Chapter Fifty Two
Naomasa leaned against a tree in a park in the city of Waves.
It wasn't the park that he and his team used to use as a hangout back in Konoha, the park where he'd spent so many hours with Kotaro, Yomiko, even Hitomi and Tomoko.
But it was a park, and he decided he liked that.
Being in the woods was one thing, it was pretty but in a park everything was organized and that was pretty too.
There was no one else around, and that was probably because Naomasa was there.
At first the people were reluctant to leave their homes, a few daring to come out to do business with the invaders, most had started out demanding insane prices for things nobody was interested in buying anyway, now things had settled a bit and the commoners were emerging, mostly because the remaining Samurai and soldiers of Waves were going around assuring them that everything was settled.
But they kept a wide berth from the ninja, they seemed a little more tolerant of the Samurai and soldiers coming off the ships now, but the ninja were evil as far as they were concerned.
Nao remembered the last time he'd come through the city. It'd been four years ago with his sister Eri, and his team. People had been generally unwelcoming and in some instances openly hostile towards the ninja presence in their town. Nao didn't expect things had gotten any better under the Imperial regime, in fact Waves had at the time been something of a preview of what he expected much of his old homeland would be now.
Still he felt a little bad that his presence might be keeping away anyone who would normally have enjoyed the calm setting of the park, but nobody asked them to be such bigots and he needed just a few more moments to . . . center himself or something.
He just didn't want to leave the calm, organized beauty of the park, or the nostalgic feeling he felt there.
"Pretty, huh?" Yomiko said, "Like the one in Konoha."
"I didn't hear you come up." Nao commented.
"Hmm. Could've killed you then." Yomiko observed, "Lucky for you I'm me."
"Maybe I'm just used to your presence." Nao said, but in truth he was shaken a bit. It might be a bit that he was just used to Yomiko being around, but part of it had been that he'd very much let his guard down.
"Nostalgic, isn't it?" Yomiko smiled, "It's like the one in Konoha."
"I was just thinking the same thing." Nao admitted.
"Empty though." She said.
"Just thinking the same thing." He smiled.
"Do you think, when this is all over, we'll all be able to hang out in the park again? You know, you and me and Kotaro, Kyoko and her . . ."
Nao smiled weakly, Yomiko had been about to say "team" but . . .
"She's doing better at least." Yomiko added, "She's not smiling and laughing and telling jokes or anything, but at least she's sort of relaxed now that the fighting's over."
Nao felt bad for Kyoko, and he'd wanted to be there for her but Yomiko and Temari had told him they had things under control; Nao wasn't sure how under control they had things if Temari herself was probably grieving too, but then he also didn't want to make his Sensei's wife angry.
Temari would probably snap him like a twig.
He'd also been pretty distracted . . . he'd had trouble thinking about anything besides Hitomi.
He'd gone to check on her, been told by a medic that she was out and about but that the medic had no idea where she was.
And so he'd looked for her for a while, but in an unfamiliar city he had no idea where to begin, eventually he'd found the park and just decided that he'd enjoy it for a bit and maybe Hitomi would find him instead.
But Yomiko had showed up, which wasn't terrible.
And she was right, the place was very nostalgic. He wondered when he'd ever have a chance like this again, to just relax and enjoy something beautiful.
Probably not until after the war was over, and who knew when that would be? Even if they took Otogakure they'd still need to take Iwagakure, which would be heavily fortified. The war never reached Earth's doorstep, nobody had any experience with invading the Lands of Earth, at least with Konoha Shikamaru-sensei knew where he was going and the best ways to get there.
Naomasa wondered, was this a war his children would fight? Would he have children? With whom? If Hitomi refused to return his affection-but then she'd kissed him so maybe-but no, she was about to faint, that kiss could have meant anything, for all he knew she thought he was someone else.
Being a seventeen year old shinobi fighting a war was unnerving enough. Being a seventeen year old shinobi in love with a twenty two year old emotionally reclusive woman who already had a kid from someone else and betrayed very few hints of returning his affection during a war was just some sort of proof that the universe hated him.
But he doubted his feelings would change overnight, and he doubted he wanted them to.
But it felt weird talking to Yomiko about them, so he didn't. It was strange, but he'd almost rather talk to Kyoko, but he wasn't sure what the difference was, they were both girls, both his teammates.
Was he just closer to Kyoko? Or was it the open declaration between the two of them that there was no, and would never be any sexual interest? Did that somehow make it easier to talk to her?
With Yomiko that was just sort of implied, he was certain she didn't want him and she knew he wanted Hitomi so the two of them should have no problem discussing things like that, but still it felt awkward, so he didn't want to initiate the rough conversation.
Besides, Yomiko had never been in favor of his liking Hitomi, back in Konoha she'd spoken against the match a few times.
Nao didn't know what to do really, except maybe drop the subject from his mind and go back to focusing on the park.
Was Yomiko even still there? Yes, she was . . . maybe he should say something, just not something about his problems. Ask about hers? Sure, why not?
"So Hitomi kissed me." He said.
Idiot.
"Yeah, I caught that." Yomiko grunted, "You guys were standing in the street, I'm sure Sensei saw it too."
Nao felt himself blushing, he said, "Well uh . . . what about you? Um . . . how's your love life?"
"Meh." Yomiko waved her hand lightly, "It's nothing to report really. Oh but I'm so thrilled for you."
She was being sarcastic, obviously, but Nao decided to let it go; he shouldn't have mentioned kissing Hitomi, he hadn't meant to mention it.
"You know I wouldn't give you such a hard time if I'd caught you kissing . . . gosh, whoever." Nao said, realizing that Yomiko interacted with a guy or two in their line of work, but apart from him and their Sensei, her cousin Konohamaru was the only guy she spent a great deal of time with, and Nao highly doubted there was anything going on between the two of them.
"No, you probably wouldn't." Yomiko said thoughtfully. "I guess I should lighten up on you, huh?"
"It'd be nice." Nao said. "Anyway lets not talk about this anymore, why don't we go see if Kyoko needs anything."
"Like what?" Yomiko asked, "There's nothing we can get her. There isn't exactly a card for this sort of situation. All we can do is be there for her."
"So . . ." Nao said, patting Yomiko's shoulder, "Let's go be there for her."
Shikamaru smiled when Sumiko carefully stepped down from the ramp that led from the ship, then rushed over to her mother.
Such a mama's girl.
"Did you enjoy your ride on the boat?" Temari asked.
"Ship." Sumiko corrected.
The adults laughed, and before Shikamaru or Temari could ask her if she recognized Naruto, Sumiko spotted him and said, "Ice cream!"
Shikamaru was surprised, he hadn't expected Sumiko to recognize Naruto, at least not so quickly.
He wondered if it was remotely normal for a child to have such a good memory.
Then he noticed the ice cream stand behind Naruto and raised an eyebrow.
Had she recognized Naruto as the guy who always got her ice cream or had she just spotted the ice cream stand by the dock?
Naruto seemed moved though so Shikamaru didn't say anything.
And of course Emiko wasn't far behind Sumiko. she smiled and said, "Well it seems like last evening went as you planned."
"Mostly." Shikamaru said, "The losses were pretty high."
"But you're prepared to move on soon?" Emiko asked.
"You know the answer to that." Shikamaru sighed.
Emiko smiled, "Don't worry. It's all going to work out."
"Well we'll see won't we? I'd hate for that to be the first thing you're ever wrong about." Shikamaru said, "Besides now that Naruto is back it's got to put a bit more pressure on Orochimaru."
"Yes, but I'm afraid Orochimaru has a few more tricks to put pressure on Naruto-san, and his are going to be pretty bad . . . I'm sorry, I shouldn't have blurted that out . . ." Emiko said with a frown.
"No, no . . . it's good that we know to expect something nasty from him." Naruto said, but Emiko didn't look comforted.
She said "Before we part ways I really must warn you, Shikamaru, Naruto, do not overextend yourselves; there are those who see this war as merely a prelude to the next, and they will work extensively to limit their losses and increase your own."
"Mist." Shikamaru said with a slight roll of his eyes.
"Well wait a minute, Sasuke is with Mist, he'll be able to keep them honest, right?" Naruto asked.
There came a point where naiveté became dangerous, but Shikamaru didn't want to burst Naruto's bubble just yet. After all so far it wasn't likeSasuke had actually done anything wrong.
Emiko had no such reservations, "Sasuke sees himself as a big player for the Land of Water and the Village Hidden in Mist, but my guess would be that they're using him far more than he's using them . . . worse I think they may already have what they wanted from him, he'll wont be able to control them unless he controls them."
Naruto folded his arms, "I won't let them use my best friend and just throw him away."
"You may not have a choice, Hokage-sama." Emiko said sadly, "Sometimes people are too proud to admit that they're being used, even to themselves."
Sakura looked up as Sasuke walked into her small office. I'd been a servant's room and had just a small sleeping mat and a sitting cushion. She was taking a quick break from tending to the wounded and considering catching a catnap before the inevitable war council-Ino was bound to wake her up when her break was over, she always did-but thoughts of sleep vanished when Sasuke entered her office.
He looked troubled, she wanted nothing more than to tell him to rest his head on her shoulder-no, no her chest, that'd be far more romantic-and tell her all about it.
But she didn't. She just watched him carefully and asked, "What is it?"
"Sakura . . . I want you to come with me." Sasuke said.
"Excuse me?"
Sasuke took a seat and said, "When I go with the army of Waves and the ninja of Mist, I want you with me . . . I don't have any faith in Shikamaru's ability to keep you out of danger."
"Then have faith in Naruto's, he's going to be in charge now." Sakura said.
"Don't act like you don't know Shikamaru will still be calling the shots," Sasuke said, "Naruto doesn't have the tactical ability that Shikamaru does and they both know it. Shikamaru will set Naruto up so he thinks he's making the decisions, Naruto will trust whatever Shikamaru says and I don't want to see you get hurt."
"So what, you're going to protect me, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, she didn't speak harshly but Sasuke reacted as if he'd been punched in the stomach.
"I never said that, I just said I want you to come with me. I know you can take care of yourself, but you're not an army. When Shikamaru gets Konoha's forces slaughtered I don't want you there for that . . . besides, I trust you more than anyone else, Sakura."
"What about Karin?" Sakura asked with far less tact than she'd meant to use.
Sasuke shook his head, "I don't know whose eating out of whose hand with her, whenever I think I've seized the advantage she ends up being one step ahead of me . . . she's told me a little bit about Suigetsu's plans and . . . it's impressive stuff."
Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Do you believe her?"
"Why would she lie to me?"
"To impress you?" Sakura suggested.
Sasuke shook his head, "I just . . . I feel like there are no good options, I can either march to my death with Shikamaru or keep serving with Suigetsu knowing you're probably going to get killed and I could have stopped it by bringing you with me instead of leaving you with him."
"Where is this aggression towards Shikamaru coming from anyway?" Sakura asked, "The two of you are comrades, aren't you?"
"It isn't bad enough that he lost Konoha in the first place, why did he wait four years to take it back?"
"That was Naruto's decision, Naruto said he wanted to-"
"Naruto left three years ago, I would have attacked during that time, all he did was let the enemy become entrenched. I could understand if you had all been raising a greater force but you barely increased your numbers at all!"
"What were we going to do? A lot of the families that got out of Konoha settled in Kumogakure, most of the young men who would have become ninja were either there or had been conscripted as soldiers of the Land of Fire before Konoha fell, and a lot of the young women didn't want to fight at all."
"So you make them fight!" Sasuke said angrily, "Besides, what about the ninja I was sending you? I was finding ninja and sending them to your island, I must have sent a few dozen in those four years."
"Sasuke we almost never got ninja at the island. I mean sometimes we'd get a boat of civilians, family members from Konoha, or soldiers looking for their families, we got a few ninja usually disguised because they didn't believe we were really a safe haven, maybe half mentioned you. Sasuke-kun if you were sending us dozens of ninja then most of them weren't making it to us."
Sasuke looked troubled, "But . . . what could have been happening to them?"
"Maybe they went to Lightning instead?" Sakura suggested.
"No, no, I sent them to you, the ones who wanted to go to Lightning just went to Lightning, but we had a deal worked out for boats from the land of Waves for those who wanted to go to the island."
"Well, since every ship we did get was escorted in by your friend Karin, maybe she's the one you should be asking." Sakura said, though she didn't like to think that Mist, who'd supposedly kept them safe for four years had been taking their people prisoner or something.
But a chance to diminish Karin in Sasuke's mind? Well she knew she should be able to pass that up, she just didn't want to.
Sasuke didn't say anything, he just seemed to be thinking about it.
Sakura didn't say anything either, she wasn't sure what to say next.
At length Sasuke said, "If anything happens surrender; you're too important for Orochimaru to execute. You won't gain anything by dying, if Konoha's forces are finished just surrender, and I'll rescue you."
It was an odd, almost infuriating thing to say, and yet Sakura couldn't help but feel a little flattered that Sasuke would rescue her specifically.
She didn't let it show though, instead she just said, "It won't come to that Sasuke. We're going to win this war, you'll see."
Sasuke smiled weakly, "I hope so. And I hope we win the next one too, but then I barely know who 'we' are anymore."
Sakura had nothing to say. Some days she wasn't too sure either.
Kotaro sat up in bed, it was midday and he couldn't sleep any more.
Besides, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up, something was about to-
"Kotaro . . ." A voice whispered.
Kotaro frowned, he was . . . hmm, well he actually couldn't remember how old he was, but he knew whatever the age he was too old to believe in monsters under the bed anymore. Nevertheless under the bed was where the noise was coming from.
He didn't have weapons in his room, Lord Orochimaru thought it was a bad idea . . . or something, he couldn't quite remember, but he knew that if whoever or whatever was under his bed thought he was defenseless they were wrong.
"Kotaro, are you awake?" The voice whispered again, and Kotaro gradually came to realize that the voice belonged to Kasumi.
"What do you want?" He asked irritably.
"Oh good . . . I couldn't tell when I came in if you were awake of not . . . come under the bed."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"Why?" Kotaro demanded.
"We had a bargain, didn't we? I mean I think we did . . . I promised you something, right? I have this really strong feeling like I promised to do something important for you because you did something for me."
Kotaro blinked. A girl had snuck into his room, hidden under his bed and was asking him to join her down there talking about having promised him something . . . well naturally being a young man at the age of . . . whatever the heck his age was, the first thing that came to mind was, well . . .
"Wouldn't that be easier on the bed, instead of under it?"
Kasumi didn't answer for a very long time, and she sounded very uncertain when she whispered, "I don't think that was what I promised you . . . at least I'm pretty sure it wasn't . . ."
"Oh . . . sorry . . . what was it then?" Kotaro asked.
"I think I was going to . . . I'm almost certain I was going to take you to see your dad. If I try really hard, I can remember you wanted to see him, and I can get you to him."
"Now?" Kotaro asked.
"When else? I might not remember later . . . you don't even remember now."
Kotaro certainly couldn't argue with that, and his mind was starting to feel pretty clear . . . clearer than usual anyway. He didn't know if this was some trick or some kind of mean joke, but for some reason he felt like he needed to find out.
If it was true, Kasumi might just take him to his father.
And for all Kasumi's talk of her own strong feelings, Kotaro's strong feelings told him that his father would know just what to do.
To Be Continued . . .
