"Do it," her husband said.
Kimiko might not be a genius, but she wasn't an idiot. The Jounin Commander had gone to work, and one hour later, he told her to ruin the Shimura clan. She knew who was his superior officer. She knew what they were working on. She knew how much work and thought went into the ramifications of Orochimaru's experiments and death.
She read between the lines.
"The Shimura helped Orochimaru abduct and torture fellow shinobi and children. Ruin them," the Hokage ordered.
She looked up to see the ANBU operative disappear. She closed the door, burnt the paper, and went to work.
First, she changed into a more formal kimono, layering black and red upon red and white. As she adjusted her hair in a smooth ponytail, she planned.
She would have to leave Shikamaru with his grandmother. She had a lot of walking to do. Then, she would have to speak with the treasurer, Hiroshi.
When he opened his door, he took a look at her and made a face. "Oh, this is going to be one of those days," he mumbled before inviting her in. "What is it, Hime?"
"Landownership. We're investing."
"How much?"
"Enough to make waves."
Hiroshi rubbed the bottom of his face, smoothing his beard. He looked at her from above his glasses, considering. He was fifty-six years old, had worked for the Logistics and Supplies department of Konoha for forty years, and retired to take the position of clan treasurer. In his own words, it had been an easy job until she came along with her excessive dowry.
He sighed. "Well, this promises to be interesting." He didn't ask for assurances or for Shikaku's assent. He asked for numbers. And when they surprised him, he only raised an eyebrow and took a distant look as he made calculations.
They talked, and then they walked through the streets of Konoha for more than two hours. Once they got the lay of the land, they went to the bank. They stood in line behind other customers. Kimiko was in her elegant kimono. Hiroshi was in a haori and hakama. He was traditional, like her. They had this in common.
The employees caught sight of them and whispered among themselves. A moment later, the bank director came to invite them in his office.
An hour later, and they had a loan.
At the end of the day, Kimiko set down a bill of sale next to Shikaku's rice bowl.
"Only one?" he asked. When he was in one of his overworked moods, very little pleased or surprised him.
She walked around his chair on her way to the kitchen and leaned close to whisper in his ear, her lips brushing his skin: "It's a mall."
He straightened and looked over his shoulder as she walked away. "A mall?!"
She hummed in confirmation. "You know, the one on Fire Will Avenue?"
"It's rundown since it was sabotaged during the war."
"Which is why we had it at a good price," she explained, tidying the kitchen. "Hiroshi-san has a friend in the Akimichi clan whose brother-in-law is a construction company owner. He assessed the place for us and gave us a cost estimate for the renovation work. If we hire him, he promises to be done in three weeks at most. He is underworked, apparently. Then, after that, we'll have to decorate and get the shops well-stocked and ready. That should be done in one week. It gives me the time to find tenants and for them to give their two-week notice."
"You'll have that mall running in one month?"
"Yes," she confirmed, preparing the breakfast and lunch for tomorrow as she did. She was a bit late on her cooking with all this walking around. "Once it will be running, we can consider buying other shops I've seen for sale around the mall. The street needs a complete makeover so people feel comfortable and safe when they come shopping. The bank director said if we opened the mall in one month, he'd follow us for another loan. He looked very excited about it."
"Kimiko, this mall was thriving before the war."
"That's what I was told. It does have a certain charm, doesn't it? It has potential, I think." She turned around to check if he would finish his meal or leave some leftovers. She met his eyes and felt self-conscious at his intensity. "What?"
He stood up from the table — he had barely eaten — and came to her. He cupped her face between his hands and kissed her without any warning. She hummed in surprise against his lips. He added several butterfly kisses. This unusual spontaneity made her laugh. Finally, she embraced his waist to deepen their embrace, and the kiss lasted for a long, soft moment.
"What was that for?" she asked as their noses brushed.
"Businesswoman is a good look on you," he said, smoothing the kimono she wore.
She smiled with pleasure and accepted another kiss on the cheek.
oOo
The next day, Kimiko talked with the contractor. She carried Shikamaru in a sling while they walked through her new mall and agreed on the necessary work.
The emptied building was loud: workers were changing the damaged doors and windows. Shikamaru grumbled and fussed at the noise. He buried his face into her kimono as if it could provide him some peace and quiet. She covered his ears with her hands. He was small enough that she could cup the back of his head. It seemed to soothe him. He settled down.
Once they left the mall, he opened an eye and looked around. Pleased to be outside, he relaxed and released his grip on her kimono. She settled him in the pram and chuckled when he threw a blanket over his head. He would be fast asleep in no time.
This repeated for a few days. After the basics were decided, she managed to split her days between the mall and convincing merchants who were Shimura's tenants to move.
Once her day as a businesswoman was done, Kimiko always went to get Shin at the Academy. Since he had come back from school with injuries, she had insisted on collecting him again.
A week after she bought the mall, she drew more attention than usual as she settled to wait in front of the Academy. People gossiped among themselves. Not for the first time, she was surprised by the speed at which news traveled among Konoha.
A woman walked up to her before the Nara could close ranks around her.
Uchiha Mikoto was carrying her youngest son in her arms. Sasuke was much more alert than Shikamaru ever was, even with a few months on him.
The two mothers and clan wives greeted each other politely.
"I understand that your protégé is in Itachi's class," Mikoto started.
"Indeed, and I'm grateful for your son's help and kindness toward Shin. Itachi-kun's a credit to his parents."
Mikoto accepted the compliment with grace and modesty. Kimiko had learned that she had been a high-level kunoichi before retiring when she married. In her experience, jounin tended to be a bit... eccentric, but Mikoto was one of the most level-headed women she had ever met. She looked and sounded like the perfect clanswoman: dedicated to her family, her clan, and her village in that exact order. She was a bit intimidating, to be honest. Kimiko tried her best to be a good wife, mother, and clan head, but she lacked the kunoichi experience. She felt like it showed when in the presence of Mikoto.
They made small talk. Mikoto asked her thoughts about the village and clan life. They kept it up until Shin, followed by Itachi, reached them. The boys seemed surprised to find them together but behaved politely and answered neutrally to questions about their day.
Once they separated, Shin asked: "Why were you talking with Uchiha-san?"
"Oh, it was just small talk."
"Why?"
"So we could be seen together. That's how it usually starts in politics."
Shin wrinkled his nose at that last word and decided he'd much rather entertain Shikamaru, who had been woken up by his big brother's voice. As Kimiko had hoped, the toddler had grown attached to Shin. The boy's willingness to carry Shikamaru wherever he wanted, thus greatly indulging his laziness, helped a lot.
Kimiko needed to figure out why Mikoto felt the need to align herself — and thus the Uchiha — to the Nara.
She had done her best to learn about the village's politics, but they were so tightly tied to shinobi secrets that she felt like she missed a lot of details.
What did she know about the Uchiha? There were tensions about them, although she wasn't sure she had all the reasons why. She asked Shikaku about it later that evening. He was in a good enough mood that he taught her about Uchiha Madara's story.
"Some, mostly the elders, are wary of the Uchiha since, thinking them too power-hungry," he explained as they settled down in bed. "Then, for the election of the Yondaime, the Uchiha thought that their clan leader, Fugaku, would be a good candidate."
Kimiko leaned against his side. "They're unhappy he wasn't selected?"
"No. They're angry he wasn't even considered."
"Ah."
"Honestly, it shouldn't have been a big deal. A Hokage selects their successor, it's not up to debate unless the Hokage has been unable to share their choice before their death. The Second and Third nominations were met without fuss, although admittedly they happened during wars."
"What went wrong then?"
Shikaku yawned. "The Sandaime discussed his choice with his Council, and part of their conversation leaked. It blew up out of proportion."
Kimiko hummed in thought. "Are Council conversations often leaked?"
A sharp upturn of Shikaku's lips betrayed his thoughts as he drawled: "Not really." He kissed her hair and lay down with another yawn before wishing her a good night.
Kimiko pondered this news for a while before she could fall asleep. Danzou was part of the Council. That couldn't be a coincidence.
oOo
The next two weeks passed in a flurry of activity. Between taking care of her family and her tasks, Kimiko had no more time to herself and struggled to manage her schedule. She had to ask for help from her mother-in-law. Chinatsu wondered why she had ventured into such an outlandish project. She stopped grumbling when Shikaku intervened, explaining with some cryptic words that it was necessary. Chinatsu helped a lot by preparing meals or babysitting Shikamaru.
Despite a few mishaps inevitable with such an undertaking, everything went to plan.
Kurosawa-san had been wary of moving into a mall. He didn't consider it would be the best place for an artist. However, Ahane-san had been overjoyed by the idea. She had signed immediately and wrote her notice for the Shimura in two minutes. When Kimiko had asked for her help to convince the other shopkeepers, she had been all too happy to accept and nearly managed all of it by herself. Together, they convinced Kurosawa-san to move to the mall until he could find a better shop in the street among those which were scheduled to be renovated afterward.
After that, volunteers came to them. The news had spread quickly. A bit too quickly. Kimiko received requests from merchants who had nothing to do with the Shimura. She had to do some fast talking to explain why she rejected their request. She had to compromise by promising some they would get a spot once some of the Shimura tenants would move to the street's shops.
The project received a lot more attention and interest than she had planned (for the little she had actually planned…). She got the proof that the mall used to be popular by the number of people who stopped her to talk about it. She soon realized that she would be overwhelmed if she tried to handle it all on her own. As decent as she was as a businesswoman, she was no merchant. So she had to find a mall director. Ahane-san was a great help with the numerous connections she had, but Kimiko still had to interview and decide among the candidates. In the end, she hired a former manager of the mall, Ikeda Ichirou. He took over all the necessary preparations for the mall opening. It was a great relief for Kimiko who only needed to give her final assent.
Three weeks after the purchase, the construction ended. By then, Kimiko was exhausted but confident that this should work.
She went to fetch Shin, as usual. Her thoughts were full of administrative details, so she needed a moment to realize the stares she was receiving that day were colder. Before she could wonder why the Nara gathered around her with unusual haste. It didn't escape her notice that some of the Akimichi and Yamanaka also stepped between them and the bolder gossipers.
"What's going on?" she asked Takumi, a stay-at-home dad.
He pursed his lips in distaste. "Rumors."
"About what?"
"You made some enemies," Tsubame, a retired kunoichi who had taken on a protégé, commented. "When a woman does, they go after her reputation. Usually, it's bullshit about her virtue. But you're not from Konoha, and that makes you easy picking."
"There are rumors of doubts about your loyalty to Konoha," Takumi clarified with a roll of his eyes. He had married into the clan and taken the name of his wife. He was much more expressive than the Nara men.
"It's all nonsense," Tsubame scoffed with scorn. "It will blow over."
It didn't.
Two days before the scheduled opening, Kimiko left a pediatrician appointment to find two shinobi waiting for her outside. They straightened at her arrival and blocked her way.
"Nara-san. You're summoned at the Intelligence Division for a review of your residence permit."
"Now?!"
"Yes."
It was three in the afternoon. Kimiko had half a dozen things to do before getting Shin at four. Shikamaru had gotten an ear infection, putting him in a bad mood and her behind schedule. Chinatsu had an outing with friends. Shikata was on a mission. To say that this was an inopportune time was an understatement.
She stared at the intelligence officers standing confidently in their chuunin uniform, asking her to drop everything at their convenience without a hint of remorse. She felt her tiredness and frustration turn into anger, but years of holding back her thoughts and feelings didn't let her down. She had always been able to stay in control and deal with any inconvenience. It didn't mean she'd make it easy for them.
"Very well," she agreed without losing her composure. "I'll just have to drop Shikamaru with his father, but it's on the way, I believe." She pushed the pram forward, forcing them to move before she rolled on their feet.
"Wh— With his father? But…" They followed her, wrong-footed. Good.
"You don't expect me to take a sick toddler with me for an interview, do you?" she asked with aplomb.
"No, but Nara-san's at work!" the oldest insisted.
"Indeed, as I should be," she said pointedly.
"Can't you leave the kid with someone else?" the other chuunin asked, trying to regain some control of the situation. He was younger but seemed more coolheaded.
"I may have been able to arrange something if you had warned me in advance," she replied, walking at a brisk pace. "As it stands, everyone's otherwise occupied."
She could have probably found some friends or extended family to babysit. However, it was impolite to drop by unannounced and impose on anyone like this, especially with a sick child.
There was silence behind her, as the chuunin communicated in some way behind her back. Kimiko ignored them. She was controlling her breathing to manage anger and speed so she could be done with this 'nonsense' as swiftly as possible.
If she wasn't so annoyed, she might have felt abashed at the idea to bother Shikaku at work. As it was, she felt it was just fair.
"Ah, Nara-san," the youngest chuunin spoke up. His tone was more respectful. "Would it be possible that you keep your son with you? The interview shouldn't take long. No more than an hour."
"An hour?!" She froze in the middle of the street, forcing the men to stop hurriedly. "That's what you call 'not long'? An hour?! Unscheduled, in the middle of the day, and you expect me to drop everything? I have an Academy student to bring home, a mountain of paperwork and details to finish at the mall, dinner to cook, medicine to buy, and—"
And Shikamaru chose this moment to cry. Shikamaru never cried. He whined. He fussed. He grumbled. He didn't cry since he knew how to speak basic demands unless it was the middle of the night and he had nightmares. Crying required too much energy.
Kimiko threw a glare at the chuunin and stepped around the pram to lift Shikamaru and soothe him. He was rubbing at his ear and his head. She rocked him gently, whispering sweet words of comfort. He settled down soon enough, as he most often did.
"I'll drop him off with his father," she told the shinobi without any room for discussion.
The cries had gathered attention, and a police patrol was looking their way intently. The intelligence officers shut up.
Contrary to the last time she had visited Shikaku's office (after that stressful break-in), Kimiko walked into the Jounin Standby Station without hesitation. Remembering the way she had been shown by Ensui at the time, she had a second of worry when she realized they had taken stairs. Fortunately, a kunoichi must have read her thoughts. She pointed toward a side hallway. "The elevator is this way, Nara-san."
"Thank you, Yamanaka-san," she replied gratefully, bowing her head in thanks.
Ensui could have spared her the three flights of stairs when she was pregnant and got her to the elevator… but it had probably never crossed his mind. Shinobi. It was a wonder in itself that they had elevators... for injured shinobi, possibly.
She found her way back toward Shikaku's office without trouble, which was a relief. She couldn't show hesitation with those two officers at her back.
The space was deserted except for Shikaku's secretary, who stood up at their arrival.
"Nara-san," Etsuko greeted her with a deep bow. "I'm sorry, but Shikaku-san is currently unavailable. He's in a meeting."
"Can he be interrupted?"
"I— Not unless it's an emergency."
"It is," she replied confidently. She pushed the pram to the side toward an empty space. "I'll leave this here." She lifted Shikamaru back in her arms, cradling his head against her neck before turning toward Etsuko. "Lead the way."
The young woman, barely twenty years old, floundered a moment before bowing and holding out an arm to the side. "This way."
The meeting room was two corridors away. Etsuko knocked on the door with great hesitancy but opened the door for her. Kimiko stepped in without hesitation. She had already come this far, hadn't she?
Every head in the room — there were around two dozens — turned toward her. Shikaku was not hard to spot: he was sitting at the head of the table, laid back while listening to someone — oh, that was his analyst, Aburame Atsushi, was it?— standing at the other end.
Frowning at her sight, Shikaku was straightening to stand up by the time she reached him. She stopped him by handing Shikamaru over without leaving him any say in the matter.
"Wha—"
"I need you to keep him."
He stared at her as if she had sprouted antlers. "Kimiko, I'm working."
"Yes," she replied patiently, "but you're the only person I can reach that can handle your sick son while I'm interviewed by the Intelligence Division regarding my residence permit."
"Now?!"
"That's what I said," she agreed. "The doctor confirmed that Shikamaru has an ear infection. Since I was summoned the moment I passed the door, I had no time to get medicine. However, unless it lasts too long, standard pain medication and a warm washcloth on the ear are all we can do. I left everything you need in the pram by your office. We're just short on pain relievers if you have time to get some. Oh, and if I'm not back before then, can you get Shin?"
There was a moment of silence before Shikaku nodded. He was steadying his son standing on his lap and hugging his neck. The rest of the room was all ears.
"How long is that interview supposed to take?" Shikaku finally asked with an eyebrow twitching.
"Not more than an hour, I'm told."
"An hour?!"
"I know."
"What the f—"
"Don't swear in front of a child," she reminded him.
Reminded of his presence, Shikaku glanced down at the toddler and then at his subalterns staring at the scene. He lifted Shikamaru to sit him properly on his lap. The boy put his hands on the table and looked around curiously, distracted from his pain by the unusual surroundings. As big curious eyes fell on them, more than one shinobi grinned or waved. Shikamaru judged them silently before looking up at Kimiko.
"Ma."
"Ma has to go, sweetie. Be good for your father."
"No go."
"Yes, ma has to."
Her residence permit could be revoked if she didn't show up for an interview. It was not optional, nor was it under Shikaku's jurisdiction. She had gone through two interviews since she had arrived in Konoha: the first just before her wedding and the second a year after. They had been annoying but harmless. Inoichi had once explained that the first interview should have been longer and more thorough. Her circumstances (read: the money she brought to Konoha and the Sandaime's blessing) had got her a privileged treatment. It seemed that special procedure was over. The meetings had always been planned days in advance before. Of course, she had been warned that she could be called at any time, but they could have hardly chosen a worse timing.
She bent down to kiss Shikamaru's forehead, caressing Shikaku's shoulder as she straightened. "I'll see you tonight." She turned to the colleagues of her husband and bowed politely. "I apologize for the interruption. Please forgive me."
They were quick to insist it was no trouble.
She left her husband to handle the rest.
oOo
The office stayed solemnly silent as the door closed behind Shikaku's wife. With a sigh, the jounin commander reached for his son's pacifier dangling from his shirt. He offered it to Shikamaru in an attempt to get some peace. Fortunately, his son's curiosity for his surroundings had ebbed. He accepted the pacifier and leaned back against Shikaku's chest, ready to nap.
Shikaku gestured for his analyst to resume his speech and wrap it up.
The meeting ended after ten minutes. The only new mishap happened when Shikamaru mumbled and lifted his father's hand over the ear that troubled him. The warmth seemed to appease him, and he dozed off with his small cheek cupped in Shikaku's big hand. For some reason, this captured the attention of Shikaku's underlings more than Atsushi's analysis.
Once he dismissed them, they were unusually slow to stand. Shikaku resolved the matter by leaving first. He passed by his office to ask Etsuko to get some pain-reliever after retrieving the prescription. He grabbed Shikamaru's favorite cuddly toy in case he would wake up in a bad mood, and then he left for the Hokage's office.
Neither Minato nor his other guests were surprised to see him, although their attention lingered on Shikamaru. The gossip had preceded him.
"I know what you're gonna say," the Head of the Intelligence Division told him preemptively. "It's all routine. When we receive a tip on outsiders, we have to investigate. I couldn't exempt your wife without a good reason."
Aburame Shikuro had been in charge of Intelligence for less than two months, but he took his job very seriously.
Shikaku threw him an unimpressed look. "A warning would have been nice," he drawled, adjusting his hold on his son pointedly.
Shikuro tilted his head in a light sideway bow. "I apologize."
"Was Kimiko-san alright?" Minato asked to diffuse the tension between his men.
Shikaku shrugged and slouched on the sofa in a corner. "Annoyed and in a rush." He lifted his feet on the coffee table. "What kind of bullshit tip did Danzou feed Intelligence then?"
"Her brother is suspected of collusion with Kumo," Shikuro replied. He was standing in front of Minato's desk, his hands crossed behind his back.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"Will it be an issue?" Minato asked.
Shikaku snorted in dismissal. "She has no contact with him. She barely talks about him at all. He's a misogynist opportunist, from what I gathered. She isn't involved in any shape or form with his business." He crossed his ankles, frowning. "But the fact that she's interrogated is enough to cast doubt on her. I agreed with this plan of baiting Danzou on the condition that she'd be safe."
"She's safe. You vouched for her strength of character and the fact that she wouldn't be intimidated by a few rumors and pushback," Shikuro pointed out.
"There's a difference between rumors and an investigation. Who's interrogating her? One of yours?"
"Yes. Everything will be done by the book."
"It better be. This whole mess better be worth it," Shikaku grumbled, pressing fingers to his forehead.
oOo
Kimiko came home much later than the promised hour after. She was exhausted. She also worried that she would find the house in a mess, the children uncared for, and the dinner to be done.
She didn't give Shikaku enough credit. The house was calm. She found all her boys sitting at the kotatsu, watching TV with paper bags of takeout waiting on the table. Shin was leaning with his head on Shikaku's arm. His homework was beside him, apparently done. Shikamaru was dozing on his father's chest. A bottle of medicine was among the food.
Kimiko leaned against the doorframe to appreciate the scene. When Shikaku met her eyes with a raised eyebrow, she commented teasingly: "I should be unavailable more often."
"Don't you dare," he replied before raising his free arm in invitation.
She chuckled and cuddled against his side gratefully. He kissed her forehead and asked in a murmur: "You okay?"
She nodded. "Just tired."
He nuzzled and kissed her temple. "It's okay. Just rest for tonight."
She hummed in agreement and closed her eyes as he patted her hair and smoothed it back.
In a rare show of energy, Shikaku put both boys to sleep this evening and thus was the last to bed.
"How did it go?" he asked as he folded his clothes.
"Tediously," she mumbled, sitting against the headboard. "I never had such a long interview. They were persnickety, asking follow-up questions about everything, demanding I remember details years in the past." She sighed and pushed her hair back. "And all of this because of something about my brother?"
He sat on the side of the bed to remove his slippers. "They got a tip about him, apparently."
"I wonder where it comes from," she grumbled with a roll of her eyes.
He chuckled. "A mystery, no doubt." Sitting by her side, he covered their legs with the heavy blankets they favored for the winter. "You got cleared of all doubts, though, so it's done."
She hummed in agreement and yawned. "Now I have to catch up with everything I couldn't do today. They won't mess up weeks of work just for this."
"That's my wife." Shikaku kissed her hair, and they lay down to sleep.
oOo
The next day, Shikaku was making a dent in his pile of paperwork. He had to be present for the mall's opening tomorrow and thus had taken the morning off. He wasn't looking forward to it, but this was his wife's project with his clan's money, and thus he had to be there.
A knock at the door made him grunt. Now, if only he could be left alone to work…
Inoichi and Chouza stepped in. Shikaku let go of the report he was reading, leaned back in his seat, and raised an eyebrow. As a rule, they didn't bother each other at work.
"What's going on?" he asked once the door was closed.
Chouza shrugged as he sat down, but Inoichi pulled a scroll out of his vest and waved it. "I think you're both going to find this interesting. It shouldn't have left ID but—" He made a dismissive gesture and showed the scroll's title: "Interview of Nara Kimiko born Minamoto Kimoko—"
"Inoichi, you didn't," Chouza commented in surprise.
"Oh, trust me, you want to read this part."
"Which part?" Shikaku asked, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk.
"The start is uninteresting. Questions about your brother-in-law, mostly, a charming fellow from what Kimiko has to say of him. She knows nothing of what he's doing currently, but there were the obligatory questions about what she remembered from his past acquaintances and activities, etcetera, etcetera…"
"How old is her brother?" Chouza asked curiously.
"Six years older than her," Shikaku offered before gesturing for Inoichi to continue.
"And then, we're reaching this part," he said, unrolling the scroll on the desk. Chouza came around to read it over Shikaku's shoulder.
"IO: Did your brother ever meet your husband?
NK: Not to my knowledge.
IO: When did you meet your husband for the first time?"
NK: Define meeting.
IO: The first time you talked.
NK: Face to face? On the day of our wedding.
IO: You talked to him before that?
NK: We wrote to each other for several months before.
[Nara Kimiko doesn't meet the eyes of the Intelligence Officer.]
NK: Did you ever… see him before?
[She looks up, hesitates, and then nods.]
IO: When?
NK: At the battle of Haneda. During the evacuation of the civilian population.
IO: Haneda is far away from the home of your family. What were you doing there?
NK: I was helping with the relief efforts for the population before the news of an attack came up. I had to flee with them. The InoShikaCho team led the evacuation. That's where I saw all of them for the first time.
IO: But you didn't talk to them?
NK: No, there was no time nor opportunity.
IO: Did you interact with them?
NK: Chouza-san lifted me away from a broken cart before I got crushed by it.
IO: How did you react?
NK: I thanked him, and then he left to help elsewhere.
IO: Do your husband and his friends remember this?
NK: I don't believe so.
IO: Why not? You're a noblewoman, Nara-san. You wear elegant kimonos and hairstyles. That's not something competent shinobi would miss or forget.
NK: I was there for relief efforts. I was wearing simple clothes.
IO: You were incognito.
NK: Yes.
IO: Did your family know you were there?
NK: No.
IO: Did you hide it from your family?
NK: Yes. They wouldn't have approved. My brother most of all. I was supposed to be a china doll. Delicate and passive.
IO: It wasn't the only time you intervened during the war, was it?
[Nara Kimoko looks at the Intelligence Officer but doesn't reply. There is a minute of silence before an Assistant steps in and gives a note to the Officer In Charge.]
IO: We have pulled up the file regarding the Evacuation of Haneda. Do you know who is Kaguya, Nara-san?
NK: If you're referring to Kaguya-hime, she's a legend meant to explain how humans wield chakra. She's popular in shinobi myths, from what I'm told.
IO: Yes, she is. It's also the pseudonym used by a civilian activist during the war to sign different acts calling for an end to violence. Did you ever hear about it?
NK: It rings a bell.
IO: Kaguya was spotted at Haneda shortly before the evacuation.
NK: If you have a description, I can try to remember if I have met her… or him.
[A picture of Activist Kaguya's corpse as it was found three days after her death is put on the table. Nara Kimiko reacts badly, blanches, and turns over the picture. She's on the edge of tears for several minutes. Intelligence Officer allows her to recover.]
IO: You know her.
NK [with difficulty]: What happened to her? Did… did you do this?
IO: We didn't. Her body was recovered at Haneda three days after its destruction. She was tortured and left for dead.
[Nara Kimiko bursts into tears. After a pause of ten minutes, the interview picks up against.]
IO: Who was she to you?
NK: A friend. My best friend.
IO: I'm sorry for your loss. Konoha had nothing against Kaguya. She provided us with several valuable tips. We know very little about her, however. Who was she?
NK: Her name was… Kubo Masami. She was from a noble family, a descendant of samurais. She fought for peace.
[Nara Kimiko covers her face with her hands for a moment.]
IO: You knew of her activities.
NK: Part of them. She was secretive, but I helped when I could. She didn't let me in the secrets. She was afraid… for me. She was aware of the risks… She fought nonetheless.
IO: She was a credit to Hi no Kuni.
NK: Yes."
Inoichi rolled back the scroll. "The rest is relatively uneventful."
Shikaku looked to Chouza: "Do you remember this?"
"Saving a young civilian woman from a cart? Uh, maybe? That day was…"
"Yeah," Inoichi agreed, nodding slowly. The war, as a rule, had been difficult and tiring, but that day had felt like it dragged on and everything blurred. Five thousand people to evacuate on such short notice had been a nightmare. "Well, we must have left a lasting impression? I say 'we', but it's rather you two, of course. I mean, it explains why she thought of marrying Chouza…"
The red-headed nodded and went to sit down with his arms crossed. "I prefer that, actually. That she thought of me because of that day rather than…"
"Just because you were the only noble clan head available ?"
"Yes. At least, it was on my own merit."
"By saving the damsel in distress," Inoichi teased. "A true prince charming!"
Chouza gave a little kick toward his friend but turned to Shikaku. "Did you have any idea?"
"None. About any of this. I'm not very surprised, mind you. It's in character." His fingers tapped on the desk as he considered it.
"Your wife is shrouded in mysteries," Inoichi commented with his usual flair for the dramatics.
Shikaku grunted in agreement.
He was still thinking when he came home. He wondered if he should talk with Kimiko right away or pretend he didn't know anything about her interview. Choosing to ponder over it in the bath, he was showering in the bathroom when Shin walked in.
The boy looked pensive and worried. "Shikaku-san, can I share your bath?"
"Sure."
Once they were both soaking in hot water, Shikaku tousled the kid's hair. "What's wrong?"
"Kaguya-hime is just a legend, right?"
The jounin didn't blink. "Yes. Why?"
"On our way back from school, a man passed by, really close to Kimiko-san, he nearly knocked into her! He said something weird, and Kimiko-san went all white and tense."
"What did he say?"
"I think it was: in the end, even Kaguya begged."