Chapter 182

"I saw the place, and it was... it was eerie." Chojuro spoke absently as we sat in the inn room. I wasn't allowed to leave until there was at least a twelve hour separation from such a public breakdown. Apparently that was in fact protocol, just like the knocking me out and tying me up had been. I'd already slept through three of those hours, but I wouldn't be allowed to go out until the next day. The buffer was something that was usually more enforced in long term or covert missions like the one we were in. I'd like to say it was intended as a time to decompress and get your bearings, but honestly it felt more like it was just a period of time that allowed the other shinobi to put out any fires that metaphorically or literally happened when a shinobi had such breakdowns.

I wouldn't be surprised if the literal fires happened more often.

Chojuro was my chosen companion once Zabuza let the others come back in. He was currently unpacking some of the boxes he got to go. "I honestly thought maybe they'd taken one of the tables from the academy. But, apparently it's been there for a while. Plus, you know."

"Yeah," I said absently as I watched him unpack the boxes. The academy as we knew it was gone, most of it destroyed during the war. While a few buildings still stood, they were cleared out and annexed as makeshift hospitals like our old apartments had been. Those tables had probably been destroyed.

We sat for a few minutes in silence. I looked at the curry, but just leaned back and closed my eyes. While I was doing that Chojuro decided to speak, "So, uh, are you okay?"

No, I wasn't. My head was still pounding, I was tired but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep and I really just didn't want to do anything. But I couldn't say that, now could I?"I'm fine." I said. Leaning on my hand and reaching down, I scooped up a spoonful of rice and curry.

"Are- are you sure?" Chojuro asked as he looked at me.

"Yeah," I said softly as Chojuro mirrored me and I took a bite of the curry.

The spoon clattered to the floor.

There was a rapid hissing sound. My own breath, sharply inhaling through my teeth to try and get air into my mouth. Chakra circulated to my mouth but it didn't ease the pain of the absolute fire that coated my tongue. I might have screamed, but any movement of muscle in my mouth would have rebelled as the spit unwittingly moved the remains of the substance around my cheeks. My eyes darted throughout the room, trying to find a canteen or something with water. Apparently Chojuro had been faster on the uptake, chugging a thermos which he'd brought with the meal.

I started struggling to move around the pain. Milk, I needed... Damn it! Milk was a luxury item! We didn't have any in our travel rations, what else could I do? I needed something, anything I needed….

Reaching out with my hand I grabbed a handful of the rice, not touching the curry and throwing it into my mouth, forcing it around the affected areas. Chewing vigorously I blinked, let the rice pull in what I could before opening my mouth and letting the mixture drop out in a wet heap on the floor. Still feeling the remaining burn I looked around and found Chojuro refilling the thermos with a water jutsu which he took a swig of before handing to me. I washed down what remained in my mouth before pushing down the thermos and breathing out heavily.

"Stars and stones, they call that the curry of life?!"

Chojuro was still panting himself, mopping sweat off his brow and removing his goggles, which he was now wiping with his shirt because at some point in this whole exchange they'd steamed up. "The woman at the store had said that this would make someone more energetic."

"Energetic? How? By making them run to dunk their head into the nearest well? I feel like an exploding tag went off in my mouth!" I looked at the food and the heap in front of her, "That's fucking weapons grade spicy, if I made that into an aerosol I'd probably cripple my opponent in pain."

"That seems like something really cruel for you to do." He said, looking at the food, "But what are we going to do with this?" He looked down at the curry. "We can't finish it but if we throw it out here it might get back to the store owner and it might affect her reputation with the rest of the town."

"Plus, we don't want to waste food." I looked at it, the door, then it again. Tapping my fingers I looked around the room, "Have the others tried this?"

"Oh, um no, I don't think so. Haku apologized to the owner, but this is what we bought from them when that happened. Zabuza is on guard outside the inn and Haku is out with Suigetsu, who wanted to go grab something." Chojuro explained.

Leaning forward, I put a fist on my face. My mind had so many places it wanted to go, but I was also curious. "Well, we can't let it go to waste."

Chojuro looked at me and his face went into that small frown he'd often wear, "Why do you have that look Minami gets sometimes?"


I'm fairly certain I bounced about three times after I was thrown. Chojuro less so, but he still slid against the ground.

I think it being the middle of the night was the only reason Zabuza didn't blow our cover then and there with that stunt.

I blinked up in the moonlight and looked at Chojuro, who was bent over in the dirt, ass dangling in the air. The absurdity of the pose almost made me laugh, when I heard a familiar voice in the distance.

Chojuro heard it as well, as he rolled into a standing position and the two of us started moving forward. Our footsteps were silent and we restrained our chakra back to near nothing so as not to set people off. We kept close to the edge of the conversation and the voices gradually became clear.

"-ve been helping out." This voice was feminine, but not one we recognized.

"Well, that is very kind of you." A response came, that we did recognize. It was Haku.

Chojuro and I exchanged looks before we nodded and I did a jutsu to help us blend in. It wasn't a hard illusion, just something that darkened our figures so we weren't as visible in the night. Silently, we moved across the ground before we crested the small hill and saw Haku standing across from the small girl from the curry stand and the other boy with the headband who spoke as well.

"Then you should join us." He said, "We know what you are, you escaped the Land of Water."

My shoulders rose as I suppressed my breathing. Too sharp an inhale of breath would give us away, but my eyes locked on the boy with the headband. Sharpening my eyes with chakra, I keyed into his features. Yellow eyes, but that shape... more angular than main land as well as light blue hair. The hair was definitely not a civilian feature. A missing nin from Water? Here?

Haku was more composed than me about the revelation. His stance in the pretty green dress didn't change. "I'm not sure what you're implying."

The boy with blue hair held up both hands, "Hey now, it's okay, you don't need to hide anything. I know how cruel that place is. I'm not here to out you or anything. It's just an offer, an offer to do some good outside the villages. Especially since they don't treat us right."

"Who is us?" Haku asked, tilting his head forward and his hair with it.

"You know." He leaned in close to Haku, holding a hand over his mouth like a conspiracy. I closed my eyes and concentrated in my ears to listen in enough to get the last part of, "-enkai."

Haku tilted his head away. From this angle I could see the feigned confusion in his face. He looked from the guy to the girl, "I've really no idea what you're talking about and it's getting quite late." Bowing at the waist Haku kept his eyes down and his hands visible. "So I bid you both a good night." He then turned and headed not towards our inn, but in a separate direction.

I didn't need to observe him leaving, instead I focused on the two in front of us. The girl leaned back and put an arm behind her head, "Huh, I was sure something was up with them. I sensed it when that girl collapsed."

The guy frowned, "I know what she looks like, I've seen the posters looking for them back at my home village. Definitely a Yuki."

"Well, they don't want to talk about it. We don't need to, after all." The girl's face swung from Haku's back and immediately turned towards where Chojuro and I lay peering at her. "We have more ninja here to talk to."

I froze as the girl's eyes locked onto mine. A sensor, shit!

Did we talk here? We didn't know who these people were, or what they wanted. But at the same time we were under cover... we were…

My decision was made for me as Chojuro hooked an arm under my chest and picked me up bodily before flickering away back to the inn. Haku had already gotten there himself and when we both got upstairs we beat a hasty retreat out of the inn and out of that village.


Merry Christmas, Happy New Year JESUS CHRIST WHAT A YEAR!

So updates!

I've NOT abandoned this fic, I've just been busy, I'm busy because, I'm writing a novel!

It's a Young Adult Fantasy, current plan is that it's going to be published late next year and I wanted all you guys to know.

Now, what does that mean for this. The answer is, there is still much more to this story that I want to tell, and I shall continue doing so. I've learned a lot about scheduling, pacing and structuring in my planning and writing of this novel, and hope that reflects well in my writing.

But also, I'm gonna try and keep a solid schedule for updates.

The current goal, is once every two weeks on Fridays.

Another thing is, if you want to see the next chapter RIGHT NOW, you can head on over to my website! I'll be posting once chapter in advance on days I update on that, so if you're impatient go ahead and head over there.

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