn, absently waving to the dirty-blonde haired boy, "You know what I want…"

That stupid grin, "Course, hey Lior," he seemed to turn to the badger that just seemed to growl at him, "Watch the girls, I'm counting on you buddy!" something of a bark, that the boy just continued to grin at… then he turned back to the older boy, adorable scowl back on his face, "C'mon!" and left.

Uenkai just stared at the open door, down to his teammate, to her friend, that growling badger, back to his teammate, and finally back at the door. He ended up just shaking his head and perhaps mumbling something under his breath sounding like 'what the hell?' before slumping out the door and closing it.

Yorihi was the first one to snicker in the quiet room after the boys left.

Then Xiao busted out laughing, obviously more awake then she had let on, "Oh my god… they're going to kill each other…"

"I hope Oku-kun wins," the younger girl said with a light snort.

Red eyes snapped to the girl, dusky-pink brow raised as she absently pet Oku's badger, "What, not going to bet on your own partner?"

Again the younger girl snorted, "As if, the guy's a jerk…"

That had Xiao bust out laughing for a good long minute before coming down, wiping her eyes, "Oh c'mon he can't be that bad Princess," a decidedly wicked smirk Yorihi recognized as something her Grandmother would do, spread on the girl's dark features, "Least he's good to look at~"

Flat tattooed brows met the red eyed girl's grin.

"Oh… right," the girl absently scratched her cheek embarrassed, forgetting for the moment the girl was blind.

"I honestly don't get what you mean by any of that, but…" her hands came up with her fingers moving in a wavy gesture as a smirk may or may not have spread on the pale girl's face, "But he did let me touch his face and put my hands through his hair," something evil passed her mostly covered face, probably completely influenced by the cat smirking in her lap, "It was quite soft."

Wide red eyes and a wide open mouth just stared at the younger girl. Xiao futilely tried to say something several times only to get nothing, then pointing at the girl as if scandalized, "Tenkyuu Yorihi!" then a grin spread across her face, "I never would have expected such from you!"

"What?" that confused adorable deer-in-headlights look came over the younger girl's face as the cocky grin left and her eyebrows went up, "What'd I do?"

A devious grin that would make a certain desk clerk proud spread on the red eyed girl's face as she reached out and mussed the younger girl's hair, "You're growing up so fast~" fake sniffling was involved.

"Xiao-chan!" immediately the blind girl tried to disentangle the girl's dark hands from her hair, seriously! Always with her hair or forehead! Defensively pale hands remained on the girl's dark locks as she brow-glared at the older girl, "I have no idea what you're talking about…"

A cheeky grin spread on the older girl's face as she sat back, pushing the pillows behind her up so she could sit up better, "Sure you don't…"

It was quiet for a moment as one girl glared with her eyebrows and the other smirked openly. Then a grin started to spread on the younger girl's pale face and for whatever reason she started laughing, Xiao quickly joining her.

As the giggling came down Yorihi just grinned widely, "I'm glad you're okay Xiao-chan."

"Yea," another great yawn, "Suppose I am," she raised one hand to rub her shoulder as everything still felt heavy and stiff, "Ugh, trust my relatives to give me a few extra doses of the heavy stuff, just because I went a little rough, pfft…"

The pale girl just grinned, "Seichi-san was very worried about you," she noticed the older girl stiffen at the mention of her older brother and pout a little, the blind girl decided to store that in the back of her mind for later, "Oku-kun as well…" this time the older girl visible slacked, almost smiling.

"I bet he was worrying his head off," she snorted, cracking her neck so as to not look at the blind girl directly.

"Mm," Yorihi nodded, petting the ghost cat laying her lap, "When he came to see me he mentioned your brother preventing him from seeing you," that caused a dusky-pink brow to rise, the blind girl just shrugged, "I think he was worried Oku-kun's worry would have woken you up…"

"Pfft," red eyes rolled, "Surprised they didn't just dose him…" she rolled her shoulder again, garnering a grumble from Lior about his spot moving, "I know I would have if someone was messing with one of my patients…"

"Eh-heh…" Yorihi gave an uncomfortable laugh, not putting it past Xiao to do such, after all she was more than willing to injury a patient further to get them to stop moving… so… yea… dosing worried friends and family? Totally within the realm of 'reason'.

A narrowed red eye glanced at the nervously giggling girl, specifically at the plate covering her eyes. A much more serious look came over the older girl's face as she looked away continuing her 'wake up' stretching, "By the way…"

"Hmm?" blue-black brows rose.

"… Congratulations," serious red eyes glanced back at the blind girl, "For passing…"

There was something oddly defeated in the older girl's voice, causing Yorihi to scrunch up her brows and tilt her head, "Thanks Xiao-chan," she tried smiling but already the dusky-pinkette was looking away. This caused the younger girl to frown, confused. –What's up with her?- absently a pale hand raised to run along the insignia of Kumo, making the younger girl smile earnestly, "I don't think I could have done it without you…"

A snort was her immediate response, "Yeah right," flippantly a dark hand waved as the girl kept looking away, "You're Kumo's Princess, there's no way they would'a failed you…"

A small growl came from the younger girl, "It would'a been easy," she automatically bit back, hoping to get the girl to face her again, "My control's been on the fritz since I came back from training and the stuff I did with you helped me out the most," Yorihi raised her hands channeling enough chakra to line them in a smooth outline of blue, "Seven months ago I never would have been able to do this," she raised her head and faced the older girl, "The Chakra Field and training with you and your Minazuki has helped me get back my control of my chakra," she held out her right hand in a fist towards the older girl, stopping the chakra flow in the left and focusing all her attention on the right. After a good long minute of concentration, maybe or maybe not with the help of the bakeneko in her lap, a short blade of chakra shot out making it look like she was holding a knife in a reverse grip.

Red eyes were wide as the older girl just stared, never having seen pure chakra formed into a weapon right in front of her. –Holy hell… this girl…!- Those red eyes went straight to the plate, understanding there was no reason this girl didn't deserve it if she could do something like that.

The younger girl gave a strained grin, it still wasn't perfect, and somewhat unstable, but thanks to the older girl in front of her she was back on track to what she had achieved in the mountains and with chakra reserves several times bigger, "Thank you, Xiao-chan."

The dusky-pinkette could only blink, surprised by the earnestness in the girl's voice, it made her feel embarrassed as a bit of red spread on her cheeks. She turned away as the younger girl lowered her hand and released the chakra, rubbing her cheek embarrassed with the back of her hand, "I-I didn't do anything…"

"Hehe," the pale girl grinned wide, enjoying watching the normally so boisterous older girl all embarrassed, "What do you mean, Xiao-chan? Of course you did…" red eyes scowled at the blind girl, obviously not getting what she was saying. The grin only spread on the blind girl, "You beat me, obviously~"

Dusky-pink brows furrowed, "The hell are you talking about Princess?"

The grin spread wider on the pale girl, it really was getting creepy, Bachiko couldn't be more proud of his Master, "Hehe, guess you haven't heard yet~"

Red eyes narrowed as the older girl gave her patented 'mom' glare to the younger girl that as far as she knew couldn't see it, "What haven't I heard?"

Innocently Yorihi put a finger to her chin musingly, "I don't know, perhaps I should let Oku-kun tell you… he was rather excited about it…"

"Yorihi…" the red eyed girl growled, leaning towards the younger.

Who only raised her hands, grinning wide, "Hehe," She'd have to talk to Yugito-nee-chan about this; it really was a lot of fun pushing Xiao-chan's buttons. When the dark skinned girl leaned in, fist raised and managed to crackle slightly with her lightning affinity Yorihi decided it was good enough to just tell her, "Okay, okay, okay," she leaned back further, hands up and waiting for the scowling older girl to sit back and take a deep breath… before grinning cheekily, "But from what Oku-kun told me when I woke up, you got the top slot for our graduating class!"

Red eyes just blinked.

Hidden white ones did as well, "Uh, Xiao-chan?" a cyan tattooed brow rose, not sure how to interpret the blank look on the older girl's face.

Suddenly there was a deep sigh from the older girl as she visibly deflated into her small wall of pillows, "Nice try Princess," she moved further down into a more laying down position and moving the angry ball of fur that was Lior into a more manageable spot on her chest, looking at him straight as she rubbed around his tiny fuzzy ears, "Like I'd get the top slot with someone like you in our class…"

The younger girl sitting next to her snorted quite openly like an Oni, "It's true!"

"Yea right," the older girl waved her hand defeated, "I may have been drugged for however long but I still remember the end of that fight," seriously red eyes stared at the ceiling, "After that stupid move I fell, getting shot down by Moe-sensei," an indignant snort as she closed her eyes, "I failed obviously…"

There was a mild growl from the small blind girl, "Have I ever lied to you?"

"Are we talking intentionally or via omission?" the dusky-pink haired girl rolled on her side, Lior up by her chest whom she delicately pet and her back facing the younger girl. It didn't really do anything, she knew, despite being blind she'd spent enough time around the little maniac to know Yorihi had some means of gauging things with her other senses. Chances were it wouldn't matter which way she laid down, the girl would 'see' the upset frown on her dark face.

Yorihi rolled her eyes, not that anyone could see it, so reflexively clicked her tongue, "Tsk," as her tattooed brows moved, "technically I've never lied to you directly, as 'by omission' is a moot point because one cannot know they are 'lied to' if said thing is never said…" she flatly pet the ethereal cat in her lap who only yawned.

Despite her depressed mood, Xiao couldn't help but snicker. –Trust the Princess to get all technical about lying…- Absently the bedridden girl scratched the seemingly purring badger, he was growling, as that was all badgers did, but this was a somewhat less angry growl Xiao had only ever heard when it was just her and Lior, so she figured it was as close as the ball of fur and fury got to purring. –I want to believe her…- another pet –I really do…- but the logical part of the older girl's mind told her that was impossible. It was a generally held rule; you fall, you fail as it was synonymous with dying. It had been a reckless attack but she had thought it would have ended the pseudo-war… not drain her to the point she couldn't move and put in a medically induced coma. Her hand may have come down a bit harder on Lior's head, causing his purring to become more growly. Red eyes flatly looked at the badger, "What am I going to do with you," another rough pet, "Won't get to see you all the time now…"

If the older girl bothered to look, she'd see rather flat tattooed brows twitch, "You didn't fail, you surpassed me, and Oku's still your partner…"

A snort from the dusky-pinkette, "C'mon you can't be so oblivious to not know the most basic rules," she turned enough to glare with one red eye on the girl, "You fall, you fail," in a huff the older girl roughly laid back down, throwing her arm out in a wide gesture, "My attack failed, I got shot down, ergo I failed…"

It was Yorihi's turn to snort, as the blind girl crossed her arms, honestly surprised the girl was being so obstinate about this absurdity, "I suppose under normal circumstances that would be true, but did you ever wonder how you didn't just die from a several hundred foot drop?"

The raised hand stilled as the older girl visibly thought about that…

Another snort as the younger girl adjusted to sit back further in her chair, "I don't know when they set it up, but I'm sure Jiro and his siblings from the other two classes got together with their summons and made a large web that spanned the entire basin that caught everyone after Ruri-sensei's massive summon attack," a light smirk pulled on the girl's pale mostly covered face, "Its likely if it weren't for your attack distracting the Masters so well they wouldn't have been able to get it up in time to catch people just above the cloudline," then a cheeky grin spread under the hitae-ate that made a certain cat proud as a red eye turned to glare at the younger girl, "You got caught, ergo you didn't fail."

"The Gumo triplets," a huffy snort left the older girl as she turned over on her back, rolling her red eyes quite obviously, "I didn't think they'd gotten far enough to summon anything bigger than their pinky…"

Yorihi snickered, "I don't think Moe or Ruri-sensei thought you could summon up a minazuki you could ride, let alone fire off a lightning attack with it that could take out half the basin's wall," an earnest smile passed the blind girl's lips as she undid her arms and leaned on them, "I'm sure Kuri-sensei was the most impressed…"

Red eyes passively turned to the blind girl then quickly went to the white ceiling, "Lightning pierces earth, it was just a bad setup," there was not an embarrassed blush on her face… Not. At. All.

The blind girl just kept smiling, ignoring her friend's discomfort at such praise, "Still I don't think genin can normally do stuff like that, when did you work that out?"

Completely ignoring the pink making her face a bit darker than normal, Xiao glanced at the younger girl. For a moment she had no idea what to say. Truthfully she had never thought of using the minazuki in such a way until she'd seen Yorihi using her weird cat as a means to help mold and control her chakra. Xiao figured her own control and molding ability was above par and wanted to see what she could do with it; almost daily for at least a month she had seen the crazy blind girl form pure chakra with just her will into all manner of shapes, mostly barriers against the minazuki swarm, but to do such, especially without seals was next to impossible… but she had seen it, and it had made her want to try something different. Staring at the oddly curious girl, Xiao felt compelled to tell her the truth… even if she hadn't realized it at the time. A grin spread on her face, wide enough to close her eyes, "Since I saw you do that barrier thing and figured in our future spars I'd need an attack that could pierce it!"

Underneath the hitae-ate white eyes went as wide as they could, shown only in how high her blue-black brows rose, "Xiao-chan…"

The older girl just grinned, amused by the surprised look on the girl. She picked up Lior under his arms and held him above her for a moment as her fixation to smirk at, he gave a hiss but by his standards it was rather mild, "Though now you got that knife-thing I'm gonna have to come up with something else, huh?"

The shock seemed to leave Yorihi as she just grinned, giving an enthusiastic nod, "Mmhmm," her grin widened, "That is if you can find time between all your new missions with Oku-kun~"

Flat red eyes stared at that shiny hitae-ate as the older girl brought her arms down and held the huffy badger, "I still have a hard time believing you…"

The blind girl made a motion like she was rolling her eyes, the grin slipping into a pout, "I didn't want to ruin the surprise or anything but if it'll get rid of that doubt you keep having," her head tilted down slightly as she faced Lior, "Lior-kun, would you mind getting the gift out from under the bed."

An odd badger-brow rose as the growly ball of fur and fury stared at the strange girl with his beady little eyes.

Another snort from the younger girl, "I know, neither you nor Oku-kun told me but I can sense it's there," a slight smirk rose on her face, "And I wouldn't put it past Oku-kun to want to surprise Xiao-chan with-"

"OKAY!" the bedridden girl had her face all scrunched up angry with her eyes closed, "I'm not going to ruin one of Oku's stupid surprises…" there was a grin that spread on the younger girl's face that seemed entirely too pleased with itself, causing the older girl to scowl, "I'll believe you… for now."

"Hehe…" Yorihi did not snicker, of course not, that was wholly unbecoming for the Raikage's daughter!

"Oh, shut it," a pillow was thrown at the blind girl who merely dodged. The older girl just growled, leaning back on what she had left and crossed her arms, red eyes narrowly glancing at the younger girl, "So, you going to tell me about this guy that's apparently your partner?"

It was amazing how quickly the smirk left the young oni's face, "Ugh, Xiao-chan…"

A dark hand came up with one finger out as if making a point as the older genin said sagely, "No whining," Before pointing at the younger girl and grinning evilly, "You owe me!"

"Since when!" Oni did not back down, and a look that was significantly more successful on the current Raikage passed the young girl's face. It looked hilarious.

So of course the medic-aspirant busted out laughing before she reached out and ruffled the younger girl's hair, "Since I said so!"

"That's not valid!" was the girl's biting come back, it was weak and no one cared. The air between the two young girls was relatively back to normal and in a way both were just glad for it. So of course Xiao continued to laugh mercilessly while Yorihi recounted her 'adventures' since waking up in her own hospital bed with a certain worried boy in a silly now-plated hat.

---

Somewhere down the hall near vending machines…

Oku was bent over slightly, intently examining the selection on the drink machine in front of him, scrutinizing it to the point he had a hand on his chin, eyes closed in serious squinty thought and going, "Hmm…"

Uenkai was flatly staring at the younger boy quite bored. –Will he make his damn decision already…- the apparently thuggish pale boy had done nothing but piss him off since the moment he closed the door and left the girls alone in that room. Then again that dark girl with the pink hair hadn't really not pissed him off either… maybe he was too old to get these kids; they all seemed to just piss him off.

"So," the dirty blonde with the stupid hat finally said something, "what're you going to get Yorihi-hime?"

-Again with the damn 'hime' thing…- mentally the older boy rolled his eyes, in reality he just grunted, crossing his arms and leaning on the wall relatively close to the younger boy, keeping him within sight, that was all.

Oku scowled at the senior genin again, it was obvious Yorihi's new partner didn't think much of them, being new genin and all, but he didn't like that the guy was so obviously rude. Sure, they were Kumo-nin, 'polite' was a foreign concept best left for those that liked pomp and circumstance, in Kumo it was your strength that showed your worth, along with how loud and open you were about it. This guy was emo, at best. Just broody, standoffish, and annoying, they had a few like that in their class, some older kids that had failed the graduation test more than once but even they eventually got over themselves. Obviously this guy never got the memo…

With a somewhat sigh Oku pressed a button on the vending machine, waited the second for the drink to be dispensed before leaning enough to grab it, shake it vigorously in one hand and threw it at the new guy.

The teal haired genin didn't seem all that surprised by the toss, he caught it and gave that scowl like everything annoyed him... then he looked at the can in his hand… it was hot pink. Thathad his stern eyes widening a bit before turning a heated glare at the younger boy who only grinned, "What the hell is this?"

Oku just put on his prize winning grin, "You looked like you needed to mellow out…"

Uenkai visibly growled, staring at the can again. The super-hot-pink can boasted something about raspberries and relaxation, trust a hospital to serve something probably laced with something to dose stressed out friends and family of patients. A teal eye glanced back at the younger boy, pulling out a purple can from the machine mentioning something about pomegranates, before popping the tab and taking a drink. Skeptical eyes just watched the younger genin, taking inventory of his entire outfit: cargo shorts, vest, some knapsack attached to his back over the left shoulder and a few other pouches or places to hide things. The kid didn't look completely unprepared like he'd seen some genin…

Narrowly glancing back at the obvious attempt at humor drink, Uenkai decided this was either a truce gesture or challenging declaration of war, either way there was no reason to not drink the damn thing, it's not like he could poison it…

Didn't mean he couldn't booby-trap it!

The second Uenkai popped the tab he got a face full of some kind of raspberry pink milk drink. He was shaking with rage by the time he registered the kid laughing next to him. Angry teal eyes surrounded by pink-foamy liquid glared righteous fury as the younger boy snorted purple.

"Haha," Oku was doubled over trying not to cough up more of his purple drink, "Man you need to work on your trap detection!"

There was a subtle growl as that oddly pink can got chucked at the dirty blonde's stupid plated hat, "What kind of person booby-traps a comrade?"

"The kind that cares," a faint grin showed on the pale boy's face as he turned to the older boy with seemingly closed eyes. A surprised looked passed over Uenkai that Oku dismissively turned away from as he stood up straight, "C'mon…"

Teal eyes narrowed on the strange young genin, "Aren't you going to get a drink for that girlfriend of yours?"

Oku just turned back with a grin, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "Oh that? Naa," he waved his hand dismissively as he started back down the hall, "Xiao-chan just wanted a moment alone with Yorihi-hime, girl-talk or whatever, s'all kinda weird ya know!"

Uenkai glared at the cheeky grin staring back at him, "And how do you know she wasn't being serious?"

Another smirk from the pale kid, "Partners just know, ya know…"

Tight fists got shoved into pockets as the older genin got off the wall he'd been leaning on and followed the grinning moron. There were just too many reminders…

"Oh hey?" the kid snapped his fingers and turned back to the older teal haired boy, "You might wanna get something for Yorihi-hime though…"

A thuggish snarl passed the taller dark skinned boy's face, "You're not getting your partner a drink, why should I?"

That strangely knowing yet stupid gentle smile passed the younger boy's pale face, " 'cause I don't have anything to prove…"

A growl was the pale boy's response as the older genin pushed his way passed him, fists tightly in his pockets and shoulders up to his ears, "Last time I tried to be nice we got beat over the head and dragged in to see her father…"

The sudden laughter from the pale boy was a surprise, the sympathetic pat on the shoulder even more so, "Yea…" Oku was covering his wide grin pitifully with his free hand, "That tends to happen…"

Another growl as Uenkai roughly shoved his shoulder, removing the younger genin's sympathetic hand. It wasn't normal for someone no better than a stranger to be so sympathetic… it was weak and stupid…

"Well," the boy in his stupid plated hat obviously didn't notice his compatriot's tiffyness, or didn't care, as he shrugged, stepping ahead and leading them again, "Let's go check on them," his grin grew, "Chances are Xiao's about to say something that'll cause all sorts of problems…"

Narrow teal eyes skeptically stared at the back of the boy's head, "And why would you say that?"

A flippant shrug of the boy's smaller shoulders, "tends to happen when I leave those two alone together…"

Against his will a slight smirk picked at the edge of Uenkai's lips as he looked to the side out the windows of the hall at the clouds outside, "Think I know what'cha mean…"

Oku just grinned that silly squinty eyed grin of his, "Just take care of her man, it's all any'a us can ask ya…"

"Tch," Uenkai didn't have any more of a response to that random comment. With the past few days he knew there was a lot more people could say… but this kid? He was either an idiot too stupid to lie or a genius too smart to bother. He figured he could like that for a little while, "Whatever man…"

---

The trip to the hospital was cut short when the unfortunate phrase, "Let's get out of here," left Xiao's lips.

As if by the act of an evil god or having some detector the door to the red-eyed girl's room slammed open and a tall, slim, pale woman with slick purple hair that went to the ground and one visible narrow pink eye stood before the two girls.

Xiao was still and Yorihi had her shoulders up to her ears stiff as a rock.

That slim pink eye went from one girl to the other, narrow and ready to strike at any sudden movements, "Tenkyuu-san, I see you have returned," the woman's smooth voice seemed to slither around the air of the room causing both genin to squirm, "Visiting another graduate I see…"

Both girls just swallowed hard.

"I trust neither of you are planning anything troublesome, hmm?" there was nothing suspicious in that voice, not at all.

There were two immediate shakes of the head as the blind girl responded, "O-of course not Anago-san…"

There was an obvious twitch to a slim immaculate purple brow, "Anako, brat, A-Na-Ko!"

"Not from what I've seen," Xiao inadvertently mumbled under her breathe glancing at the wall.

Within seconds the distance between the medical Commander and the patient disappeared as the towering, terrifying woman glared down with the narrow pink eye, "Did you say something Utsurabon?"

Xiao immediately shrunk under the woman's terrifying gaze, "N-no… nothing at all ma'am…"

A bead of sweat was running down Yorihi's neck as she sat perfectly still, hoping the woman standing next to her wouldn't notice she was even there.

A seeming laser-guided glare through the woman's long bang directed down at the younger girl sitting in the chair, who squeaked, "You're not improperly influencing any of my other patients are you Tenkyuu-san?"

The pale girl only shook her head in the negative.

That pink eye narrowed more, "I should hope not…"

"Anago-Taichou!" a voice called from the door as that one male nurse with the orange hair and red eyes seemed to run in panting and out of breath, hands on his knees as he was pointing down the hall, "Th-there's-"

For all his effort he got one of his Commander's spiny heels in his back. Said tall, slim, slippery eel-like woman was growling and glaring down at her pitiful subordinate, "A-NA-KO!" she dug the heel in more, "How many times do I have to say it!"

There was a pitiful man squeal as he futilely kept pointing down the hall.

The tall slim woman just huffed, deliberately walking over the male nurse, "This way?" there was a sound under her pointy heels that might have been a positive response, who knows, "Very well," a flippant wave from the pale woman, "Shoo these visitors out, your cousin needs her rest…"

Another squeak, it may have been a 'yes ma'am'.

The Commander of Company V didn't care as she sauntered her way out, towards whatever that required her assistance. She flippantly huffed at two boys that stopped to bow their respect, well the pale one did; the other she recognized as one of their previous long-term patients who just seemed to ignore her passing. She did the same, once out of the hospital they were no longer her concern after all.

When Oku and Uenkai got back to the room there was a male-nurse stunned on the floor with heel prints in his back and both girls seemed to be a in a mild state of shock. Oku simply turned to his darker skinned male compatriot and said, "See, told you."

Uenkai's hand met face.

---

The small incident required another trip to the Raikage's tower, much to Uenkai's chagrin.

This meant another opportunity for that strange desk clerk to creatively describe how many different ways she could take him apart with a simple knife, Tenkyuu's father giving him that 'you are beneath me' glare, whatever from whoever else was related to the strange girl that hadn't already had a chance to threaten him and potentially a rap-threat from the largest of Jinchuuriki Kumo had to offer. The last one wasn't so bad as he could tell the bull-horn tattooed guy Tenkyuu called 'Oji-chan' was probably the least likely to purposely rip his head off… as strange as that was, the other Jinchuuriki he had no idea about, she was sneaky like a cat so had to be watched and despite knowing how well his father's techniques worked on certain other feline-demons he wasn't exactly confident he could take down THE Nibi.

… not that he should be considering taking down any Jinchuuriki, the village needed them after all, they were a sign of power, the Raikage's power… he should probably try to get on their good side.

"Kumori-kun?" a soft voice cut into the boy's ponderings as once again the duo were exiting the swooshing glass doors of the Raikage's tower.

"Hm," his response was no more than a grunt; He could still hear the cat-calling of that damn desk clerk.

A blue-black brow rose as she stared forward, "Something bothering you?"

Without thinking his shoulders shrugged, "What gave you that idea?"

Her head tilted in that animal way, like her demon did when it was curious or confused, "You seem… distracted...?"

"Hmp," another shrug as he gave a soft snort, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Nothing, just wondering when they'll give us orders…" it was aggravating, the wait, he'd already dealt with it once before and it seemed knowing what was to come made it infinitely worse.

"Oh," out of the corner of his eye he watched as the blind girl seemed to stare off in a random direction, her actions were sometimes very strange and he wondered how she learned to mimic normal people so well, "Do you know what they're going to do with us next?"

For a moment the older genin just snorted and glared back at her, when she didn't so much as move he was reminded she was in fact blind and such a gesture was useless. He sighed, "Hard to say," a dark hand raised as ran through his short teal hair, "Last time we had a week free while all the paperwork processed or whatever final decisions," the hand dropped with a slight sigh as his shoulder shrugged, "Though I had hoped with you being 'special' and all, and me being former the transition would be shorter…"

That pout he was starting to become extremely familiar with that she made when someone said something she highly disagreed with crossed the girl's pale face, "I'm not special…"

Without realizing it he gave a short laugh, "Yea right…"

She shoved him and continued walking down the bridge.

Uenkai had to blink a moment as he hadn't expected such a… childish and familiar reaction from the girl. A more honest grin came to his face that he quickly tried to rid himself of when he noticed as he walked up behind her, catching up easily with his longer stride, "Just tellin' the truth," he crossed his arms, that damn smirk still not leaving his lips as he noticed she was walking angrily stiff with her shoulders near her ears, "You're the Raikage's daughter," he started counting off on his fingers for no reason, "You passed the crash course, you got trained by his personal assassin, got some external training outside the village," he had four fingers out with the thumb still tucked as his teal eyes glanced at the girl, each 'comment' causing her shoulders to rise higher, finally to the point her familiar decided to apparently show itself, probably amused as well by her discomfort. Without thinking Uenkai reached out and roughly pet the demon cat with his now open hand, "And you got this demon as a pet," when he removed his hand both pet and master looked extremely miffed, the smirk was definitely not leaving his face any time soon, "So yea, you're kinda special kid…"

There was something like a growl but not loud enough as the girl slowly lowered her shoulders, "You're not old enough to call me 'kid'…"

A teal brow cocked, "Oh yea? Says who?"

"Me," if he didn't know any better the short girl was stomping, it'd probably be intimidating coming from someone of her father's caliber, but her? Nope.

The older genin gave a mocking chuckle, "Sorry kid," it was amusing how she growled, "but you're not really an authority here, I'm the senior genin, so what I say goes…"

"Tch," hidden white eyes rolled as the girl cracked her neck, "Keep thinking that, we'll see how long it lasts…"

The older boy smirked, "Considering I'm the only one that can see here, I think I'll take my chances…"

The younger girl growled.

"That's not very ladylike, Yorihi-hime," a very soft and seemingly kind voice cut in between the two genin 'arguing'.

The boy immediately dropped all pretense, bowing with respect, "Kemui-sama."

While the girl seemed to still, turn directly on the voice as a shocked look came about her cute pale face. Then it brightened excitedly as she ran up to the woman and stopped just short of glomping her, "Kemui-sama!"

The finicky feline on the girl's shoulder had no compunctions, quickly hopping on to the older woman's shoulder and nuzzling behind her head as he went from one shoulder to the other. A pale hand raised enough to catch the bakeneko's forked tail as he passed, wrapping it for a moment around her deadly fingers then jumping back down to his master.

A light barely there smile passed the Assassin's pale face as her eyes followed the ethereal feline, spying the excited little girl with the new plate covering her precious eyes. Without a thought the woman reached out and ran a thumb over the insignia on the plate, the smile growing just the smallest bit, "Congratulations, Yorihi-hime."

The blind girl visibly squirmed, suppressing whatever urge to loudly respond as Uenkai had come used to her doing with anyone else. Instead she seemed almost grateful, earnest, and abashed as he head tilted slightly down and red ran across the visible parts of her face, "T-thank you, Kemui-sama…"

A serene look came over the older woman as her grey gaze rose enough to recognize the boy following her Lord's Daughter, a slight smirk may or may not have come to the edge of her smile, "I trust you've been getting along with your new partner?" who she was directing the question to was anyone's guess which was probably why she got an answer from both.

"Yes." "No."

A white brow rose slightly, "Oh?" both genin seemed to growl at each other as some part of the older woman, that she would completely deny, found their opposition quite amusing.

Uenkai took a step forward, crossing an arm over his chest like he was giving a professional mission report, "Since your departure for your mission Kemui-sama I have continued my training as well as contacting… her," there was a shudder before his mind could figure out how to reference the girl in front of the woman. He knew she noticed, there was a shift in her gaze but he couldn't tell if it was amused or deadly, "She had awoken early and I proceeded to… test her abilities," he closed his eyes with a frown, not wanting to continuing seeing that look, "They were adequate."

The younger girl growled louder than before, "Tch," she crossed her arms and seemed to act like her Oni of a father, "He's a jerk Kemui-sama," she turned halfway towards the woman, feeling a need to just complain to her Teacher like she normally would, "He stole my swords, was a jerk in front of Karui and Omoi, got me in trouble with Anago-san, harassed Oku-kun-"

"I did NOT!" Uenkai's professionalism could only hold out so far… seriously, none of that was his fault! And he did no harass that younger male genin, if anything the boy was threatening him the whole time!

"-he used some strange techniques that could have seriously hurt Bachi-chan!" the girl was definitely growling at this point as her tattooed eyebrows were distinctly glaring at the boy, "Not to mention he threatened Otou-sama…"

Teal brows lowered as he glared back at the girl; that was a low blow, especially to say to someone like the Last Assassin, "I was perfectly respectful to your father!"

"You said you wanted to kill him," there was a serious scowl on the girl's face, the way she said it made it sound like she didn't believe he could but that she wasn't eliminating him as a possible threat, "take the hat all for some strange political reason-"

"That is personal and not something you say in front of-" the boy was practically gritting his teeth, worried he was losing what little credibility he had gained in front of the Assassin; a woman he had quickly come to respect. Teal eyes worriedly looked to the woman, afraid the way she looked at him would change…

It didn't, Kemui was still looking at the two of them like an amused adult at two children, "Then it seems the two of you have been getting along well…"

"Kemui-sama!" the younger girl seemed to almost whine, not sure how to take the serene tone in her Teacher's voice.

A quick poke in the forehead had the younger girl stopped dead in her tracks, a quite obviously amused look on the older woman's face, "I am glad for your concern about your father, Yorihi-hime," the pale hand was quickly retracted, as if the gesture had never occurred, as the woman's steely eyes traveled from one genin to the other, "But even you have to learn to deal with those that seek the power your Father has, you are a konoichi now, you are obligated to protect the Raikage, correct?"

"I'd protect him anyway," the girl pouted, rubbing her forehead while her cat giggled at her getting shot down.

That barely-there soft smile returned to the Assassin as she looked over her student, "I know you would, but just as you now have this as a duty," her steely eyes traveled to the slightly older boy, "He does as well, correct, Uenkai-kun?"

There was no doubt as the boy gave a quick decisive nod, "Of course Kemui-sama, I would give my life for the Raikage," his narrow teal eyes turned to his partner, "Not that I still don't plan to beat him and take his title."

While the two children glared at each other the Assassin simply gave a nod, beginning her way forward, "It is a difficult goal to work towards," she stopped in front of the boy, serious steel eyes staring directly into the boy's equally serious teal ones, "Make sure you are a worthy opponent…" for a moment she glanced back over her shoulder at the confused young girl, "You will have many to face before you get to him after all," those steel eyes returned to the boy, "Including me…"

"Of course, Kemui-sama," the normally so arrogant boy bowed his head sincerely; "I intend to train my hardest to not disappoint."

An odd look came over the veteran's face before another of those strangely soft smiles appeared as she reached out and set her hand on the boy's bowed head, "Just don't forget your current duties…"

The boy stilled, not out of shock or stiffness but to show he was serious as he gave the barest nod under the woman's hand, "Of course… Kemui-sama."

With that the woman gave another odd smile and removed her hand, intent to continue on her way.

"Kemui-sama?" before Yorihi called out to her long-time Teacher, something about the Assassin's actions not seeming right.

The white woman glanced back at the girl with that familiar barely-there smile, "Yorihi-hime?" the smile grew slightly as she turned more towards the girl, "I must continue to give your father my mission report, it may take some time, would you mind checking in on Sutego for me?"

Tattooed brows lowered –What are you avoiding Kemui-sama?- either her senses were all off or something was going on that Yorihi didn't know about and from the vibe she was getting she wouldn't like it. Her focus shifted from her 'partner' to her Teacher, Kemui-sama would probably somehow know she had done it but Uenkai hadn't spent enough time around the girl to truly read her microexpressions. A nudge mentally from Bachiko told her she couldn't pursue her feeling just yet and the young girl found little reason to disagree. All she could do was nod and push the instinct aside, "Of course Kemui-sama, Jun should be watching him."

A grateful smile passed the older woman's face, something so small probably only Yorihi would notice, "Thank you," she turned, throwing over her shoulder, "I will send Mabui if it takes too long…"

An unconscious smirk rose on the younger girl's lips as she gave an unconscious nod, "Of course," the smirk grew to something probably sinister, "I'm sure Baba would love to know that as well…"

The Assassin stopped long enough to send a flat grey look at the girl before giving the barest of sighs, "I knew it was a terrible idea to let that woman anywhere near you…"

"Kemui-sama?" surprisingly it was Uenkai, with confused teal brows cocked that responded, close enough to the woman to hear the comment.

"Nothing," a pale hand waved behind her before continuing, "if you two will excuse me…" and with that the Assassin quickly made her way the two had come.

"Hehe," Yorihi just kept grinning at the way her Teacher went, it was rare but amusing the small moments she saw the older woman not as stringent, not as solely her 'Teacher'. The young girl figured her ability to notice these small moments was from spending time with Tougemichi, the old blind Assassin was much more gruff and subtle. The blind girl turned with a grin on her face, intent on stopping by her Grandmother's place to check in on her little brother-of-sorts.

It was as she was making her way to the right bridge from the small platform they were on she noticed a distinct lack of footsteps following her. Raising a brow, Yorihi focused her sight and noticed Uenkai staring off the way Kemui-sama had gone, before turning and heading towards a different bridge. Normally she'd leave the jerk to his own devices but something about today, probably in the way he walked or the look on his face she couldn't quite see, caused the young oni to turn, hands on her hips and scowl in the direction of the older boy, "Where do you think you're going?"

The teal haired teen stopped mere feet from his adjoining bridge, a surprised look on his face as he turned to the suddenly imposing small girl, "To train," he gave an indifferent shrug, "Not much else to do…"

"You can come with me," the words were out of her mouth before she really thought about it, and after a second of him staring at her somewhat wide eyed she shrugged nonchalantly, turning enough to hopefully obscure the red dusting her cheeks, "I mean, might as well," she raised a hand, scratching the back of her head nervously, "It won't take long to check on Sutego-kun, then we can go train together…"

Teal eyes narrowed skeptically, looking the girl up and down but in the end finding no real reason to say 'no', "Tch," with a rough shrug the older boy shoved his hands in his pockets and moved to follow the girl, biting out a rough, "Sure, whatever…"

Yorihi just snorted, stepping in front of him gracefully, feeling like she'd somehow won this match.

---

It wasn't long before they were standing in front of Reki's apartment door, Yorihi having her arm raised to knock…

… only for the door to slide back before a sound was made.

"Shh," a tall man of about 18 stood in the middle of the open door, short brown hair sticking up in a decent cut over a Kumo headband as thin black eyes and a long tan face smiled gently down at the younger genin. The man didn't have a particular uniform on, just black clothes and the headband as if he'd forgotten it was there. He stepped into the hall a bit, closing the door behind him slightly as he leaned a bit down, facing Yorihi mostly with the gentle grin, "Yorihi-chan, it's good to see you, sorry for this, but I just got Su-kun to sleep, so mind being a bit quiet?"

"Mm!" the girl immediately nodded, turning slightly to her side, addressing the bakeneko on her shoulder, "Bachi-chan, mind helping Sutego-kun sleep?" vibrant blue eyes narrowed on his Master a moment before rolling, and with an upturned snort the cat disappeared as the young girl smiled, "Hehe, thank you~" the man before her had a raised bushy brown brow which the blind girl only grinned at as she whispered to him, "Sutego-kun really likes Bachi-chan, and while he won't admit it, he does to, so he'll watch him as he sleeps and help out!"

The man's bushy brows furrowed as he made something between a sigh of exasperation and relief with an exhausted smile, "Thanks Yorihi-chan, normally Mei-chan watches him, but she's been resting up lately from her mission and I told her I'd look after him… heh," the tan man gave an embarrassed chuckle as if believing he was doing a terrible job.

The pale girl in front of him just smiled brightly and earnestly, "mm-mm," she shook her head, pumping her fists again excitedly, if still downplayed as they were trying to be 'quiet', "I'm sure you're doing fine Jun-kun," another earnest grin, "Sutego-kun isn't that hard, he's usually trying to help out…"

"Eh-heh, that's the problem…" the older man groaned, images of the young white haired boy trying to 'help' around the house usually ended in some manner of disaster… none of the Gakushins could explain how that one time he'd tried using the dryer for laundry ended up with everything frozen solid. It didn't make sense, but it was right there in front of them… none of them felt his mother needed to hear about that incident or any of the others to say the least… Jun quickly pushed the thoughts aside, leaning on his knees and just smiling at his odd little 'cousin', as Mei liked to call her, "So what brings you over Yorihi-chan?" the older ninja noticed the stock still teen standing behind the girl and grinned at him, "And with a friend no less?"

Uenkai merely stood at attention, not recognizing this man and feeling uncomfortable with the thought that he couldn't place his rank. He was a shinobi obviously, thanks to the headband, but he couldn't gauge his chakra or combat prowess as the man appeared to be unarmed at the moment. His name was 'Jun', as Tenkyuu had stated, so he obviously wasn't the Last Assassin's son… the boy's father? No… maybe? He had to be much younger than the assassin, but an adult nonetheless… and why was there something familiar about his eyes, where had he seen thin black eyes like that before?

"Oh him?" Yorihi started bluntly, "He's my new partner," she moved out of the way enough so that Jun could get a good look at the older teen, "Kind of a jerk to be honest, but at least he's a challenge and can help me train…"

"Haha," Jun stood up straight, hands on his hips and seemed completely unassuming, "That's no way to talk about your partner Yorihi-chan," the man was grinning enough to close his eyes as he held out a tan hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Gakushin Jun, something of Yorihi-chan here's cousin!"

That caused a teal brow to raise. –Gakushin?!- That name was ringing a bell, but why? The older genin narrowly assessed the man in front of him, going from his hand to that disarming face. Something about it was raising the hairs on the back of his neck but he found no solid reason to deny the gesture, it was merely a courtesy after all. Reaching out a hand and grabbing the older man's he responded with an introduction as well, "Kumori Uenkai."

… and the moment Uenkai's hand grabbed Jun's he realized why he'd gotten that strange feeling… it was a TRAP! Like with the soda and Oku earlier, the kindly seeming man gripped his hand hard enough to nearly break it, all the while keeping up that disarming smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Jun's grip increased as he simply kept smiling, "I hope you and Yorihi-chan get along well," more pressure and Uenkai could feel something in his hand fracture as he looked up at the man's face, trying to ignore the pain, as those thin black eyes opened just the slightest and the teal haired teen got a good look at the deadly beast hidden behind that smile.

Uenkai could only clinch his jaw and nod his head, anything else and he'd probably scream, from the pain in his hand or the look in the older man's eyes was anyone's guess.

Luckily after the nod Jun immediately let go, turning towards the door and opening it, "Come on in, just remember to be a bit quite, alright?"

"Mm!" Yorihi just grinned, completely oblivious to the exchange that had occurred right in front of her, expertly making her way about the familiar apartment.

Uenkai on the other hand simply stared, not sure he wanted to venture into the lion's den. -No point not to…- he told himself –Only a coward would run…- and he was no coward. The exchange was probably just the common courtesy for this household, size up your potential opponent, they were after all letting them into their home, right? With the brown haired man still standing there, blacks staring, the teal haired angsty teen just grunted and followed his younger partner in.

Jun smirked, shaking his head as he walk back in, closing the door behind him, "this way," he waved a hand over his shoulder leading the two back past the den into the kitchen. The space was warm, likely from the oven being on and slightly open releasing a delicious smell of something sweet. Yorihi visibly perked up causing Uenkai to cock a brow, Jun merely chuckled at the two, "They still have some time, don't look so eager." At the continued skeptical look from the older boy Jun chuckled again, scratching the side of his head as he remembered he was new, "Sorry, cookies," he pointed at Yorihi who was practically bouncing on her feet, "She really likes them."

The blind girl merely shook her head vigorously in agreement.

"Jun," a voice grumbled behind the trio revealing a sleepy Mei as the reddish brunette had her hair down and rubbing the sleep out of her eye, "You know better than to give her any sweets," a wide yawn as the girl half-slept half-walked to what appeared to be a coffee maker on the counter, sleepily grabbing a mug and pouring a glass.

Yorihi of course pouted, childishly sticking her tongue out at the wall, though it was assumed it was meant to be in the sleepy teen's direction. There was a grunt from the girl getting coffee that may have been an automatic response but no one was sure. Uenkai, being confused by these people, just kept his teal brow raised.

Jun, being the oldest and probably most understanding at the moment, chuckled, waving in the male genin's direction to get his attention, "Give her a minute, she just woke up," there was something of a sinister snicker in the man's black eyes as he turned them on his sister who was taking small sips of coffee while leaning on the counter, "Already drinking coffee Mei-chan," he crossed his arms, smirk spreading across his face, "At this rate you'll never get any taller and who knows what'll be next…"

"Smoking like Baba," Yorihi snickered none-too-subtly under her breath.

Thin black eyes over a coffee mug greeted her as the slightly more awake girl raised her free hand to flip off her cousin-of-sorts.

A tattooed brow rose as Yorihi had to force down a snicker.

Jun had a hand covering his mouth as he leaned towards his sister, "Now who's acting just like mom," at the withering glare his sister sent him he just grinned, "Also you know Yorihi-chan can't see that, so your… 'comment'," he raised his index fingers in air quotes, "is useless…"

The now much-more-awake genin lowered the coffee mug, enough to turn and glare harder at her brother, "Oh shut up," immediately the coffee mug was out and pointing at the snickering blind girl, "You too!" the result was not what Mei had wanted, instead her brother and cousin laughed more, so she moved her deadly mug of justice to the last remaining person in the kitchen, "And you!"

"Me?!" teal eyes blinked as the boy jumped, something about the reddish brunette seeming familiar but his mind couldn't quite place it.

"Yes, you!" Met finished off her afternoon coffee, setting the mug next to the sink, and walking up to the boy, thin black eyes narrow on him before grabbing his wrist and heading towards the door, "You're coming with me!"

Brown and tattooed brows rose while Uenkai had that look about him like a deer in headlights, no idea what was going on or how to respond.

"Mei-chan?" two sets of voices asked as the two related to the girl 'stared' at her dragging off the odd one.

Said girl paused only a moment to give a pouting glare at the two, even if only one would technically see it, "I gotta talk to this guy, and you two are jerks," with that so eloquently put out she dragged the male genin out with her. A few seconds later and Yorihi and Jun could hear the front door open and close.

The blind girl was the first to comment, "That was weird…"

Jun merely sighed, leaning comfortably on the counter, "Suppose she has to interrogate him too…"

A tattooed brow rose as the blind girl obviously turned to the older man, "Jun-kun?"

There was a chuckle as the man brushed a hand through his brown hair, "Sorry, I invited him in so I could get a better gauge of him, gotta make sure he's good enough for my cousin, right!" a surprised look came over the small girl's face that Jun found adorable, she apparently hadn't noticed anything which was funny since she was normally so observant despite the obvious, "Don't worry about it, he seems decent enough…"

Yorihi just shrugged, putting her hands on her hips, "Suppose he's not all bad," she turned towards the older shinobi, biting her lip before asking something she never would have before, "Jun-kun… do you know what it's like to lose someone?"

A brunette brow rose as something a bit more serious entered the man's eyes as he gave the young girl his undivided attention, "Why do you ask, Yorihi-chan?"

She rubbed her nose nervously, "It's just…" she forced her hand down, it wasn't right to ask such things so half-assed. Firmly the girl turned in the man's direction, "It's just, I've never observed you with a partner, and…" she couldn't help biting her lip for a moment, "And Kumori-kun lost his partner, so I was wondering if… if…" A hand came down on her head and gently rubbed, cutting her off.

Yorihi hadn't noticed when he'd moved, but Jun was standing near her now, hand on her head and an earnest look on his face, "It's good you care," he rubbed a bit harder before removing his hand, "But give him time to sort it out himself, he'll tell you more when the time's right…"

Immediately after he'd removed his hand a pale one had gone to try fixing the girl's hair, not that it helped, but she stilled as she listened to his words. He wasn't confirming or denying anything, but it was good advice nonetheless. Yorihi pouted, facing the floor, she knew she just met the guy and who knew how long they'd be partners, or if they'd even stay as such and already she was worrying about some complex stuff. –It'd help our teamwork…- she really didn't know how to set her thoughts straight about this subject, her mind all jumbled with the thoughts but she knew Uenkai didn't like talking about his partner, what happened, and that it messed with their training already. With a pout she deflated, shoulders lowering, "So there's nothing I can do right now?"

"Not really," the tan man leaned down by the oven, opening it with a toothpick in one hand and pulling the pan of cookies out enough to check if they were done. He had a grin on his face as he took the toothpick out, finding nothing and grabbed a mitt on the nearby counter to pull them out. A chuckle escaped his lips as he stared at the pan of cookies, "Being with a partner, it's kinda like baking cookies," he poked a few of them testing out how evenly they cooked finding most were good except a few on the edge, "It takes time to figure out and practice to get right," he gave a solemn yet smiling look down at the girl he knew couldn't see his expression but would pick it up in his tone, "Sometimes you burn them, sometimes you undercook them, but eventually…" he pulled one off the sheet, blowing it off as it was still quite hot before holding it out to the girl, "eventually you work it out and learn to make them just right."

A happy earnest grin passed the young girl's face that threatened to split it open as she reached out and took the cookie, moving it from one hand to the other a few times before getting used to the heat and blowing on it. Then she held it out, enjoying the smell, texture, and even the sight of the delicious looking cookie before turning to her elder cousin, sincere grin on her face, "Thank you Jun-kun," she held up her prize, "For the advice…" and took a bite, savoring the taste of freshly made cookies!

Jun just chuckled again, turning around, moving the finished cookie pan to the side to cool off some more before pulling out another one, covering it in a tinfoil sheet and the batter next to him. With a smirk the older man turned to the little girl in cookie heaven, "So, you want to help me with the next batch?" the way her eyebrows rose gave him the impression her eyes were wide, that mixed with the spreading grin with crumbs on her cheeks made the scene unbelievably cute. Even more so when she shook her head vigorously, "Well alright then, this is how you do it…"

---

"Oof!" the moment the two older genin made their way up to the roof, Uenkai found himself being grabbed around the collar and unceremoniously thrown against the railing. His hands gripped the rail as he nearly went over the chest high piping. With a growl the teal haired boy turned back to the reddish brunette.

Mei was simply staring with those flat thin black eyes of hers, hands on her hips and being surprisingly nonchalant and intimidating despite walking around barefoot in an old red shirt and sweat pants.

Uenkai was starting to recognize those thin black eyes as he turned around rubbing his chest, "You wouldn't happen to be related to that crazy woman that runs the front desk at the Raikage's tower, eh Mei?"

A surprisingly sinister grin that was a duplicate of her mother's when she threatened Uenkai earlier came over the girl's tan face, "My mother actually…"

An unexpected shiver ran down the teal teen's spine, "Of course she is…" teal eyes rolled as he stood a bit straighter, rolling his shoulder towards the railing, "What was that for?"

The bored looking girl just shrugged, "Felt like it," at the continued glared she grinned that cocky Gakushin grin, "In my opinion you deserve it," there was a bit of a huff, "s'what you get for not contacting any of us…"

The male genin growled, scowl crossing his face, "Not like I could do much while in a coma!" there was an obvious bite in his words as his brows lowered in anger looking away.

For a moment Mei looked stunned, mouth open with no words before she shook her head and stared at him with serious eyes, "When I saw Sasayaki was listed KIA I'd thought…" the edges of her eyes crinkled, minute pain expressed but held back from being obvious, "When no one'd seen you, we all thought you'd died with her…"

"I should have," the boy said so low and in such a hurtful growl it was hard to tell if he'd meant to say it out loud.

Those thin black eyes looked sincere, sympathizing with him for a good long second before that fire was back. With a frown the reddish brunette walked up to the boy, staring him sternly with barely a foot between them.

Uenkai looked like he wanted to say something… but he never got the chance.

SLAP!

"You fucking asshole!" the girl yelled, eyes tightly shut to prevent any tears, "How the fuck can you be gone so long and just walk back here like nothing happened! Like nothing's wrong!" tan hands grabbed his shirt, so tight they were almost white as the girl seethed, "And to be my cousin's partner no less!" the fury and rage Mei showed with her low brows and burning red eyes almost covered up the hurt, sadness and fear behind them. She was worried, justifiably so as she raged at him, pulling him closer and growling in a low voice, "You hurt her, let her get her…" red eyes burned into teal, "I. Will. Kill. You."

For a moment Uenkai just stared, stunned by the girl's actions. Whatever his reaction he barely caught himself from falling over the rail as she shoved him again before walking away. Straightening himself the boy stared at the back of the girl's head, for a moment it looked like her eyes had changed color… but that couldn't be true unless she had some bloodline… but that wasn't the most important thing. What she said… yes, he'd been threatened since walking back into the village with that crazy little girl two days ago by her family in every imaginable way, but this girl, a former classmate no less that had failed the final test… she… she had said flat out what everyone meant and was the most terrifying. She meant it, he could see that in her stance, her voice, even her eyes. If anything happened to that crazy powerhouse blind girl that was now his partner, Mei would kill him long before anyone else had the chance.

Uenkai had his hand on his chest as he just looked at Mei for the longest time, trying to remember her from class. She had gotten along with his old partner, probably were even friends, and initially it was likely she would have been her partner instead… but she'd failed and went on to another semester at the Academy while they went on to be a genin. Despite his time knowing her and working with her he couldn't remember a single instance of her being angry, Mei was typically a pleasant, hyperactive, ball of sunshine that smiled and wondered off into other people's business. The girl standing in front of him… it may have still been there, but she had none of that left for him. His teal eyes softened, not out of any kindness but defeat, "Mei… I…"

"Save it," the girl had crossed her arms, obvious frown on her face as she glanced at him sidelong with thin black eyes, "I mean it, you hurt her, break her heart, do anything that messes that kid up…" she faced him fully, words emphasized if much more controlled then before, "I will kill you."

"… and no one will find the body, heh," Teal eyes glanced to the side, frown obvious on his face as he repeated what her apparent mother told him.

"There won't be a body left to find," he'd obviously meant it as a kind of jest or come back but Mei had responded in a flat obvious voice, again showing just how much she meant it.

Uenkai just frowned, trying not to growl at the girl, " 'Break her heart' she's a kid, what makes you think I'd ever care about her like that?"

"Sasayaki cared about you like that," those thin black eyes bore into him deeply, watching every movement, judging every unconscious action, "I bet you didn't even know…"

Teal brows rose in the center as the male genin tried to hold back whatever emotions his former partner brought up. He could deal with her name once, but twice… and about this… there was a buzzing in the back of his mind that he was trying to ignore and his body seemed to visibly tremble, "You have no right to talk about her…"

"I have every right to talk about her," that intimidating Gakushin glare as Mei crossed her arms watching the boy seconds away from cracking.

"Tch," the boy looked away, tired of the girl's look as his entire body was tense from the sudden confrontation, "You've made your threats can I go now?"

Black eyes narrowed as Mei looked the boy over as if seeking some other detail, chink in his armor to exploit. She gave a low growl, turning away as well, taking several steps towards the opposite side of the roof. She didn't want to be like her mother who got into people's heads and really screwed them up, it would be too easy with this guy, "Whatever, just do your job this time…"

A deep frown passed Uenkai's face as he watched the reddish brunette, angry and annoyed, not just as her words, but at his own failure being slapped in his face, "It wasn't like that…"

A black eye glanced at him over the girl's shoulder, obviously she was still angry as well, now that he was pressing the issue instead of leaving like he'd said.

The tan boy's shoulders slumped as he took in a low breath, "I didn't get a chance to protect her…" his hands were listless as they passed over the cleaver-blade at his hip with the delicate feather hanging off the end, "Because she kept protecting me…"

Mei's eyes were still hard but she left him alone. She knew how her one-time friend had been… all the girl could do was sigh heavily, crossing her arms, "Get out of here," she waved her hand towards the door, "And tell my brother to stop feeding Yorihi sweets… it'll ruin her appetite."

For a long moment teal eyes just stared at the girl, trying to decipher her stance and what she meant. This girl was different from the one he'd tangently known at the Academy, it served as another reminder that a lot changed in the year he lost. He'd made genin before her but now she was senior to him in experience, it was a strange feeling having to swallow that realization.

With a slight frown the teal haired boy gripped his partner's blade and nodded to the rougher girl before leaving the area. Everyone had been telling him the same thing, over and over: 'protect the Raikage's daughter'… It was only now, he had a real reason to do, he owed his partner and those that remembered her to not screw up again. –Thanks Mei…-

---

Anago - Conger Eel (made from kanji 'Ana'- upset victory, underbelly of society, etc. and 'Ko'-child, young woman, young geisha, etc. – 'Anako')

---

A/N: it is my firmly held belief that any incarnation of 'Hinata' MUST know how to cook... while figuring out who could probably teach her, for some reason Jun popped up and i said 'sure, why not?' and the more i thought about it, the more i laughed, because between his mother and sister, yea, someone has to cook in that household and it doesn't seem like either of them XD

maybe i'm just not a fan of Uenkai's emo-ness... probably should avoid his POV for a bit... i can deal with that... oh, he's a good guy, just acts all wrong XD

just to say, Anako is meant to basically look like Bayonetta with dark purple hair and pink eyes, why pink eyes? -shrugs- i believe my reasoning was 'i haven't done that yet' XD and she's not all 'smarmy' like Bayonetta, more like just straight up scary as hell bitch... hehehe, what a great medical professional :D Kumo, where NO ONE wants to go to the hospital because the people there are evil!

also that poor male nurse... i've used him several times in various asides/scrapped chap scenes, figured i should actually pull him out... he's kinda like a joke to me, because he's a MALE nurse :D generic nurse is generally female, so i suppose it just amused me that he's a guy... and a NURSE :D ya know what i know its not 'really' funny but it amused me, shush...

also, as the WHOLE REASON i REALLY wanted to post this... A Day in Kumo go read it, i plan to put my finished asides in there just because some people have been asking i do something with all my bajillion characters (last count was around 110 i believe) its also the place that if anyone wants me to 'explain' anything or put up something about specific characters, do review that and i'll see what i can do :D

love to all the people still reading and reviewing this, as always :3

Till next -salute-waves- Sayounara, Mina!

-Ikasury