Chapter 37

The lights flickered once again and Mei was fed up. This had been happening, on and off, for over two months. No matter whom the Mizukage sent, whom she asked, they all came back to her with no explanation. She even had Sachiko call the power plant and they didn't have any answers for her. The Mizukage slammed down her pen. "What is this?!"

Sachiko came in immediately. The aide looked down at the document Mei had in front of her, reading it upside down. "It's an approval for the new academy budget," she answered flatly.

Mei raised an eyebrow. Sachiko was more adaptable than the Mizukage's other aide but that adaptability came with the price of sarcasm. "I meant that," Mei pointed at the overhead lights as they flickered again.

Sachiko looked at her clipboard passively. "I believe that's what your two o'clock meeting is about."

Mei frowned in confusion. "I have a two o'clock meeting?" At Sachiko's nod Mei continued, "with whom?"

"Your husband, Orino, and Tomoko," Sachiko answered promptly. Before Mei could ask anything else, the aide had teleported out of the office.

Mei stared after her, dumbstruck. What is going on here? The lights flickered again as if to mock her. Mei glared at them. She had half a mind to summon one of the mentioned three to demand an explanation but held off. She trusted all of them and, if they didn't tell her what this was all about before, they wouldn't be inclined to tell her before their scheduled appointment.

Mei busied herself as much as possible until two, wondering what the meeting was about. The lights stopped their flickering but Mei's head still buzzed with questions. Was there something wrong with the power grid? Tomoko worked at the power station but how were Kakashi and Orino involved? Why didn't Kakashi say anything? Why didn't Orino? The questions swirled in her mind as she flew through reports and other work. The Mizukage forced her mind to focus despite her rising anxiety.

At two o'clock sharp there was a knock on the door. "Enter," Mei called, glancing at the clock one last time.

Mei's husband came in, followed by Orino and Tomoko. Tomoko seemed nervous. Mei was familiar enough with Kakashi and Orino to know that they wore the looks they often got when they wanted those around them to think that they're calm. Orino's was a blank stare where his eyes lingered on things a second longer than they usually did. Kakashi's expression came off as bored with a hint of laziness. Mei mentally prepared herself but for what, she did not know.

The Mizukage leveled a no-nonsense look at them. "Would any of you care to explain why my lights have been flickering?"

Her tone was like ice but, Kakashi was pleased to note, not fiery ice. His voice was warm and soothing in response, "Mei, we'd like to show you something."

Mei's eyebrow quirked at Kakashi's non-answer. "You have my attention," she stood and they led her out.

After a long, quiet walk to the power station, Tomoko opened the door and led them inside the large concrete building. Mei was greeted by smiling workers. She was surprised to see the inside of the plant much changed. The boiler was there, the turbines, transformers, and cables, of which a layperson like herself didn't know the purposes, were all where she remembered them being before. However, the boiler was quiet, the turbines did not whirl. Instead there was just a low hum in the echoey building. The more obvious change took the form of hundreds, if not thousands of seals inked throughout the room. They snaked around the machines and under tables, the black ink pulsating faintly.

"What is this?" Mei asked slowly, desperately trying to maintain her composure. Her jaw was on the verge of dropping to the floor.

Tomoko cut right to the heart of the matter, a grin on her face. "Lady Mizukage, we are no longer reliant on coal for power. The village is being run completely on naturally occurring electricity."

"What?" Mei asked, disbelieving. Ever since electricity had come to the Mist it had been both a blessing and a curse. It had made things easier on the citizens, especially the civilians, but it was also terribly expensive.

"We're powering the village with lightning from the sky," Tomoko clarified, but that hadn't been what the Mizukage meant.

"How?" Mei practically barked. She wanted answers.

"Seals," Kakashi replied. His voice was quiet but it still cut through the hum in the room.

"Seals," Mei repeated in wonder, staring at the black markings.

"You remember my lightning sealing experiments?" Kakashi asked.

Mei mutely nodded, barely looking at her husband. The power station workers held their breath.

"I was able to seal natural lightning but had few uses for it afterward." Kakashi waved idly at the mess of seals inside of the building as if they hadn't taken him weeks of work and research. "But once we got the regulating seals working and connected them to the power grid-"

"You did what?!" Mei's confusion and shock had slid off of a cliff and dropped into a canyon of alarm. How had this happened without her knowing? Mei was also concerned about the apparent lack of security around the Mist's power supply. Just because she trusted Kakashi didn't mean that every infrastructure worker did or should.

"I'm pretty sure the Cloud already does this," Kakashi continued, hoping further explanation would calm the waters. "And if the Stone can find more practical uses for earth style, like the architecture in their village, then there's no reason we can't keep our jutsu skills sharp by using them domestically."

"Kakashi, stop," Mei held up a hand, her face pale with anxiety. "When did this happen?" She looked at everyone. Some appeared guilty, others excited, Kakashi now looked hesitant.

"We wanted to surprise you, so everyone agreed to keep it a secret," Kakashi explained. The next part was spoken softer, as if only for her. "Do you not like it?"

The Mizukage could hear the pout in her husband's voice but she pushed that to the back of her mind. "I- I need time to process this." Mei waved Tomoko closer. "Show me the numbers."

Tomoko happily handed over her clipboard. She and the Mizukage stepped aside to talk at one of the work tables. Kakashi and Orino stayed where they were, watching. Occasionally, Mei would point at something and ask a question. Tomoko smiled and nodded in response.

"Are we-" Kakashi stopped. He felt like a child, asking Orino if they were in trouble. Instead he asked, "is she mad?"

Orino squinted at his old friend's back while he considered the possibility. "I don't think so. I think it just surprised her that this whole thing was a secret from her."

Kakashi blinked in confusion. "That's how a surprise works, or so sensei used to tell me."

Mei and Tomoko rejoined the group a moment later. Mei looked a little more relaxed or at least, restrained. "Thank you, all of you, for putting this together. Tomoko and I have agreed that it's best to continue on a trial basis for a few more months before making a public announcement about this," she glanced at Kakashi, "project. In the meantime, Mist citizens will be charged as they normally would for their power until the transition is paid for-"

Tomoko cleared her throat and Mei paused. "I don't mean to interrupt you Lady Mizukage," with a reassuring nod from Mei the woman continued, "but it's already paid for itself. Lord Hatake did most of the work and he refused compensation of any kind. The only costs now are to maintain the seals, continuing to collect lightning, and any further refinements of the process. To be frank Lady Mizukage, my team and I can handle the maintenance by working only minutes a day." She gave a light laugh. "I'm going to have to find another job."

Mei smiled. "No need to worry about that, we'll figure something out." She took a breath. "In any case, what are you projecting to charge an average household now, keeping the staff we have?" Tomoko flipped through some pages and held out the clipboard again, pointing to a number. Mei nearly swallowed her tongue. "That's per day?" Mei asked, disbelieving the small number.

"That's per month, Lady Mizukage," Tomoko's smile brightened.

Mei dearly wished she wore a mask. She couldn't hide her surprise or the fifty other emotions she felt. One thing at a time. She glanced at her husband but her eyes quickly moved away from him. "Thank you all," she repeated, addressing the whole room. "We'll discuss this again once I've read through the data more thoroughly." She turned her attention to Tomoko, "I suspect you already have a report ready for me?"

Tomoko nodded with a proud grin. "I'll have it sent to your office immediately." With a bow, she hurried over to her relieved team. They did a little victory dance in the corner. Mei dismissed Orino who left after only a moment of hesitation.

Without looking at Kakashi, Mei stepped to her husband's side and said, "walk with me." It was not a suggestion.

Although they continued down first one street, then another, Mei did not speak. There were too many thoughts rolling and crashing through her mind. One thought overwhelmed all others, they needed to have this conversation in private. There were too many eyes in the village, too many ears.

Mei wanted to scream. She couldn't even have a private discussion with her spouse without retreating behind seals. The same kinds of seals that had apparently been used to rework the entire distribution of their power supply without her knowledge.

Finally, they arrived in Kakashi's room. She didn't have to ask him to activate his security seals, which not only sealed the room from entry, but stopped sound leaving as well.

Mei's eyes blazed brighter than the fading marks on the walls. "How could you do that to me? Working behind my back?!"

Kakashi, feeling the buildup of the storm, had prepared to defend himself. His words were calm but not without passion. "I didn't want to say anything until we were sure it could work. Then we all thought it would be a nice surprise for you. We were not working behind your back!"

"My village is not your plaything Kakashi!" Mei yelled. "You can't just run around and do as you please. You need to tell me these things, not conspire with my ninja to hide things from me!"

"It was a pleasant surprise, or so we thought. We were not conspiring!"

"And what if something had gone wrong? What if you or someone else had been hurt?! What if you'd blown the village's power station sky high? Then what would you have done?!"

"That wasn't going to happen. I worked with your ninja Mei. Do you think they don't know what they are doing? Tomoko was on board from the very start. If she didn't think it could work then-"

"Then you would have pursued other avenues. You're as stubborn as you are inconsiderate."

Kakashi ignored the insults given in anger, he pressed on. "We knew it could be done Mei, there were several jonin involved."

"How? How did you know?"

Kakashi let the air still for a moment, like the ocean smoothing between waves. Kakashi had wanted to keep the others' involvement in the background in case something had backfired. If Mei was going to be mad at someone, he'd wanted it to be him. However, now seemed like the time to reveal that he had a little more help. Mei wasn't mad about the project itself so he'd mentioned jonin were involved. Now he was sure it was alright to bring stronger hints into play.

"One of your ninja has been using lightning to power his own home for years." Mei's jaw went slack but Kakashi continued. "And like I said, I'm sure this is where the Hidden Cloud, and possibly parts of Lightning Country, get their electricity. Not even the Leaf can afford to power elevators and build entirely glassed-in buildings. The Cloud has a side business, only now we know what it is."

Mei shook her head, still wanting to be angry. If this worked, Mei's brain could hardly wrap around the concept, the Mist's economy would boom for the first time in her lifetime. The citizens could spend less on power and more on both missions and goods. Increased mission requests meant more revenue for the village which meant more money could be put into infrastructure, health care, the community in general. Increased purchases meant more trade brought to the region. And if the Mist could start selling their power to the Land of Water at large, the possibilities were endless.

Mei focused on her husband again. He looked hopeful. Mei shook her head again. "You shouldn't have gone behind my back."

"I thought it would be a welcome surprise," Kakashi replied softly. Before he'd said it as justification, this time it came out as an apology.

"Buying my favorite snack is a surprise, Kakashi. This is changing the economy of my village and our way of life as we know it."

"Well when you put it like that, it sounds bad." Kakashi pocketed his hands. He raised his eyebrows at her. "I did good though right?"

"I would have liked to have known," Mei responded instantly, not wanting to let him off the hook. "And the way you manipulated my staff is quite alarming." She shook her head again, a smile on her face this time. "You amaze me Hatake Kakashi."

"You wanted everyone to call me 'Lord' but then not give me any authority? It's really your fault," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders.

Mei just shook her head. She considered beating her husband to a pulp but mostly she just wanted to kiss him. Instead of doing either of those things, she washed her face with her hands. "So what now?"

Kakashi smiled at her. "You look like you could use a break."

Mei glanced at the clock. She didn't finish anything else she'd meant to that day. It was already four. Had they really spent that long at the power station? "I'm going to have the longest council meeting tomorrow."

"All the more reason for you to take the rest of today off," Kakashi replied. He kissed Mei on the forehead. "I'm sorry I shocked you."

"Don't do that anymore," Mei pleaded. She pulled him into an embrace. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"No promises," Kakashi smiled into his wife's hair. "But you do need some rest."

"What I need, is a nice, normal husband who leaves things well enough alone," Mei looked up, an eyebrow arched at him.

Kakashi grinned down at her. "Now what fun would that be?"

Author's Notes:
1. Hello fellows, let me start this off by saying, Happy Birthday to Kakashi (9/15)! I keep missing posting on Mei's Birthday but dang it I'll keep trying to remember to post on Kakashi's Birthday.

Now feast your eyes on these three random Kakashi facts that I find interesting:
a. Out of Team Minato, Kakashi is the only one to not become a jinchuriki at some point.
b. According to the manga, Sakumo's fateful mission was five years before Kakashi became jonin. So, despite what the filler may say, Kakashi would have not only been out of the academy when Sakumo died, he would have easily been a chunin already.
c. At the beginning of Shippuden, Kakashi tries to tell Naruto and Sakura that he's invented an "amazing new jutsu" but he never gets a chance to say what it is. I theorize that it's Lightning Cable or the Lightning Shadow Clone (which I personally didn't even think was possible before Kakashi uses it) but what are your thoughts?
2. Thank you to MGB for looking over this chapter for me. I appreciate his quiet support, always. I really need to send him flowers or something.
3. Thank you thank you thank you to all my readers, reviewers, favoriters, and followers out there! Because of you, Boiling Point has almost 400 reviews and over 200 favorites. Not only do these numbers make me happy, but people who are browsing sometimes look at these stats to decide if they're going to read a story or not. Your support gets people to notice this story, so thank you. And this leads me to my last point/question...
4. What brought YOU to this story? I'm curious. Were you just browsing? Did someone recommend it? Were you looking specifically for Kakashi and Mei stories? And if so, what drew you to that pairing?