A/N: Uhhh… GO CUBS! :D (Now I've alienated all the non Cubs fans who will promptly stop reading this fic… Sorry. DX I didn't have any other author's notes to add… Oh wait. I drew Isane! :D :D :D
http://ameko-shadowsong(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/66-Traps-97681591
Mm… Yeah. I dislike Mondays with little sleep. DX Enjoy.
-o-
I'd intended to simply leave my mom a note—"Going on another mission, don't worry"—but there were several fallacies in my plan.
First off, my mother was going to worry no matter what. If I'd left her a message telling her I was heading to my room to take a nap, she would panic and rush upstairs to make sure that's what I'd done.
Eiri's death had her scared.
Honestly, it had me scared, too.
The second problem was that she was actually home.
This was a surprised because she'd not seemed to like daylight in her house recently. While the sun was up, she was in someone else's home, gossiping, chatting, what have you. When the sky darkened and the air dulled, I tended to abandon the place, as she filled it with light and color and sound and people—all things I tried to avoid in my line of work.
Every once in a while, I vowed to discover where she was getting the funds for these parties, but so far, I hadn't had the heart. I was a little scared of what I'd find.
"Takara-chan, you're home!" my mother squealed with delight, burying me in her arms and skirts as if I were a small child still—or again, maybe.
"Not for long, Mom," I mumbled into her crimson ruffles, wondering how she could stand to wear such clothing. "I've got a mission and—"
"No," she said firmly, proving she could hear me despite the layers of cloth I was suffocating in. "After that poor child's death, I've decided to remove you from the Shinobi Corps. It's too dangerous for my little girl. Plus, tonight's party is for you. For your birthday." She held me out at arm's length, beaming like she'd granted my greatest wish.
I didn't know which issue to address first; it was all I could do to stop myself from crying right then. She'd probably take them for tears of joy.
"Mom," I choked around the thickness in my throat. "You can't just—take me out of the Shinobi Corps. You put me there and—I'm stuck." I wasn't sure exactly how true this was; could genin retire? But I wasn't leaving now. "And—Eiri-kun d-d—left over two months ago, Abura-kun's even out of the hospital…" After the burning of the funeral pyre, he'd collapsed, far closer to death than I'd ever been from chakra deprivation; it had taken several transfusions of chakra to even stabilize him. "—and—" Actually, I didn't know what telling her about the elapsed time would do; certainly it wouldn't comfort her. Maybe I was just trying to tell myself she knew, she wasn't crazy. "And, Mom, I'm not in danger, I'm good at hiding, and this mission's easy and—" I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, feeling water gathering on my lashes.
"Mom, my birthday's not for another six months."
The smile slid off her face to be replaced by a stern look. "Now, don't be ridiculous. We're getting you out of those nasty ranks and bringing you home." We? "And I think I know your birthday, having given birth to you, Takara. Don't contradict me."
I swallowed, lowering my eyes. "Yes, Mother. Let me—I'll go talk to my Sensei about… quitting. And I'll be home for the party. I—promise."
"Good girl," she said approvingly as I slipped out the door.
-o-
Abura had the missions details, and I had to go find him, but instead, I wandered the near-empty streets for a while, thinking. I'd taken to hiding in the shadows as I walked through my hometown: Not only was it cooler during the day, but my… association with Gaara seemed to have come into the open, and mutters tended to follow me around. I got tired of it.
I really should go find Abura. But all I could think of was my mother. For your birthday. Was she trying to distance the occasion from my father's death, or had she just deteriorated too far?
Once again, I promised to discover her monetary supply. Once again, I doubted I would really try.
I kept hearing her words, and I didn't want to. Too dangerous. For your birthday. That poor child's death. Dangerous. Child's death. Death.
This is your fault.
I ran into Chie-sensei, not looking where I was going, and dropped my hiding jutsu. She took in my solitary state and asked wryly, "Collect Abura-kun yet, Takara-chan?"
"I want to take up the sword," I said in place of an answer.
My tribute to Eiri.
-o-
Chie-sensei didn't tell me no, she told me that it was not the time to discuss it and I needed to go fetch Abura. I hoped that meant she would teach me later, because I didn't fancy teaching myself.
Where there's smoke, there's fire, as they say, so I followed the smoke to Abura. Unsurprisingly, he was burning something—wood. Surprisingly, they were distinctly… clog-shaped. As in shoes.
"Abura-kun," I said, "what are you burning?"
"Some shoes my dad sent me."
"They were made of wood?!"
"Hence why I'm burning them."
I just stared.
"Cheh. The only thing they were good for was fire," he muttered, and I thought he might have flushed, but it was probably just the flames.
"Er… Why did he give you a pair of wooden shoes?"
"For my birthday."
I frowned. Last I'd known, Abura's birthday was almost two months after mine. "It's your birthday?"
"No."
"…Oh."
I almost laughed with—what, relief? Empathy?
"Well," I said, marginally more cheerful. "My mother's holding a birthday party for me. Tonight. Want to come? We could celebrate yours, too, since your dad's not here to do it!"
He looked up at me, the ghost of a smile touching his face where one hadn't been since Eiri's death. "Cheh, I think I'll pass."
"Yeah, I'm pulling for the mission instead," I agreed brightly. "It sounds like far more fun."
-o-
We were walking back to meet Chie-sensei when it occurred to me that we were one genin short of a squad.
"Abura-kun," I ventured, "is Isane-chan coming on this mission with us?"
He snorted. "Cheh. She's a traitor. The Council can't trust her. The shinobi can't trust her. She was supposed to assassinate a Council member. She's not a shinobi of ours."
"You're forgetting that she's a—a 'traitor' to her village, not ours," I protested angrily. "She gave that mission up."
Smoky bitterness writhed in his eyes when he looked at me. "Cheh, Takara-chan, I'm not forgetting anything. Traitor once, traitor always. Cheh. Who says she's telling the truth?"
-o-
Despite this argument, I sane stood beside Chie-sensei in the center of the barren training field when we reached it. The former Kumo-nin seemed rather subdued, though her blue eyes brightened when she saw me.
This didn't make me feel any better. I was willing to bet she had a question for me, and this mission's pay said I wouldn't know how to answer it.
"Takara-chan, did you get the mission details from Abura-kun?" Chie-sensei inquired as we approached. I saluted smartly and said, "Yes, Ma'am," just to see if I could get away from it.
"Perhaps, Takara-chan, you should try telling the truth once in a while."
"Why would I want to do that?"
The jōnin crossed her arms, a smile tugging at her lips. "Why didn't you?"
"I was talking to Abura-kun about other things."
"Let us see what Abura-kun has to say to that." She turned her dark eyes on him. He snorted.
"Cheh, we talked a little. Not the whole way here."
"Way to support your teammate, Abura-kun, thanks. A great tribute to Eiri-kun that is. He was very supportive."
His expression froze on his face. I winced. There were too many wounds there that hadn't healed over enough to let me joke about it.
"Cheh, look where that got him," Abura said before I could apologize. My eyes widened.
"Enough, people," ordered Chie-sensei. "We have a mission to complete, whether or not you know the details." I hoped she wasn't going to make me help without knowing exactly what I was doing. That seemed like a Baki punishment. Also, a stupid one. "Abura, you do need to support her lies, because everyone's lives could depend on it at any given moment. And Takara, how do you expect to carry out your mission without knowing what it is?"
"With great difficulty," I admitted. "Is Isane-chan coming to help?"
The azure-haired jōnin frowned at my change of topic. "I've convinced some of the Council members that we'll never learn if we can trust her if we don't let her try."
"And I was goin' a bit crazy, just sittin' around doing nothing," the former Kumo-nin put in brightly, with only a shadow of her old vigor. "Chie-sensei got me out for a bit, Kori-chan."
Haha. Isane was going a bit crazy. I almost laughed.
