AN

youtu{dot}be/PirVtiJuvDs

So.

Been a while!
(For future context: There was a several year gap between this chapter and the last one.)

Lot's happened between previous chapter and now, and while I obviously wasn't dead (There is another story on this account I've been working on whose words flowed better, after all), I'm certain the folks who preferred this story would at least like an explanation for its delay.

Concisely: The words stopped flowing. I hit one tiny roadblock - that I should've concluded the minor Akane plot in the last chapter as opposed to stretching it out another -and it pretty much arrested everything else. I shit you not, figuring out the timing of that specific conclusion - whether or not I'd merge it with the Wedding chapter or make it its own beast - killed this story for that long.
And as days turned to weeks turned to months, I began feeling a little anxious, thinking I had to make the chapter all the better to compensate for the delay, which only further hindered it, landing us where we are now.

And yes, I am ashamed.

But I've been getting the itch to play with physical gods as opposed to metaphysical ones (The RWBY fic I was playing with in the meantime was a proving grounds for a lot of the ideas I have regarding magic for an original setting, as is this one for superpowers.), so I came back here and stared at a screen until I came to a conclusion.

And I made one:

This chapter, this one here, it'll finish the pre-wedding arc. It may be criminally short as a result, but the next chapter - which I already have written and will go up in two days - should make up for it, as it will finally get Hibiki and Dai hitched, and will lay the barest foundations for what comes next.

Following that, we'll be kicking off the final quarter of this story. And while that may make it sound like things are going to be wrapping up soon, consider the length of the story thus far. We've still got quite a road ahead. I won't spoil things, but considering the delay we all just went through, I figure I'll give you a little something: Among the things I have planned are a timeskip or two, our boys and girls aging up, getting promoted, some Canon Kids making appearances (perhaps in the form of our boys and girls getting teams), the formal introduction of Teague Hast and Ame's role going forward, and of course: Babies. ('Cause Hibiki and Dai may not be too lucky there, but damn near everyone else we've grown to know and love are all but predestined to start spawning, and soon.)

And all of that is pretty much for the next major arc or two, of which I predict four or five more (not including minor ones) before the story hits its conclusion. Maybe more, maybe less - it all depends on how the dice roll and the characters react.

And as an aside, I may have mentioned this before, but I've been entertaining the idea of making an 'Illimitable side stories'... Story, to tell plots that don't have any/much effect on or place in the main story, but I thought would be fun regardless. Among the ideas I've had float around are telling the story of Hamura, following him through World War 3 from the beginning of his Loop to his last encounter with the Hibiki that closed it, a huge reference to 'Hangover' chronicling Hibiki and Minato's drunken adventure through the tesseract, and the origins of the various Undead. One could call these the equivalent to the various Naruto/Dragonball movies out there: Cool as supplemental material, could be fit into canon if one wished and worked for it, but otherwise were mostly just made for fun, aren't meant to be taken totally seriously.

Aaaaaaaaaand that's all, folks.

'Till next time!

Chapter 94

There were two phrases Hibiki Senju said frequently in regards to describing something he was skilled in, and it had taken his fiance some time to figure out that there was, actually, a difference between the two, and both applied to the situation she found herself in at the moment. The first, and what he liked to use a bit more often than the other, was to say that he had something 'down to a science', which implied that he had done something, over and over and over, endlessly, until he'd learned the absolute perfect way to do so, every single time. The other was when he said he had something 'down to an art form', which meant that what he did may not be perfect, but it worked well enough to overlook its flaws, and arguably be even greater for it.

Dai equated both to information gathering. Taking information and learning secrets was something she and her team had developed into a science. Whether they were working together or apart, any one of them could learn anything that was required of them, especially if it was something they weren't supposed to. Much like how the current Hokage had drilled his squad endlessly into refining their combat techniques such that, alone, they would be mighty, and together, they would be absolutely unstoppable, so did her sensei do the same to her squad in the realm of information retrieval. More than once, Dai had found herself wondering if, had Eiji not died, he and Dante would have made efforts to combine the teams, in a manner of speaking, such that Team Eiji would retrieve the information, and Team Dante would act upon it, creating such an efficient system of information retrieval and shock-and-awe that they could do the work of entire armies with only six people.

But, then there was the art of doing so. That was the more difficult of the two, because where taking secrets from the witless was a science, taking them from those trained in information warfare, was the exact opposite. It required an entirely different technique, one far more difficult and less predictable than its 'science' counterpart. Akane was an example of this - she had the exact same training and experiences that Dai had, and that meant not only did she know exactly how to dance around an interrogator or retrieval expert's advances, but she also knew all of Dai's tells, all of her techniques. Fortunately for her, very few of these techniques involved the most dangerous method of information retrieval: The direct approach.

Often considered suicidal simply because of the situations and environments IR-specialists found themselves in, and how ill-suited they would be for dealing with anywhere from dozens to hundreds of shinobi at any given moment, the direct approach was often something reserved for a situation in which chaos in the ranks was the only means with which an IR-specialist could do their job. Dai, however, had long since learned that when dealing with a person trained in information retrieval, the direct approach was the only one that could reliably work, simply because the person she would have to match wits with, would be put so off guard by a blatant attempt at gathering their secrets, that all she would have to do would be to push, for as long as it took. She just needed the right moment, and that was where Kushina came in.

Though the Uzumaki wasn't aware that Dai's intention from the beginning had been to use her as the scapegoat she needed to get Akane out of her compound, letting the redhead in on the fact that something was wrong with her was all the both of them needed. Dai needed a certain combination of energy and tenderness that Tsume Inuzuka was, frankly, incapable of. Tsume saw her close friends as members of her pack, and she treated them as such, adopting a tough love and brutal honesty approach. An Uzumaki, however, saw everyone in their close circle, and everyone who associated with that circle, as family first, and everything else second, and loved them all equally and with everything they had. Kushina was no exception - if anything, she was the greatest example, due to the tragedies she had suffered throughout her life. Kushina had a gravitas, an endless pit of loudness and energy, that would lower Akane's guard as the Hyuga matron-to-be would allow herself to be swept up in it, but also a caring compassion to know when was the time to exude that energy, when was the time to slip away to give Dai a few minutes to press the metaphorical attack, and when, if needed, it would be to return to keep Akane off balance.

So Dai allowed Kushina to take the reigns, practically dragging two thirds of Team Eiji by the hand to her favorite formal shops. She listened with her usual neutral smile and allowed the boisterous Uzumaki to talk their heads off, to practically throw clothes at Dai and Akane, the former in an effort to decide what she'd be wearing for her wedding day, the latter, in her own words:

"Because I've never seen a Hyuga in anything but your robes!" She said, rushing off to a back section of the shop, a fire in her eyes as they locked onto pants, loose shirts, and that Dai's beetles could smell leather outfits over there probably wasn't coincidental.

Akane merely watched as the Uzumaki zoomed off in a blur of red, leaving her no room to get a word in edge-wise.

To break the silence that had grown before it had a chance to settle, Dai spoke, "sometimes I dream of what a village of her must have been like." She said, "a terrifying prospect... Would anyone sleep in such a village? Or is the punchline that they are silent lovers?" Akane's grin told her it was working, to which Dai delivered the killing blow. "I will have to ask Minato." Akane scoffed, a light smile wrinkling her face; knowing that was all she would get, Dai hummed, then, "so tell me, Akane. Does Hiashi hit you?"

Akane blinked, her smile straightening out, her eyes opening wide, unblinking, her guard shattered.

"I'm -"

"Or does he belittle you?"

Akane's face stiffened, Dai's beetles informing her of a quiver to her heartbeat, a slight dilation to her blood vessels. She was in shock.

"I ask because I have noticed something different to you these last months. Separated from battle fatigue and the stress of our job." She explained, "I am worried for you. If it is Hiashi, such a problem can be dealt with summarily." She paused, "but I worry this involves him, but is not caused by any action or inaction on his part." Dai briefly cast her glance in Kushina's direction, where one could see a practical twister of clothing flying into the air as she pulled dress after dress from shelves, rapidly approaching holding her bodyweight in fabrics, all precariously balanced on one shoulder. "So please..." A beat, "give me a day he's free, I've not truly been able to watch my husband-to-be fight since our first exams." She smiled.

Akane let out a long sigh, the corner of her lip quivering up and down, struggling between smiling at Dai's jab, and being overcome by whatever it was plaguing her mind. "Is Kushina here as an ultimatum?" She asked, now sharing her smile.

Dai hummed, "I thought if I could not get you to speak yourself, I would unleash her. You may be able to weather me, but I do not think there is a force on this earth that can weather her." Even Minato - the man who had tamed her - would blanch at the prospect. Kushina was unstoppable.

The Hyuga woman shook her head, "I..." Her words stuck in her throat, "it is not an issue, Dai. Nor is it a problem... Not truly."

Dai stared at her, eyebrow arced expectantly. "Do not lie to me, Akane... I do not want to be wrong in my response to this situation." She warned, before softening her approach with, "I worry for you." She stressed. "You have spoken with hesitation about your marriage. You have asked questions that concern me... I have been led to one conclusion, a worrisome one, but one I also suspect cannot be entirely correct." She pushed, placing her hand on Akane's thin shoulder. "What is ailing you, Akane? Please tell me. Without sensei, we three are all we have... And I cannot ignore that which I plainly see."

Akane pursed her lips, pale white eyes breaking contact with Dai's hidden amber orbs and lowering to the ground as she lost herself in thought. "He does not hit me, Dai-san." She said, slowly. "He is the model of a Hyuga. He does nothing untoward, he speaks to me and treats me with respect... And that is all, I assure you."

Dai hid her frown behind her normal stoicism, "then why do you seem so forlorn?" She asked, "why is it I am left with suspicions of foul play when we speak in private?" She pressed. "Akane, if anything is happening to you, even if I cannot help I want to know. I do not want you to bear burdens unnecessarily." A speech she knew practically by heart, with how often she'd said it to someone much different.

"Nothing is happening, Dai-san." Akane stressed, her eyes flicking up to check on where Kushina was. "It... I..." She struggled. "Hiashi has fought for me to be his wife." She began, "he struggled against our clan for several years before they finally broke... He did so much, I worry that I cannot -" She stuttered, "that I am not..." Her breath caught in her chest, the Hyuga matron-to-be turned to Dai, "can we please have this discussion elsewhere?" She asked, cutting herself off.

Dai shook her head - it killed her to do it, but keeping Akane on the defensive was the best way to get her to put all of this out in the open. She had to keep her off balance, she had to keep her feeling awkward and naked, she needed to keep her in the public and to keep Kushina near them so she would never feel safe enough to find her footing, so to speak. "It happens now, Akane, while I have you away from him, or I must be forced to conclude he is hurting you." And they both knew what she was willing to do in the face of that.

Akane let out a shudder of a sigh, but was saved from speaking when Kushina arrived and dumped a mountain of dresses taller than she was in front of them. As she'd planned, Dai nodded at the dresses, placing her hands in the pockets of her jacket and allowing Kushina to round the pile, a proud smile on her face.

The moment Kushina opened her mouth, however, Dai said, "Kushina, do you know my measurements?"

Dai had never seen the wind get taken out of someone's sails so fast, as the red-headed Uzumaki practically went limp, eyes going wide as she realized, in her excitement, she hadn't even adequately prepared. She looked from Dai, to the pile, then back to Dai, who stared at her blankly. With a trembling lower lip, the Uzumaki scooped the clothes back up and went to return them, so she could hunt down a measuring tape.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Dai still got a little enjoyment out of it. There was a certain charm to Kushina, to her people, that made Dai consider how much of a tremendous shame it was that the whirlpool village had been destroyed.

Shaking her head and pushing her amusement out with a light sigh, Dai turned back to Akane. "I know he is smarter than that." She explained, "I know he is a better man than that... But what I do not know is the facts of the situation. If you do not tell me what ails you, Akane, if you do not offer me the chance to help you, the only conclusion I can make is that you are too scared to." She trailed off, "I will have to place matters into my fiance's hands." Another tactic that burned her soul, but also the one she knew would be the best capable of getting her results - invoking Hibiki challenging Hiashi. Everyone knew how emotional Hibiki was, and even if that may change with his recent operation, what wouldn't change would be his loyalty and devotion to his friends. If Dai told Hibiki that she suspected Hiashi was hitting Akane, and that Akane was too scared to say anything, in less than an hour Hibiki would have a hit-squad knocking down Hiashi's door, and since Akane knew this, she also knew that the only way to avoid this was to tell the truth.

Akane lowered her head, a conflicted, sorrowed expression on her face. "Eiji-Sensei taught us well." She murmured, "Dai-san... I am not lying." She said, "Hiashi does not hit me... He does not hurt me in any way." She gulped, "the problem lay in me." She explained, "he made many promises to our elders in arguing for me... Promises I truly fear I cannot keep." Dai didn't notice the briefest shift of Akane's arms closer to her stomach, leading her to wonder if the problem between Hiashi and their elders hadn't boiled down to one of lineage. "I worry I cannot be what he thinks I am... But... That I can handle." She finally pushed out, "I have nothing from you, from Aoi-san, and Tsume-sama, if I have not learned to care not for the considerations of elderly men whose minds are stuck in the Warring States.

"But -" She struggled to find the right words, "but it makes me think. I see you and Hibiki-san... I see Minato-san and Kushina-san... The way they look at each other, how they look different when they see their betrothed enter the room... I even see the same in Fugaku and Mikoto-san... But I no longer feel in me, what I see in all of you." She said, "I... Do not see the same in Hiashi, as I do in all of you... I..." She struggled, Dai sensed her clenching her hands together tightly underneath the baggy arms of her robes. "Wonder if I am making a mistake. One that I cannot un-make."

Dai took in a deep breath, and let it out, her mind instantly locking on to what was happening. It wasn't Hiashi's fault - at least, not directly. Akane was chafing underneath her clan's cultural traditions: One's problems were their own. So unlike Dai and her husband-to-be, to whom communication was largely the reason they were even together in the first place, Akane, like the rest of her clan, kept her problems to herself, and talked to no one, instead deigning to work them out herself, or just bury them under tradition, and since Hiashi was, by nature of his station, the quintessential Hyuga for the most part, that meant he was much the same: If Akane said nothing to him, he assumed nothing. This explained to Dai why Hiashi appeared to be blindsided by her earlier confrontation, and also how she could effectively go about solving this problem.

But, Dai didn't act just yet. She needed more information, she needed to confirm her theory first.

"Akane..." Dai began, "I feel you are putting yourself at a disadvantage. You are comparing yourself to people who evolved in different cultures. Hibiki, Minato and Kushina-san, they come from families and worlds where propriety has a much different definition than your clan." She explained, "your clan chooses to keep their emotions to themselves, at all times, invariably... It is one of the reasons so many of your people get along so well with so many of mine." A beat, as she bit her tongue, and then corrected herself, "my former clan. Everyone loves differently, everyone experiences it differently. You comparing yourself to us is like comparing water to wine."

"But I did feel something once." Akane whispered, now turning to face Dai, who noticed the girl was putting up a valiant effort to keep everything under control, from her facial expression, to her voice, to her moistening tear ducts.

"Then allow me to ask... Has he spent less time with you?" Akane shook her head, "does he speak less?" She shook her head again, "do you love him?"

Akane blinked, "I..." She hesitated. "I do." She nodded, slowly.

Dai wasn't entirely sure, but she suspected she knew why. Akane and Hiashi's relationship was beginning to settle down. It wasn't 'new' or 'exciting' anymore, and the inner-clan drama had ended, and as such the 'forbidden' aspect was gone and away, too. Akane was coming down off of all of those emotional highs, and was beginning to take stock and really look at things, and was beginning to second guess things. Hibiki called it the 'honeymoon phase,' and for Akane, it had ended, and because of the way her clan's culture worked, she felt compelled not to talk about the questions she was having now that it had. The problem for Dai was that she couldn't necessarily say these things - even for her usual bluntness, such things would be a little too much.

At least this was a problem Dai might actually be able to solve, and as she sensed Kushina talking the poor store clerk's ear off, she nodded and squeezed Akane's shoulder. "Then you need to talk to him." She said, "because I think he loves you too." She couldn't claim to know this for a fact, but the man had, in his own way, become incredibly defensive when Dai had confronted him about Akane, and then had shown concern about the issue. That told Dai that he at least cared about her, and with how he had fought for Akane and not whomever the clan had picked for him, she was willing to hedge her bets on him even loving her - in that reserved, cool way unique to the Hyuga. "I suspect the issue is simply one of passion." She said, as carefully as she could. "And that is not a problem easily solved... But it is one that can be worked on, as long as you two speak. Tell him what occupies your thoughts. If he is to be your husband, a better relationship will it be if you two are open to each other." She explained, "take time to yourselves now that your war is over to examine the two of you. To define terms." She said, borrowing one of her favorite of her fiance's phrases.

Akane turned away from Dai, looking back down at the ground in front of them and thinking. "Okay." She shut her eyes and nodded.

Dai felt relief wash over her, replacing the great weight of worry with the minor ache of anxiety, as now she replaced worrying for Akane's safety for being anxious as to the outcome of her discussions with her own fiance.

"Dai-san?" Akane asked, as Kushina finally realized why she was here, snatched the measuring tape from the clerk, and rushed back to the two of them.

"Hm?"

"Would you really have unleashed Hibiki, if Hiashi had been hurting me?" She asked, coyly, the ghost of a smirk on her face, as she switched the gears of the conversation.

Dai scoffed, "I would have told him, yes." She said, "but he wouldn't have even been at the front of the line. There would have been many waiting for their turn to make Hiashi acquainted with the pain of death before he would step foot in the house."

Akane let out a soft, musical laugh, a tear in one of her eyes as she shook her head as Kushina exploded out from in between the racks of clothes.

"Okay, now let's actually get to work!"

With the hardest part of the day done and finished, Dai was able to enjoy herself - and that primarily came in the form of her deciding she liked the first dress Kushina picked out, and watching the Uzumaki grow despondent over the loads and loads of dresses, kimonos, and other outfits that Dai had, in her eyes, skipped entirely. Of course this didn't stop Kushina, and as was her custom, she rebounded faster than lightning struck, and in seconds had her two shopping companions convinced that, even though, yes, they'd already had their wedding outfits picked out, that didn't stop them from 'trying out other ones, for fun, you know?'

Dai let her have her moment before she immediately turned it back around on her and insinuated that it was because she was attracted to the two of them and just wanted to see them in clothing more sensual than their usual attire - and used as proof the no less than eight dresses with no backs and no shoulders that the Uzumaki had picked up. Watching Kushina go red-faced and sputter, and seeing Akane turn her head to hide her blush and her efforts to resist a smile amused her to no end. Beyond harassing her friends though, Dai did have fun. Akane and Kushina looked beautiful no matter what they put on - from traditional kimonos to more modern dresses - and they shared the opinion when Dai humored them and put on dresses herself. It felt nice, though she regretted the pretenses upon which this day had been executed, as that had meant she'd excluded Aoi from the proceedings, the fact of which she decided to rectify by allowing the Inuzuka to be the only one beyond Kushina and Akane to see her dress before the wedding.

But, when the day was done, and her dress was purchased and vacuum-sealed and then stored in a storage scroll, Kushina dragged the three of them to dinner at her favorite ramen shop - one she insisted Hibiki had promised he would buy her. Once they had eaten their fill of cheap food, and as the sun began setting, they returned to the Hyuga compound. The gate guards let them in without so much as a second glance, thanks to the presence of their lady-to-be among them.

As they approached Hiashi and Akane's house, Dai caught Kushina's attention, and with a brief look to Akane at the head of their pack, and then a nod, Kushina got the gist of what she wanted to have happen. When they reached Akane's new home, and Hiashi allowed them entry, Kushina instantly took charge - and loudly, at that. She convinced Akane to show her their kitchen, espousing of the number of utility seals she knew and carrying on about how none of her or Hibiki's squadmates let her ink their houses - so Akane had to! It would help so much with the cleaning of however they chose to celebrate before and after their wedding.

Dai knew that Akane knew what was going on. She knew that, after their conversation, Akane had instantly put the pieces together and had realized that Kushina's first 'accidental' separation from Dai was just as 'accidental' as this one, and similarly knew the purpose of both 'unintentional' moments of privacy with the new Head of the Hyuga, but Akane respected her enough to not call her out on it, just as Dai respected her enough to not drop the pretenses. Once Kushina had forced the Hyuga matron-to-be to guide her to their kitchen, Hiashi's stony expression turned to the same steel it had been during their last encounter, and he met Dai's hooded gaze.

"So?" He asked.

Dai had considered letting him simmer a moment, but had decided against it, in the end. While Hiashi hadn't helped matters, none of it was really his fault, so there was no point in toying with him. She nodded once, "I am glad to know I was correct." She said, coolly. "And I apologize for suspecting you in the first place."

To her immense relief, Hiashi blinked slowly and let out a long, steadying sigh, before he shook his head once, "you had the right." He said, "but I must know what is wrong with her."

"I will not breach her trust." Dai responded, grateful grateful for Hiashi's display - it told her everything she needed to know. "What I will say, however, is that in marrying her, in resisting your clan's initial choice for your wife, you have set a precedent for going against tradition. I would advise... And request... That you continue that precedent." It did occur to her that it could of course be a well-rehearsed act, but the entire issue was predicated on the Hyuga clan's emotional stoicism - when in doubt, that was to what they defaulted. Exceptions were rare. A tactical display of emotion wasn't in their repertoire, and with what she had learned from Akane, she was further willing to believe that Hiashi's display there hadn't just been genuine, but had indeed been a moment of weakness brought on from being relieved of concern for his wife to be. The man really did care, in his own way.

Hiashi frowned, "how so?"

"Talk to her." Dai answered, "and not just when she speaks to you, and not just of what she speaks to you. Communicate with her, ask her questions and help her where she needs it."

Hiashi regarded her for a long moment, before nodding. "I see." He said, likely aligning himself with Dai's train of thought and realizing that what ailed Akane was an issue of emotion, of mental wounds and anxieties, more than anything else. "Thank you." He said, masking his internal thoughts with a polite bow.

Of course, Dai saw through it, and knew from the rigidity of his posture and the stiffness of his bow that he was internally struggling with just how he would work with such an issue; It simply wasn't a problem his clan often dealt with. "Of course." Dai said, reciprocating with a bow of her own, "and I doubt it needs saying, but treat her right. I promise you Hibiki would be the least of your worries if I had to return under similar circumstances."

At this, Hiashi grinned. "Of that, I have no doubt." He said, straightening back up, his expression telling Dai he appreciated the momentary shift she had provided him into something he was more familiar with: Politics and battle.

Their visit only lasted a few more minutes, during which Dai confirmed the date and details of the wedding to the two Hyuga and Kushina promised to whip them up some utility seals for them to try. Akane and Dai shared a knowing look and a single nod as the latter left with her Uzumaki in tow, and upon leaving the Hyuga compound, Kushina wasted no time in confronting Dai, her great blue eyes wide with concern as she dipped into their shared, dead language.

"Is Akane okay?" She grunted, appearing to be physically restraining herself from grabbing Dai's arms while she asked, if the shaking of her own arms and the clenched hands in front of her chest were any indication.

Dai, though exasperated at the fact that Kushina didn't have the patience to wait until they were out of range of the compound before speaking to her, was at least thankful that Kushina had had the wherewithall to speak a language none of the Hyuga understood.

She shook her head, "no." She said, "but she will be." She explained, "problem is not husband." She summarized, miming a slapping motion.

This caused Kushina to gasp, "you thought -" She stuttered, "I - I didn't -"

Dai cut her off, saying, "Akane keep secrets well. I almost did notice not. It is okay." She assuaged, hands in her pockets as they grew ever further from the compound.

Kushina's lip quivered, and she repeated, "Akane will be okay?"

And Dai nodded, "will need time. Will have to..." She didn't know how to say 'follow up' in English, and after a moment's consideration, said, "ask again. Later."

The Uzumaki still looked worried, but she nodded, and after casting a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the Hyuga compound, let out a long, steadying sigh. "So... Home, next?"

"Unfortunately, Kushina-san, we part ways now." Dai responded, "I must fetch my fiance. Left with Tsume and Aoi in case was right, and husband was mad." She said, deciding Kushina deserved an explanation.

Kushina's eyes grew wide, as she was confronted with how poorly Dai had been ready for things to turn out, and no doubt her mind was flooded with images of Hibiki rampaging through the Hyuga compound for any number of reasons. She, just as Dai, quickly became thankful that things had turned out so well, so to speak, for even with her limited political knowledge she knew that Hibiki doing as Hibiki does to Hiashi in response to what Dai suspected he had been doing to Akane, and what the Hyuga likely would have done to Dai herself if she had been right, would not have turned out well.

She nodded once, and then said, "so... I'll see you at the wedding?" She asked, with a tentative nod.

Dai suppressed a grin, "implying you intend to avoid us, your neighbors, until then?"

Kushina blinked, "no, no! I mean - uh, I -" She sputtered, "you know what I mean, you know!" She growled, teeth gritted when it clicked in her that Dai was messing with her.

Dai simply allowed a thin grin to play on her features, and nodded under her hood. "I shall see you again, Kushina-san." She said, before the two parted ways.

Now left alone, Dai took her time, walking leisurely through the village, taking the familiar roads and routes until the air began to hang heavy with the smell of dog fur, and rang with the sounds of wild shinobi yelling and making hearty and their ninken howling alongside them. The Inuzuka compound was, to her, just as familiar as her former home in the Aburame compound, and the path to Tsume's home was one she knew well - having tread it so often alongside Aoi.

Reaching it, she didn't bother knocking on the door - sometimes still able to hear the savage kunoichi screaming that the only reason she had a door was because her clan wanted one for security reasons. As far as she cared, Dai and Aoi were part of her pack, so they didn't need to knock on the door she never locked.

Opening the door, Dai paused just under the frame, beholding a rather unusual sight in Tsume's living room. She saw Aoi - the first one among them to perk up and look in her direction when her shadows danced across the cracks in the door and her scent drifted inwards - applying some sort of lotion to a pained-looking Kyo's ears, she saw Kuromaru, dutifully sitting sentry-like next to his master, but leaning away and wincing his one eye in mild pain and discomfort, and then she saw Hibiki and Tsume themselves. Hibiki was shirtless, standing on one side of the room with his arms held out wide in a 'come at me!' fashion, displaying the many storage seals he'd inked onto his flesh and the many scars he'd collected over the years, his coat and shirt hanging over the back of Tsume's couch, while Tsume, standing on the other side of the room, had in one hand a bottle of alcohol, and in the other, one of Hibiki's pistols, pointed right at him, a savage, toothy-grin on her face, that only faltered when the both of them turned their gazes to the new arrival.

There was silence for a moment, as Dai pondered how things had progressed to this point, her squadmate looked relieved that she was able to get away from the noise, the clan head wondered how she would explain it, and her fiance shifted his gaze from Dai, to Tsume, and then back to Dai, before saying, "I'm cheating on you."

This caused Tsume to burst out in to laughter, and Dai focused on him, responding without delay, "Hibiki, could you not have informed me this morning? I was with Kushina and Akane all day. They would not have held out." This made Tsume double over, howling, Aoi bit her lip and turned away, and Hibiki rolled his eyes, before, in the blink of an eye, his clothes were back on and, with a brief flourish, his pistol was back where it belonged.

"I fucking knew it!" Tsume barked, in between howls of laughter and deep breaths. "I fucking knew it!" As she pushed herself to her feet, Dai noticed that both her and Hibiki's ears were bleeding, and there was a hoarseness to Tsume's voice. Just how loud had they been shouting?

Aoi got to her feet, patting Kyo in between the ears, "pick out a nice dress?" She asked.

"It turned out better than I could have hoped for." Dai responded, making brief eye contact with her teammate as she nodded.

Aoi deflated, letting out a thankful sigh. "I am glad." She said, as Tsume crossed over to Hibiki and gripped one of his shoulders.

"Alright, so maybe you're not that much of a bitch!" She said, pushing her bottle into his hands, which he accepted with an amused expression. "But you're still not good enough for her, and her team is too proper to say it, so I will - you treat her wrong, get her hurt, and we'll find out how many times your cock can regenerate before you run out of chakra!"

"Tsume-san, you didn't specify if it would be you or Kuromaru doing the gelding." Dai pointed out.

Tsume shoved off of Hibiki - her hound right at her side to steady her as she stumbled a bit, and with rosy cheeks and a savage grin she pointed at Dai and said, "yes!" Before, with Kuromaru's guiding influence, she fell backwards into her chair, instead of collapsing onto the floor. "Kami, Bitch, you can drink!" She giggled in the most lady-like display Dai had ever seen.

Hibiki gave her a two-fingered salute, placed the half-empty bottle on the table in the living room, and said, "benefits of the Kaguya blood. Can't get drunk!"

Dai smiled knowingly, but didn't correct him, instead stepping outside and waiting for him to exit. An examination of his face and a few nips of his blood from one of her beetles told her that he hadn't drank nearly as much as he had with Minato, so this time he either knew his limits, or Tsume's tolerances weren't nearly what she liked to boast they were.

Dai slid her arm around Hibiki's and the two took the long way home. "Who won?" She asked, pulling out a pack of gauze from a storage seal and using it to dab at the blood leaking from Hibiki's ears.

Hibiki scoffed, "woman can scream." He said, "Back Home, there used to be folks who would get into verbal altercations for fun. They'd trade insults, jabs, and jibes, and the person who could burn the other the most would win." He said, accepting a gauze from her and getting his other ear. "Rap battles were never my style, but I'm pretty sure she'd be at home in one of them, God." He shook his head, "I heard her say things I'd never even thought of before."

The corner of her mouth twitched, "I learned a long time ago that to match wits with Tsume Inuzuka, one mustn't attempt to fight her head on, but rather to assume a different strategy entirely." There wasn't a person alive who was her equal in a shouting match, not even Kushina - the poor girl would probably faint from just a fraction of Tsume's vocabulary. Her fiance never stood a chance.

Hibiki rolled his eyes, "yeah, thanks for the warning." He chuckled, the two of them tossing the used gauze in a wastebin in a corner store as they exited the compound and left the sights, sounds, and smells of the Inuzuka compound behind them. "So how'd your day go?"

Dai hummed, "well enough. It is clear to me that Kushina doesn't yet appreciate how simply my tastes are."

"How many dresses did she have picked out?"

"Thirty six."

"And you picked the first one?"

"Simple. Elegeant. Just enough skin."

Hibiki chuckled, nudging the side of her head with his. "And let me guess, she took you to Ichiraku after?"

"It was better than I thought it would be, considering its size." Dai affirmed. "Are you really going to buy it for her? I thought you were joking."

"Then you underestimate her, lady. You don't get to joke with her, not like that." He sighed, contentedly. "It's finally happening."

Dai nodded, unable to fight a smile that split her face in two and wrinkled the skin under her eyes. "You only kept me waiting seven years."

"And five mental breakdowns."

"One attempted murder."

"An indeterminable amount of time travel."

"Secrets that the universe doesn't know."

"A third world war."

"Nearly starting a clan war."

"And a partridge in a pear tree!" Hibiki sang, making the both of them laugh.

Dai sighed herself, just enjoying the silence that grew, the feeling of her arm around his as they walked through the village and to their home. "I can't wait." She finally said. "Just two weeks, and then you're mine."

Hibiki nodded, "two weeks." He hummed. "Dai Senju. Missus Senju." He shuddered, "like the sound of that." Her Senju grunted.

She nodded, "as do I." She waited a few moments, before - while suppressing a wicked grin - she slipped in, "oh, and Hiashi-san hopes to fight you during the wedding."

Hibiki hummed, his mind still in the mood of a few moments ago, before it caught up with what Dai said. "Wait - what?!"