"I don't get it," Naruto snapped, glaring at Sakura.

She breathed a sigh that might have taken about six years from her life and glared back, walking away. "It's none of our business," she retorted coldly from over our shoulder, "Don't get involved." The tent flap swished closed behind her.

The deep earthy colours of the Rowna camp were just as they had left them, as was the strange sweet spicy smell from the Rowna's burning pots. Shadows churned about the quietening tent, but the rosy remains of the fire glowed a soft welcome. The shattered cushions and pillows had now been arranged into lines of makeshift camp beds on the floor. The two old women and their little charge were just about to leave as Sakura entered, but they stopped briefly to update her on the status of their mutual patient on their way out. It seemed he was doing well. The medical ninja knelt by his side, stroking his strange little forehead as she gave him a brief once over for her own piece of mind.

They seemed to have redressed him in some kind of linen nightwear and wrapped tightly in thickly woven woollen blankets by the fire. Even his head was covered by a warm velvety cloth and propped on downy pillows leaving just his face exposed as he slept peacefully in the warm glow, looking much healthier than he had before with a slight rosy tinge to his cheeks. Sakura smiled a little before she stood up.

She had barely straightened before she noticed Naruto sulking behind her. "Why not?" he groaned, apparently still caught up in their previous conversation, "This isn't right." He followed her towards the bedrolls, his arms folded and his face set with an unhappy determination that she recognised all too well.

"And it's not our business," she reminded him sternly, removing her shoes and various pouches, "The only thing you're going to do by interfering is annoy people." She glanced over at her most long-standing team mate. It wasn't that she was unsympathetic to his feelings, but sometimes he really had to learn when it simply wasn't right to go barging into other people's business. Sakura reached behind her head, untying the fabric knots of her protector.

It wasn't even as if they really knew what was going on. Everything about this country seemed to be a mass of internal politics and secrets. Perhaps they would be able to discover more if they spoke to Ren or his sister again. Perhaps it was better to take the Rowna and Momoka's advice and just stay well clear of the pair of them. As things were, a monster or not or a murder or not, Ren's sister was clearly someone trusted by the daimyo and instructed to offer them any assistance they required. They needed her help and she clearly did not relish their interference. There was nothing to do, for now, except accept that with a certain degree of professionalism that sadly – for all his many virtues – Naruto did not always exhibit easily. Sakura sighed again and curled up in bed, pulling the cover over her head to signal that the discussion was closed.

Naruto slumped down on a bedroll that had clearly been laid out for him and folded his arms, still glaring. "This isn't right," he repeated, scowling at the floor.

'She's a murderer!'

'Yes, I am.'

The scene was still replaying in his head. She had said nothing as she appeared with her brother, nothing to her accuser, nothing to any of them. Ren supported her silently as she leaned against him, obviously unsteady, with one arm locked tightly around her midriff. The other was braced against her shoulder, pushing her upright against his chest. Her long gray-brown fringe fell across her face and loose strands of hair curled around her ears and neck. Her crumpled haori shrouded her thin frame, hiding her clothes. She seemed pale and tired.

She had not said a word. Instead her eyes simply locked for a few seconds with the teenage Rowna telepath.

"We left your wheelchair behind the main tent," the girl had told her coldly, "Get it and go." Every syllable the teenager uttered had been layered with repugnance. She had crossed her arms against her chest, her face and body language screaming sheer hatred.

Seishin's hime had done nothing in response. With her brother's help, she had passed through their loose circle of still bodies. She had not looked at them. Only when the pair had almost vanished behind the tent did she turn her head ever so slightly, the few strands of fly-away hair wavering as she whispered, "Thank you."

Kakashi had told him it was none of his business. It was the internal politics of another nation. Interference from them would likely only result in ruffled feathers and a stirring of hostility between the country of the Mind and the country of Fire. Naruto wanted to hit him, but Sakura had said the same thing.

He lay back on his bedroll and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of Kankurou returning to the tent and settling down beside him. Temari had apparently disappeared somewhere to wash her hair and it was anyone's guess as to where his sensei and Gaara had disappeared off to.

It was their choice whether they chose to sleep or not. Technically it was now morning, but seeing as none of them had been able to lie down at all during the night they had been given the chance to take a nap in the relative quiet of the main tent. The mission may have been long, but the Rowna were nothing if not highly conscientious hosts. They had actually offered to take the shinobi with them across the island towards the major port city from which they could get a ride back to the capital with relative ease. With their guests so clearly weary though, they had also insisted on giving them a chance to rest up and recuperate first. The camp was even kept relatively quiet with its members having retired back to their sleeping quarters or started on the morning chores in the early dawn.

Nobody had seen Ren or his sister, they were probably far away from the camp by now, but Kai and Momoka had remained with them. The girl was curled up in the farthest corner of the tent, wrapped in her blankets and apparently asleep. Kai sat near the tent flap, squatting on a few cushions, his body tilted so he could see outside. He played absently with a kunai, but his eyes remained fixed resolutely on the encroaching dawn. Although he had practically shrunken from the other shinobi as they entered, it was obvious that he was keeping watch for their safety.

Naruto sat up. Crumpling the blankets, he scrambled to his feet, causing Sakura to turn uneasily. Kai regarded him wearily as he approached, carefully putting away his kunai.

"I don't believe Nee-san's a murderer," Naruto told him flatly, his knuckles pressing into his folded elbows and his feet planted firmly shoulder-width apart beneath him, "What's going on?" His eyes glared. They seemed to bore holes into the other boy, piercing straight through him.

Kai looked away uneasily. "To be honest with you," he murmured, shifting backwards against the fabric of the tent and picking at his sleeve, "I don't know much about it. There was an incident years ago, but that was long before I became a shinobi. You'd have to ask Momoka-chan… I just do my job… and the Bakemono's been the hime round here since before I was a genin…"

That unfortunate comment seemed to really wake up Naruto's ire. "Why do you call her that?" he thundered, advancing on Kai, "Dattebayo! Doesn't she have a name like everybody else?" His arms swept to his sides, pulling backwards. Sakura buried her head in the blanket, unwilling to face what she knew was coming. So much for telling Naruto not to interfere…

Kai just looked startled. He froze, with the other boy's hand mere inches from his collar. "… I…I dunno." He stared blankly at Naruto, shaking his head.

The blonde Konoha shinobi blinked, his arms dropping to his sides. "What don't you know?"

"I don't know her name," Kai repeated, backing away to a more comfortable distance, "Everyone just calls her the Bakemono… or Hime, I suppose… some of them do anyway." He shrugged, scratching his short-haired scalp. "I've never even heard Ren use her name…"

Despite herself Sakura sat up, pushing the blankets away. She noticed that Kankurou had done the same. His attention was fixed on the conversation between the other two males. The smeared lines of his face paint were knitted as he frowned, unsure of what to do or say. He clearly thought no more of interfering in another village's internal politics than anyone else, but on the other hand… information was key – particularly when everyone seemed to want to thrust it in your face. Sakura gave him a sympathetic smile, feeling very much the same.

Naruto glared at the shinobi in front of him. "Why?" His arms folded themselves again.

"How should I know?" Kai paused, thinking, "If it helps, her surname would be 'Seishin' I suppose. At least that's Ren-sensei's." He waved a hand for clarification, "That's the name he took after they became Wards of the Village. I guess hers would be the same."

Naruto just seemed confused. "What does that mean?" He squatted downwards, making eye contact as he hovered without quite sitting on the floor.

"Wards of the Village?" Kai repeated, rubbing his neck, leaning back into the tent folds again. "Like 'a child in the custody of the hidden village'," he gestured wildly as he explained the term, " 'Belonging to the village rather than a family'. It's normally what happens to disputed children or orphans with high chakra levels, but the Bake… O'Hime-sama got her title around the same time, so I guess that was the reason. They were taken from their father's clan and given over to the village. Obviously you have to be a minor for that to work. There are no custody rights for an adult. I think they were about fourteen or something…" He shrugged, fiddling with his collar.

"Why?" Naruto still looked blank.

"Huh," Kai stared helplessly back at him. Sakura pushed away the last of her blankets, crawling out of her bed to join them. Even Kankuro had gotten to his feet. A looming figure in crumpled black with his painted eyes narrowed as he watched them.

"Why did they take them from their family?" Naruto demanded, sitting down with a thud and letting his hands slap onto his folded legs.

Kai shook his head. "I dunno. I guess maybe they didn't want the future daimyo to have family ties…"

"Or maybe the Iriai Clan got sick of having a murderer in their mists." Naruto spun around at the sound of the voice, propping himself on his arms in his haste.

The half-light caught the shadowy figure of Momoka rising from beneath her blankets. Her hair fell in messy strands over her shoulders and she shivered, her bare arms catching the stray drafts in her secluded corner.

Kai just snorted dismissively, straightening up slightly as he turned his torso to face her. "That was years before they left the clan. Gimme a break."

"So what?" Momoka retorted angrily, striding forwards into the dim glow of the campfire, "Maybe they did just get sick of living with the shame." She turned her head away from him, folding her arms across her chest. "You wanna know what happened?" The last question was clearly aimed at the three foreign shinobi, who were all regarding her with a strange mix of confusion or contemplation.

Kankurou just shrugged, taking a few steps towards her as he bared his jaw with a sardonic lift in his eyebrows. "You're going to tell us anyway…" he murmured, stating the obvious.

Momoka looked away, gazing down into the fire, but her fist clenched in determination. "Years ago," she began, rather hesitantly, "Back during the war, when I was really small, my O'Nii-san and a load of other special jounin and chuunin were competing in the Jounin Trials…"

"Jounin Trials?" Sakura started, glancing around in confusion, "What…?"

Kai rolled his eyes as he leant back on his arms, letting his elbows prop him up from behind. "I dunno how you become jounin in Konohagakure," he told her, clearly beginning to get fed up with this entire conversation, "But we traditionally have this big endurance test thing that people nominated to be jounin have to undergo. It's like their last assessment before they become real jounin. There's usually a lot of secrecy and old rites surrounding it – I don't know the details. Obviously, I've never done it." He shrugged once, sighing to himself.

Naruto frowned, running a hand through his hair. "So your O'Nii-san was about to take this test thing?" he inquired, exchanging a bewildered glance with Sakura before turning back to Momoka.

"He did take it," she replied softly, looking downwards again, "Him and a whole load of others… and her… the Bakemono…"

That made Kai snap upwards in alarm. He practically fell over himself, as he struggled to hurry. "The Hime took her test at the same time as your O'Nii-san?" he gasped, righting himself, "That must have been years ago. How old was she?"

Momoka stared at him. Her face was blank. "I dunno… young, I guess…"

"Really young," Kai whistled softly, sitting back again, "Didn't your O'Nii-san die when you were about three?" Sakura and Naruto exchanged bewildered glances, apparently entirely lost by this turn in the conversation. Kankurou looked as if he was starting to lose interest. He grunted, shifting irritably on his feet as he folded his arms.

Momoka seemed to be feeling something along a similar vein, because her whole body had stiffened and her brows contorted angrily. "That's not really the point, is it?" she hissed, her fists shaking slightly.

Kai let himself collapse backwards across the floor, pulling out a pillow to support his head. "I dunno, it might be…"

"It is not!" Momoka snapped. Her emerged in soft ragged gasps and her face remained screwed up as she stared at the floor. Naruto scrambled onto his knees, a hand instinctively reaching out towards the girl. She barely seemed to notice as she stood there, visibly shaking. "They went into the trials together, all of them," she whispered. The others kept nervously quiet as she resumed her story, "For days they competed, co-operated and fought… Whatever they were told to do. Then on the last day – just when everyone was getting ready to congratulate the new jounin – they opened the door on the room in which the last trial was held… and there they were… Bodies. The bodies of all the competitors all lined up in the arena and her… her standing over them… covered in their blood." Her arms hugged her sides, as she finished in a voice that sounded as if she might be choking on her own sobs. Her head remained bowed, the dimming firelight washing up against her from below, as her mane of dark hair spilled across her shoulders and tangled over her face.

There was a slight mewing noise from the area of the fire. The child shifted in his sleep, snoring slightly as the few dying embers warmed his face.

Kankurou snorted, turning away, back towards his bed. "Sounds more like an urban myth than something that actually happened."

Momoka's head snapped upright, black hair flying everywhere. "It did happen," she cried, the sobs audible in her voice now, "I should know, shouldn't I? Do you know how long my Mother cried? How I grew up watching her mourn on her own as everyone slowly forgot? My O'Nii-san died that day!" Her fists shook violently.

"Alright! Alright!" Kankorou drew back in alarm, "It happened. I get you. It was real." Sakura glanced worriedly at Naruto and then back at Momoka. The blonde from Konoha on the other hand didn't seem to know what to think. He watched her quietly, his eyes drowning in some unreadable emotion. Kai was staring awkwardly at his own hands.

"That's why I can't forgive her," Momoka whispered; her voice still strained as she awkwardly ran both hands over her face to push back the loose curls of hair, "Why I'll never forgive the Bakemono. She made my mother suffer; she made me suffer; she made the families of the others suffer. For years we've all endured this pain alone. Nobody understanding. Every year I see all the families gathering in the graveyard. Fewer and fewer people come each time, but, the families, they always come. The people whose lives she ruined. And why, because she betrayed her comrades – her own people – and nobody even knows why she did it." She turned away from then, staring into the shadows of the tent. Her fist clenched and unclenched as her torso shook, her mane of curly hair fanning out around her shoulders.

"Momoka-chan…" Kai stood up. He moved forwards tentatively, stretching out a hand for her long before she was in reach.

"Don't," she snapped, drawing further away into the shadows of the tent. Her voice grew strangely hard as she continued to speak. "By rights, she should have been killed. Betraying your village and your comrades like that is a capitol crime – she should have died for what she did. Instead they made her Hime." She spat the word. Her shoulders were shaking and her voice was slowly taking a hysterical edge.

Unsure of what to do, Kankurou turned towards Sakura. Then he froze, staring at her. She was gaping at Momoka as if seeing a ghost. Her face was pale and her round eyes wide. One hand was stretched downwards, clutching Naruto's jacket, but her arm was shaking. If anything her team mate seemed even worse… He swayed slightly, even though he was sitting and Kankurou wondered briefly if he was going to be ill.

"They gave her the village for her own," Momoka murmured, "She runs this place. That creature. She runs this place. From the shadows, but… Everyone in the village and in the castle, they all answer to her. That…that… That's why I'm a shinobi. I'm going to keep going until I become stronger than her. Then, one day, I'll make her pay. I'll make her die for what she did, the way she should have done then. I'll kill her myself. Please, I have to kill her. She has to die…"

Kai drew up towards her, taking her arm and spinning her around. "Momoka-chan," he whispered, half shaking her.

Sticky riverlets of water glued strands of her hair to her face. Her small nose and rounded cheeks were flushed and her big brown eyes swam in her tears. "Just let me kill her… Please just let her die…"

Kai pushed his forehead against hers, as if he could force some calm back into her that way. His grip on her arms grew tight. "Momoka." His face was pleading.

"No!" the cry was Naruto's. He had leapt to his feet. His limbs flew outwards as he howled and hurtled forward, but then he crumpled to the floor almost as quickly. Something held him back. A force gripped his shoulder tightly. He peered around and his eyes met Kakashi's.