Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


I bow about forty five degrees as I step into the office. "Good day, Elder Shimura." I hold my position for the polite count of three, and then I rise. "I'm sorry for disturbing your lunch period, but-" I fall silent. I have no idea what he's thinking.

He's looking at me with a contemplative expression, his fingers steepled over his extraordinarily bare wooden table. There's no food in sight. Perhaps he doesn't eat food because he's actually the devil? I think rather hysterically. Why did I think this was a good idea? "What are you here for, Heiress Inuzuka?"

I take a deep breath, straighten my shoulders and arrange my cluttered thoughts into some semblance of order and begin. "It's come to my attention that specific noble clans in Kakunodate have been controlling the economy of Konoha's civilian district."

Danzo frowns, his heavy black eyebrows drawing together. "Which one?"

And this is the tricky part, if I don't get this right, I've made myself noticeable to him for no reason at all. Keep calm, Blossom. "The Ninth District, Elder Shimura. The rampant poverty is a scheme that the Imube Clan oversees to keep control of the civilian population there. It's in direct violation of several legal documents."

"Yoshiwara was a district signed into being by Tobirama-sama." He leans back into his chair. "The civilian nobility does have more influence there, as covered by the original charter."

It's true. But that's not what's happening exactly. "The various noble clans are allowed to own businesses inside the pleasure district as commissioned by the original charter." I flip through my papers until I find my hand copied version of the charter. "That's stated clearly, but what is also stated is that the nobility is not allowed to use slavery as a way of keeping the working population constant." I hand over my copy of the charter for his perusal. "That's stated very clearly in the second accord agreement. Slavery, be it physical, emotional, or financial has been outlawed since the days of the Shodaime."

He glances down at the relevant section, and sets the pages on his desk."And as far as we are aware there are no signs of slavery inside Yoshiwara, Inuzuka-chan."

"Not technically." I respond. "But based on personal observation," And here I hand over a list of problems inside the ninth district itself. "These various problems ought to be a priority of the Civilian Council, as that's defined in their mission statement. They are honor bound to fix these problems."

His eyebrows rise. "And what is to say that they aren't working on these issues?"

"They are encouraging the enslavement of girls and young women within the pleasure district, often colloquially referred to as the 'upper district' by not fixing the problems. This creates an situation in which the young women are financially obligated to sell themselves to various business establishments in the upper districts to support either their own lives or their family's. That's financial slavery, which is illegal in Konoha." I sigh, and my shoulders slump forward. "But it makes a lot of profit since they don't have to adhere to any sort of minimum wage either which is why the nobles clans on the Civilian Council ignore their duties as a governing body. It's not in their monetary interest to fix the living situations."

"It is in the Hokage's better interest not to offend various clans that fund the initiatives of the Tower." Danzo observes. Of course. Konoha has to rely on civilian income to survive. Even the most militant of the Hokage's Council recognizes that. It is how we keep the shinobi population fed, clothed and armored. It's how the entire economy of Konoha as a whole runs.

But I cannot let an entire district lag behind. I can't let them keep breaking the law, and use financial slavery as a way to profit.

"But I have a way to solve this issue without having the Hokage stepping into the already muddied waters." I set my shaking hands on his desk, and pray that my legs are not noticeably trembling. "Civilian law in Konoha ought to be enforced by the Civilian Council, but on the chance that the Civilian Council does not act, the matter may be taken to the Daimyo himself." I wet my lips. "I would like to volunteer for a mission to visit Kakunodate, to bring the matter to the attention of Kageyoshi Minamaru."

"So that's what you wanted." Danzo picks up one of my papers and glances down at it with a rather bemused expression. "You're a little young to be a diplomat, aren't you?" There's something far away in his eyes, something that I am unable to identify. Nostalgia? Nostalgia makes no sense though. What's it that he's remembering? What would he have to remember?

"I've already invested time and energy into the matter, Elder Shimura." I do not look at him. I want to know what he's thinking of, but I don't want to be eaten whole by the darkness, and his eyes seem to be able to read every thought inside my skull. Cousin Gaku...Cousin Gaku's life depends on staying in this man's good graces. I cannot offend him. I can't. I can't even breath near him. Oh Kami. "I would like to see it completed, and perhaps..." I stumble over my words, and I correct myself. "Perhaps the Daimyo's court will find a little shinobi less intimidating than a big one."

"A little shinobi." Danzo comments flatly. It does sound stupid, if I think about it too hard.

"I am not very old. I have no special powers." I offer. "If Hokage-sama were to write a letter about this issue it would seem that he's placing himself above the Daimyo's ruling power or incapable of dealing with the issue himself." Neither of those options are optimal. "If I were to request a meeting with the Daimyo, it would not be nearly so threatening." I take a deep breath. "If Hokage-sama would allow me to travel to Kakunodate, I could try, and if I fail it does not reflect on the Tower, merely on my clan." And that's really what I'm bargaining with-the honor of the Inuzuka name. If I fail in court it is a reflection of the typical Inuzuka lack of diplomacy, nothing more.

But it is a large thing to risk. If I am to fail-I will not think of failure now. I can worry more later should I fail in truth.

When I raise my eyes, he's smiling, slow and amused. "And yet, why should such an important task fall to you?" I am only ten years old. It is a strike against me, that is true.

"Anyone who is older and with more experience may be seen as a subtle threat." I murmur. "I am not a threatening figure." I'm really not. I'm a short ten year old, who, with the right amount of dress up, looks more like a cute kid than a shinobi. "Perhaps the Chrysanthemum Court would be more willing to listen." They would listen to my suggestions a little more than someone like Chichi or the Hokage or another famous shinobi perhaps.

I am not seeking to make the Daimyo bow to my whims, just to ask him for a favor and a child's favors are more easily granted than an adult's.

"How very astute of you." His eyes flick over to the Uchiwa on my shirt. "Your potential is wasted doing grunt work down at the military police station."

I tug at my left sleeve reflexively. "I am very fond of my job. It is-" I stumble again. "It is an important one for the prosperity of Konoha's citizens."

"Your father said the same of RnD." There is something that I am heavily unable to place in his voice now. Danzo rises and walks towards his door. "I will speak to Hiruzen, but see that you are more careful that Inuzuka Kaito."

I feel my blood cool in my veins. "I wasn't aware that Tou-san was someone you knew, Elder Shimura." Tou-san died in an accident. The reports said that he'd been caught up in an explosion...he'd make a mistake. They said it was a miracle he didn't blow up the entire ninth ward.

I suppose that's what Danzo meant. If I make a wrong move, I'd end up causing a whole lot of grief for the cleanup crews.

"Not well." He holds the door open for me to leave his office. "But he was quite well known in Research and Development." A reference to his fatal accident I guess.

Blowing yourself up does cause quite a stir, even if it is by accident.

I bow once more. "Thank you for your time, Elder Shimura. May your days be long." Not if I have anything to say about it. Your days would be short indeed if I have the power I want.

He nods absently and then I flee before he can read any frustration or anger in my features.


"Hana?" I'm interrupted from my rather abrupt flight from Danzo's office. "Hana-chan!"

I blink and my vision lands on a waving brown haired girl. Izumi? Uchiha Izumi? "Izumi-chan?" It's been ages since I've seen her. She hadn't graduated with Toku, Mu-kun, Ita-kun and I, so we haven't been moving in the same circle of acquaintances. "How have you been?" We hadn't been close in the Academy, though she'd often beat me at taijutsu then. And then I became serious, and she became second in the class, though she seemed to bear it with good grace now that I look back.

She's clearly excited to see me though. "It's been so long since I've seen you! I hear you were a part of Itachi-kun's team." She loops her arm through mine, and we head out into the street. "Tell me about everything that's happened!"

Everything...and now that I look back on the last three years that we've spent apart. "Well..." And I remember Sensei coughing up blood in the sink. Ita-kun's pale face as he recounts how he got the mangekyo sharingan, Koma-senpai's appearance at New Year's...Cousin Gaku disappearing into the morning sun. "It's been alright." There'd been happy times, but the grief and fear is easy to remember, the happy laughing memories come harder. "Did you recently graduate?" I ask, with a nod towards her hitai-ate.

If she graduated with the spring class, all they've really done so far probably, is train and take D-rank missions. A happier time. A simpler time.

I sound so jaded and old. I wonder if this is how Kakashi feels when confronted with me?

Back when I had a Sensei and teammates. A happier time. A simpler time. The thought's hysterical.

"Yeah." She smiles. "Three years after our class prodigies, but I don't think ten's too old an age." She notes the Uchiwa on my shirt though, and I can see the exact moment that she notices, because a small amount of confusion crosses her features. "Who?" She asks as she traces a finger over the stitched fan.

"Fugaku-san." I say, for her benefit because I doubt saying Chichi would elucidate the issue at all. And then I remember that I'm really on lunch break...and that I'm more than half an hour late already. "And I'm sorry, Izumi-chan, but I'm wanted down at the station."

I unhook my arm from hers and race down the street in blind panic. I've never been late before. I've only been working for all of two months. But I've never been late before.


Panic follows me as I hurry through the lobby and down to Chichi's office. I hurry through the doorway. "I'm sorry!" I bow, and in the same moment, the door slams against the opposite wall with a bang.

I wince. "I'm sorry." I whisper again, and move over to close the door. I am a ditz. It's official.

"Hana." Chichi says, his voice neither icy nor furious, just simply monotone.

I freeze, my hand on the door frame, and do not move. It is hard to believe that I am the descendant of wolves at this moment, because I feel more like a frightened rabbit than anything else. "Yes, Chichi?"

"Look at me." And now he sounds amused, but I cannot trust my ears when speaking to him.

I have to look. The bright sunlight behind him makes it hard to read his features from half a room away, but the set of his lips says that he isn't angry.

"Why are you so hasty?"

I close the door, and return to the pile of papers he's signed. It is more than an inch thicker than when I left it. I've fallen behind again. "I am late." I whisper. "And that is not fair to you." It is not fair to expect him to keep working while I wandered about without a care in the world. That's why I'm upset about being late, I realize. It's not whether or not he'd be angry with me. It's that it just isn't fair. I pull the top inch of the stack towards me, and sit down in my chair at the end his desk and begin skimming the top page.

"You are ten." Chichi's hand lands on top of the page. You are allowed to be late. I hear, but that does not excuse me. I am not entirely ten.

"I can't ignore what I've begun." I gently move his hand away from the paper. "But I did have something I wanted to tell you." Chichi inclines his head and says not a word, but he's stopped to listen. "I visited Elder Shimura today," I begin, and Chichi begins to visibly frown. "And he's going to speak to the Hokage about my trip to Kakunodate." It's only at this point that I realize that I've actually told no one about my trip, not even Suzaku-san. "It's to talk to the Daimyo about the ninth district." I clarify. "Since the civilian clans are blocking the reforms."

Chichi sets his hands on his desk. From so close to him, I can see them shaking. "Thank you." And there are paragraphs of praise in those two words, but his simple gratitude means more than entire speeches of praise.

"I haven't succeeded yet." I do not want him to have false hope. "I haven't done anything yet."

"It is not nothing." He says quietly. "How long?" How long will you be gone?

"I don't know." I set the top page onto one pile, and the second page onto the stack beside my feet. "Perhaps a month or so. It is unclear what Hokage-sama will decide."

We spend the rest of the day in silence.


I head over to the Uchiha District on Saturday, with Kiba-chan in tow. Mikoto-san had said that she wanted to see me, and thus I make time for her. At the current moment, Kiba's mumbling with Akamaru, a paint can dangling from his hands full of unmentionable objects that I am not allowed to carry.

"I'm grown up now!" He announces when I try to take it from him again. "Just like Neechan, so can carry it by myself."

I laugh and ruffle his hair. "Of course, you'll be five in July, and that's super old, you know?"

He beams at me, Akamaru hanging out of his collar. "And maybe I can even persuade Kaa-san to send me to the Academy." He sighs. "But then maybe Sasuke can't come."

"He's not going in the fall?" I frown. Is this new initiative Mikoto-san's? Or is it Chichi's? "If he isn't going, maybe you should stay behind for another year." I want Kiba to have friends in his class. I want to make sure of this because otherwise he'd be terribly bored, and not even try to succeed, and that just won't do at all.

More than that though, I want Kiba to stay a child for as long as possible. I want him to have all the fun in the world before they turn his happy smiles into fanged and angry ones. I want him to sing and dance and play and climb into my bed when thunder shakes the skies before they tell him that's not what grown up boys do. I want him to cry when he's sad before he learns shinobi rule number 25.

I want him to stay as he is for just a little while longer. For him just to be Kiba, who adores me and argues with Sasuke and dances in the spring rain, jumping through every mud puddle in sight.

"M. Maybe." He kicks a stone across the road. "Wanna go and be strong though."

"Remember what we're strong for, Kiba-chan." I take his right hand, it's not holding a paint can. "We're strong so we can protect other people." We're inside the Uchiha District, and it's not the same as the first time I was here.

An old woman waves at us on our way towards Itachi's house, and I wave back at her with my free hand. Kiba bounces up and down, and the woman covers her mouth, but I can see the laughter in her eyes. Kiba is easy to love, and he is here even more often than I am.

"But Neechan was already at Academy at my age." He whines. "And Neechan's really strong. I wanna go too."

"I'll teach you how to throw kunai when we go home." I promise him. I can't teach him chakra techniques, because that might overload his developing system. He's so much more enthusiastic and one track minded than me, but I can help him become better. I can make sure that he learns taijutsu a little earlier. I can make sure that he knows the right way to hold a kunai by the time he gets to the Academy.

"Okay!" He cheers and races on ahead. "Take that Sasuke!" Oh of course, it's at least partially about Sasuke. I'm sure it's not all about Sasuke, but being able to brag to him always makes Kiba's day.


"Mikoto-san?" I've searched through the other rooms of the house, and I am fairly certain that I've found her when I step into the kitchen. "You told Chichi that you wanted to see me?"

She turns to me with a smile from where she's piling different tea leaves on her counter. "Hana-chan!" She takes me by the hand and pulls me towards the tea leaves. "I wanted to make sure to give your Nara-sensei a present for the Bon Festival as he's been so good to apprentice Itachi-kun." She sighs. "But I don't know what his favorite flavor of tea is, and Itachi couldn't tell me to save his life."

"It's rose." I say automatically. "Sensei's favorite tea is rose. He's a hopeless romantic at heart and he loves the floral aspect of it. Barring that, Sensei loves flower teas, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, or even lily would be greatly appreciated."

"Oh that boy." Mikoto-san laughs. "Itachi could only tell me that his shishou's favorite tea might be brown."

And that is funny, because Sensei's never made it a secret that he loves flower teas more than any traditional flavorings. "Sensei loves flower teas because he married a flower girl." I prop my head up on my hands on the counter and sigh. If only I could solve every problem as easily as I solve crises about tea flavors.

"Nara Kihona-san, right?" And it's only now that I remember that Mikoto-san has some sort of history with Kiho-baachan regarding Tou-san.

"Mikoto-san?" I begin. "What happened between you, Kiho-baachan, and Tou-san?"

Her hands freeze. "It's a very long story, Hana-chan." She sits down on a chair by the counter top and sweeps the dried rose petals back into a porcelain holder. "And things have become muddied since." She sets the container down on the counter and turns to face me. "I won't deny that I was angry with your Otou-san, but it was for different reasons that Kihona might have thought."

I consider it. Mikoto-san doesn't seem like the type of woman to behave snobbishly just because Tou-san was born in a different country. "I still want to know about it."

She smiles. "Of course you do." Her eyes have a far away look to them. "It was nearly a lifetime ago when I met your baasan, Kosshi. Fugaku brought her home, actually." She giggles. "He made a new friend you see, and they were on the same team. I had to persuade him to introduce us."

"So that's what happened." It doesn't explain anything that might've happened later, but the thought that Chichi walking home with Kosshi-baasan is strange enough by itself. "How were they friends?" There's not much alike about them at all really, and yet, Chichi had kept pictures of her and Kouga-jisan for over twenty years.

"I couldn't tell you, Hana-chan. I can only tell you that Kosshi was much stronger than practically everyone we knew." She starts cleaning the other tea leaves off the counter as well. "We were the best of friends." She sets another pot on the counter and sighs deeply. "That's why it was such a big deal when her baby sister eloped with a boy nearly three years older than her at only sixteen."

Seeing it from that perspective, it did seem rather unconventional. "They were very happy with each other." They were always happy with each other. They stood together through everything.

"It was still quite a scare." Mikoto-san sets the last pot of tea on the counter. "The clan elders were about to disown Tsume-chan. I'm afraid I exchanged some very heated words with your father."

"And Kiho-baachan overheard." That sounds like a long time to carry a grudge. Oh, but who am I kidding? She's the Vicious Hag to Sensei's Waste of Space, and Sensei is the Emperor of Grudge Holding, so Kiho-baachan must be at least the Empress. They chose each other to live with, despite the many, many people that they could have married.

"I meant to hurt him." Mikoto-san admits. "I was so angry at how easily he jeopardized everything-Kosshi's hold over the clan, Tsume's place in it, everything was crashing down, and he was at the center of it all."

"I'm sure he forgives you." There's a sense of guilt in the air. It must be a topic close to her heart for her to have carried it for twelve long years. "Tou-san is a very forgiving man."

"He was." She brightens as she puts the tea leaves away in a cupboard. "Now, let's talk of happier topics shall we? What's the funniest thing that's happened to you this week?"

I think back. "I judged a race for a scarecrow and a green beast?" And then Kakashi had scolded me and made food...he made food. For the two of us. He's never done that before. And if food is home, was he trying to tell me that I could call him home? The thought warms me a little more. He's so frustrating when I'm talking to him that most of the time I don't notice all of his little gestures.

I will have to thank him.

"Oh?" Mikoto-san leans forward. "You look rather happy and frustrated at the same time, Hana-chan." She taps her chin with a finger as she moves around the kitchen. "Now, I know the green beast must be Maito Gai-kun, but he inspires horror in girls your age...that leaves..." She smiles brightly at me. "The scarecrow, which must be Hatake Kakashi-kun."

"He's a better cook and he's prettier than me." I moan. "It isn't fair that he's a prodigy, and he's a cooking genius, and he's pretty." My hands have gotten more agitated as I continue speaking. "And he's irritating and late but no one ever cares, and he reads porn in public and never identifies the right way to understand flowers and he's going to get himself killed before he turns twenty five and-" I bury my face in my hand. "And I don't want that to happen."

"Hmmm." Mikoto-san pauses to think about it. "I can teach you to be a better cook than him, and then perhaps he'd stay alive to eat your food." That's a more hopeful thought than anything I've heard about Kakashi in a long time.

"You aren't going to ask if I have a crush on him?" This is the first time that someone's listened to me rant about Kakashi and didn't come up with the idea that I might just be crushing on him. Although...now that I think about it, it's only ever been Inoichi-san who thinks that I have a little girl crush on Hatake Kakashi.

"It's clear that you don't." Mikoto-san flips her hair over her shoulder. "I've been a girl, and that's not what I see in you. You care a great deal about him. It's not a superficial feeling, which excludes it from being a crush, but neither is it romantic love." She shrugs. "You've been speaking to Yamanaka Inoichi, haven't you?"

"How did you know?" It's almost like she's lifted the thought straight from my mind.

Mikoto-san giggles, the sound clear and sweet. "He's always reading too much into things, always seeing romances everywhere. He's been like that ever since he was a little boy."

"I'll take you up on the cooking lessons." I slide off my chair and join her at the sink. "Kaa-san can't cook anything. She burnt cake made from cake mix with instructions once." I confess as I watch Mikoto-san wash radishes.

"That sounds so much like Tsume-chan." She covers her smile with a sleeve. "Don't worry. I don't burn cake, even when I don't use cake mix."

The thought of prim and proper Mikoto-san using something as mundane as cake mix to make her desserts is so funny that I have to laugh.


A.N. Something's up about Danzo, Uchiha Izumi reappears, Kiba is a bouncing 'grown up', Fugaku is himself, which is surprisingly more forgiving than everyone gives him credit for, and Mikoto-san is a human being.

Also, Song Rec: Dessa's 551 is seriously awesome. Anything by Dessa is great.

Thank you so much to AnimeFreak71777 (:P), worldtravellingfly (Kakashi is according to the anime, a good cook, so I took the idea and ran with it.), Sazaleli (I'm taking chem too! I dislike it a great deal.), CannabalisticApple (It was interesting, especially since there's a rather large fact Hana has no idea about regarding Danzo.), Roselyn Fey (Well, she's talking to him about something that she wants, but can't get easily. It's not the same thing as showing off how she can explode things in front of him.), WhiteFang001 (The Explosion Release won't come easily. It's been hard for her before, it's going to continue being difficult just because it can. That and she doesn't have anyone to teach her about it.), CasJeanne (Hana is on occasion, stupid.), Wingalzk (Well, she's not fighting with him exactly, at least, that's how she justifies it. It is fairly idiot-like though.), Shy911, Yuki Suou (Oh yes. Dei-kun is adorable.), OddShadow (Kakashi is...well, he's something right now.), LittleMissSugarLess, hasan9206 (Yep! It's going to be a wild ride.), Cooked Ghost (Well, I mean, technically, the spiders still explode, but yeah, our favorite little explosive expert didn't entirely think his plan through...like tell Hana, hey, Leafy, those have things in them.), Zeru'Xil, (I feel like he might've, but whatever he's feeling during this exchange, it's not guilt.), Sis (Oh gosh, you know so much random plot already...), and 2 (Kakunodate is the capital of fire country so this is an arc about civilian nobility and the capital, and as for Kakashi...well his POV is always difficult, but there are several more in planning for Ashen.) for reviewing!

And for everyone who favorited and followed!

~Tavina.