The slow bustle of a bar on a Monday did nothing to ease Naruto. She felt jittery, nervous and maybe even a little excited at the prospect of ending those bastards trafficking young women. The blonde heroine stood at the front of the bar anxiously awaiting the attention of the bartender while her comrades, Sakura and Ino were seated in a cosy looking corner of the pub.

Their makeup was flawless, their lipsticks bright and their eyelashes long, dark and seductive. They may have been dressed traditionally but their aurora was nothing but. Sakura and Ino giggled to each other acting like excited sisters on vacation, keeping true to their characters.

Naruto's background story was a little different, while her team-mates were covert sisters, Naruto was their old childhood friend from another nearby small village. The three gathered to meet each other in the bubbling in-between zone of their respective homes, that area being Wave country. Their friendship truly holding firm to the test of time as young women were separated as children by their families looking for more prosperous lives in towns more suited to their trades.

Naruto promptly ordered three sakes for their table once she had attention of the female bartender. This bar had been chosen promisingly, a distressed father had complained to Sai that his daughter, a girl working as a server was being chatted up by a mysterious man he had never met before (The Land of Waves being a relatively small island made this was a fair concern if not slightly racist, as there was a reasonable tourist industry). The father's reaction was none too pleasant to this handsome stranger, he spoke bitterly of his daughters smitten and cursed her secretive attitude. Like a true overbearing father, he had all but banned his daughter from leaving the house and god forbid she try going into work. His harsh reaction was seeded from fear that she will run away and elope with this stranger. At Sai's blank expression the father was quick to defend himself, claiming that he wouldn't have been so hard on her, but he could barely get any details from his daughter about who exactly this man was. In today's current climate of missing villager women this was quite the lead.

Naruto pulled out a small pouch to pay for the drinks when a hand wrapped itself around her waist making her halt in movement.

"This one's one me." Stated a masculine voice.

Naruto resisted the urge to remain dormant, instead she let out a small feminine gasp all while pleading internally that this came across as soft and delicate and not at all like a drowning man gasping for water. Attempting to abandon all sense of shame, Naruto seductively peeked up under her lashes, to get a glance of this 'hospitable' man.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked timidly while she analytically scanned the man's features, much to her disappointment he looked nothing like the picture of the new head of the Gato company, but there was still the chance that he was connected so she couldn't dismiss him so quickly.

But there was also the chance that this could also be some seedy individual looking for an easy pickup at his local joint. The male in question sent Naruto a sharp and disarming smile, she could admit that although his features were quite plain the smile had an attractive edge to it. Naruto returned the gesture and smiled gently in turn as she allowed him to pay for the drinks.

"I guess I should go back to my friends now…" Naruto trailed off, looking coyly at the hand that was still snuggly resting on her hips. The man didn't immediately let go but instead leaned down intimately close, allowing his breath warmly tickled her face.

"I think those drinks at least bought me a name?" He asked in huskily low voice. While flirtatious, his tone had and undercurrent of smugness to it that bothered Naruto. He was obviously someone used to getting his way. It was in an instant that the smile she had admired somewhat was now suddenly become more than unappealing, but unfortunately for Naruto, being an undercover kunoichi, she couldn't afford to screw up just because she found him repulsive, and she most certainly couldn't shove his money right back at him in the form a fist.

Instead, she masked her distaste with flattery. And instead of clenching her hands in rage she let the burning appendage delicately cup her check in a sad attempt of trying to play off embarrassment. If this man were an expert in body language he would have most likely caught onto the terseness of these movements and backed off. When his hand squeezed lightly on Naruto's hip, she could safely decree that this was no body analyst.

"Usagi, Usagi Tsukino." She smiled prettily.

The man continued to grin indulgently. "Bunny on the moon huh? Your parents were incredibly wise in picking such an adorable name for such a cute lady," he winked as he let her go. Naruto smiled a little more genuinely at that, as the irony was not lost on her that her parents had not gone for cute when they named her.

She bowed politely and went back to Sakura and Ino who just smiled sweetly at her. "Oh my, who was that?" Sakura started slyly, under the guise of a prying friend that delicately held the balance of the real Sakura wanting to know if he was a worthy lead.

"Uhm, I'm not sure. He didn't give me his name…" Naruto bashfully twirled her finger around a stray lock of hair on her brunette wig. Ino raised a brow, "really? You didn't ask him?" She asked in astonishment and looked over to man who was making conversation with the bar lady. Their table wasn't too far from there and it was likely he could overhear their conversation if he tried hard enough.

Ino got up from where they are seated. "You wouldn't mind if I went up to speak to him?" She asked Naruto inconspicuously. Naruto didn't mind at all, her brief encounter with the man has thrown her off her initial excitement. He had been relatively cordial if not flirtatious and maybe too handsy for her liking, however a sixth sense called out from the pit of her stomach warningly.

"No, that's okay…" Naruto trailed off trying her best to keep up her demeanour of shy and placid. It made sense for Ino to be the one to talk to this man, not only was she more skilled in interrogation and honey baiting but she was their agreed upon focus target. They wanted Ino to be the trap, Sakura and Naruto were just support roles, Ino was the star in this game.

Ino smiled indulgently at her two friends and then brushed past them to head over to the bar, starting her conversation with the stranger with ease. She thanked him for paying for their drinks, telling him he didn't need to do such a thing, but explained how flattered she was that he did. She was subtle in her flirtations, as subtle as one could be when being so forward about their blatant attraction to the male, he took her ministrations with ease.

Naruto strained to hear more of conversation but much to her annoyance a bouncy waitress tripped over herself while serving drinks to their table, almost spilling them over. The young girl made such a kerfuffle with her overdramatic save of the tray almost toppling over and her heroic catch, it really would have been suspicious not to pay attention to this nameless women's side story.

"I'm so sorry about that!" The girl chuckled nervously, her voice high and squeaky.

Sakura sweat dropped and tried to assure the girl it was okay. "It happens to the best of us," Sakura waved a hand trying to dismiss the waitress so they could return to eavesdropping on Ino.

The girl seemingly incapable of reading to social cues paid no mind and bowed, apologising continuously. "Please forgive, how could I make this up to you?" The waitress clasped her hand together and swayed. Her face light up as a sudden resolution to a problem that was non-existent occurred to her. "Please don't worry about paying for these, it's on the house!" The girl declared as Naruto visibly deflated.

"Uhm… but we already paid…" Naruto scratched the back of her head out of habit. The waitress looked shell shocked. "Oh my god, of course you already paid!" She slammed a palm onto her face and went on tell them her life story, how she's just a civilian girl and this is her first job and how she's so thankful the boss hired her. The young woman then begged them not to complain to her boss, because she has no idea how she will get another job. It was fluke that she got this one, she moans to them and Naurto's eyebrows twitch in annoyance.

Just their damn luck they get served by a clumsy, chatty and honestly way too honest waitress. Naruto wouldn't know what the hell Ino was talking about for the life of her. She tried pacifying the itch to yell at the girl that SERIOUSLY it's fine! They don't care!

Naruto was at this point trying to reassure herself that Ino had everything under control, surely they didn't even need to eavesdrop. Ino would tell them everything important later. Yes, it will all be fine. Naruto chilled out, and even allowed herself to giggle a little at the girl going crazy in front of their table. Throughout this untimely distraction, Sakura seemed to have zoned out with a smile on her face, her eyes indicated she had gone to her happy place and was no longer paying attention.

A hand landed on the waitress making the bustling girl pause from her rant.

"How about you make it up to these ladies by getting them another drink." A rich and deep voice purred above the girl like a shadow. The girl looked at a man who stepped forward to tower over her. Her face going aflame at the proximity, she nodded her head with her lips pursed she scuttered away like mouse caught with the lights on.

Naruto and Sakura looked up at the new man in frozen astonishment that could easily be misconstrued as being star-struck.

"I hope you didn't mind my intruding," he started, "but after the scene she made I couldn't help but feel as though you were damsels in distress." He smiled at them wickedly, it was the only way to describe his smile, it was as wicked as he was handsome.

This was Gato. This was their target. The picture they had of him his face was settled in scowl, his eyes were hardened and they looked off to side, unknowing of his picture being taken.

Naruto nodded stiffly at him in acknowledgement while trying to gather her wits. This was their target. This was the new owner of Gato. The memo rang in her ears, it told her to put her guard up, her body fought wildly with her self-preservation in attempt to remain as relaxed as ever.

It seemed that Sakura was having a much easier time at collecting herself. She smiled at the man and batted her lashes a little just for extra effect. "It was fine really, she was nice girl… maybe a little jumpy," Sakura giggled behind her hand.

"Would you like to join us?" She started. Very direct, Naruto struggled to nod her once more in agreement. She hoped desperately that she didn't come across as too apprehensive.

The man they knew as Gato (although that couldn't possibly be his real name) looked at Sakura appreciatively. "I would love to, but I only stopped by to check up on my friend. He seems a little preoccupied." He nodded over to Ino who was still engaged with the man at the bar that Naruto had encountered earlier.

"Oh! That's out friend, Minako!" Sakura perked up, using the pseudonym they had agreed on earlier. "But I suppose this mean you're not staying for long?" She asked quietly, something in her voice rang with ill-hidden disappointment.

Gato sighed and looked over to Naruto. "I suppose I could stay for a drink, if that's alright with you ma'am?" This time he was asking Naruto directly. Naruto didn't trust her voice to speak at this point in time so she settled with nodding her head again, realising she was starting to look like a mute.

Shouldn't she be excited? With Gato already in their range she couldn't help but think how easy it would be to just attack him here and now. Killing wasn't the objective of the mission of course, it was intel, but something prickled beneath her skin urging her to act immediately now that she had sight of the target.

The man smiled at her exclusively, the canines of his teeth showing through his wide toothed grin making him look predatory as he excused himself to order an extra drink from the clumsy waitress.

Sakura beamed at Naruto from across the table, "Wow, I didn't expect there to be so many handsome men in Wave country!" She exclaimed to Naruto who chuckled cutely in reply, still attempting to regain her voice.

Gato did not take long to return and behind him followed Ino and the man Naruto had encountered earlier. "Usagi-chan," the not-so-stranger greeted. Naruto looked at him in concealed relief, someone she had already spoken too was way easier for her to play along with.

She beamed at him genuinely, gratitude born out of relief. "You know, I don't think it's fair you know my name but I don't know either of yours," Naruto pouted. The man barked out a laugh and slammed his hand on table making Naruto almost jump at his sudden change in demeanour. "You're right! How rude of me!" He grinned and his arm shot around their targets shoulder, pulling the somewhat taller man down to his own height.

"I'm Haku!" He grinned as his hand gripped tighter around Gato's shoulder. "And this here, he's Zabuza!" Naruto couldn't stop herself from paling. 'Haku' raised a brow at her reaction. "Don't worry, he's name might be a little scary but he's a real gentleman." 'Haku' winked.

Naruto felt ill. This was fucked up, they stole the names of the deceased, her deceased friends. They used those names, dirtied them, took innocent women away from their lives with it. Whatever thread that had been holding her together though out this conversation seemed to splitting at the seams. The utter hatred pooling in her gut came in waves, distorting her vision. They were monsters, someone needed to end them.

"Calm down" came a deep hiss reverberating throughout her head amongst the clouds of hatred. She didn't want to calm down! These men were monsters!

"CALM DOWN!" This time the yell was so loud it deafened her to the real world. An induced placating emotion overwhelmed her, like a kitten be dragged from the scruff of their neck, she could no longer react to anything. Kurama had forced her to shut down her emotions, she had never felt him control her emotions with anything but hatred before.

"If you let any chakra out, this foolish quest would have been for nought." Kurama informed her in the silence of her mind. He was right, she was reacting recklessly. Guilt creeped into her as she realised she had been quiet for too long.

Thankfully it seemed Ino had taken over the conversation, with Sakura giggling by her side. It was only then that Naruto realised Sakura's hand was squeezing her own under the table.

The clumsy waitress interrupted their conversation with the drinks that were ordered, perhaps too many, triple the amount Naruto had initially ordered. She carefully took one of the cups of sake, glad to see her hands had remained steady despite the onslaught of emotions that had threatened to take over her.

She sipped quietly, humming along with conversation. A placid smile stuck to her face like glue as she felt like a ghost in the room. Naruto began to understand why the mission report had described 'Zabuza' as talkative. He slammed the first glass of sake in a single gulp and proceeded to chat away about nothing important. It was shocking how much he could talk, even if he wasn't saying anything valuable. When he had first chatted up Naruto and Sakura he had behaved so suave that Naruto assumed that would be his whole demeanour. Perhaps they would have this mission finished within a day, this filled Naruto with hope and even allowed her to naturally ease up to the company they were surrounded with.

When she finally got back to her room, Naruto fell into the futon with an aggravated moan. She ripped the wig from her head and threw it across the room.

"Would I be safe to assume this means the mission is not going according the plan?" Sai voice drifted gently from the corner of her room. Weakly, Naruto allowed a weary eye to look at the boy and just moaned distastefully.

Sai got up from the seat he seemingly had never left since Ino, Sakura and Naruto had first journeyed out onto the streets. Gracefully he picked up Naruto's mattered wig and ran his fingers through it, attempting to detangle the locks of hair after Naruto's harsh treatment.

"It would be no good for you to ruin your only wig," Sai frowned down at her. Naruto rolled onto her back and continued to look at the male in contempt. "The mission is going well." She stated before she slammed a hand onto her forehead and then counteractively rubbing it soothingly.

"I hate them." Naruto spat.

Sai gave her a regarding look. "You're not supposed to like them," he commented.

"No." Naruto agreed. "But I've never hated anyone so much in my life. They stole Haku and Zabuza's names, they died in vain, and these disgusting men stole their name." She wanted to shout it to the world, refraining was hell. Sai's eyes remained blank, it was likely he was still processing Naruto's emotions.

Before he could reply, their door opened and Sakura peeked her head through. Naruto groaned as she and Ino made their way in. Sakura instantly frowned when she saw the state of Naruto's wig.

"We need that for tomorrow, you idiot." She growled under her breath and snatched the wig from Sai and retreating to the ensuite to brush it out, no doubt trying to let her own stormy emotions out one way or another. Ino sat herself down on the side of Naruto's bed in a heavy fud. "Seems like we got out guys huh?" She peered down to Naruto who looked anything but okay.

"We might be able to finish the mission by tomorrow," Ino tried to smile, but even her energy seemed too low. When Naruto didn't reply, Ino sighed and heavily fell back into the futon, her shoulders brushing up to Naruto's. She was warm, her aura somehow managing to be comforting just by mere proximity. Sakura eventually joined and with more care, laid herself down on Naruto's other side. Their barricade of bodies cocooned Naruto comfortingly, no words were spoken for the rest of night. The calm silence persevered as they were all too worn out emotionally. Things had progressed faster than they could have ever imagined, Gato was already on their radar and gravitating towards them.

Naruto woke up too hot and sweaty for her own liking. She blinked up into the dark room, pitch black, near impossible to see anything. She could feel Sakura and Ino on either side of her, their hot bodies breathing gently onto her cheeks.

Silently she dislodged herself from the bodies tangled around her and tiptoed across the hardwood floor, gently sliding the bedroom door open. The room was definitely too small to hold four people, this was made apparent as the air had gone stale and musty.

She silently made her way through the lit-up hallway and exited the inn. The crash of cold, sharp air hit her almost instantly. The chill was welcoming to her sweaty locks of hair. The dark blue of the night sky indicated that morning would be arriving in a few hours, she guessed it was probably about 3:00 AM but couldn't be 100% sure.

The light of the inns entrance was still light up and bright behind her, but the night was dead silent. There was something eery about the atmosphere, she narrowed her eyes at the tall trees that dotted the path in front of her. With only the rustle of their leaves as company she still couldn't shake off the feeling she wasn't alone.

The sudden thought that perhaps she was under the surveillance of Gato was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand. Cursing under her breath Naruto hurried back into the inn, berating herself for leaving her room not in disguise. She sped walked down the hall back to her room, with one last withering glance back to the entrance of the inn.

"Naruto-san?" Sai voice quietly welcomed her back, the light of the hallway shining through the open door allowed her to see Sai, who still glued to the seat in the corner of the room. She shut the door behind her, letting the room once more be consumed by shadows. She tiptoed to the end of the futon and sat down softly, but there was no way she could fall asleep now.

"Sai…" She stared into the darkness, "would you be able to tell if we're being watched..?" She asked hesitantly. Sai remained silent for a moment.

"I would like to think I would know, but there's always the chance my beasts missed something." He said finally.

Naruto sighed and allowed herself to lay on her back, in between Sakura and Ino's legs, her own spread out across the hard wood floor.

"Did you see something, Naruto-san?" Sai queried. She hadn't, "no," Naruto whispered into the room, she was probably just being paranoid. "I just had a weird feeling while outside." Nothing else was said after that, Naruto and Sai continued in their silent ponderings until the first beams of light lit up the room.

The next day, Naruto could confirm she didn't feel her 100%. Sakura and Ino seemed refreshed and determined to get this mission over and done with today, they had made plans. 'Haku' and 'Zabuza' had offered to show them around wave. Naruto laughed inwardly as she walked in complacent silence with them along the Naruto bridge.

Ino, of course carried the conversation. Her interest in 'Zabuza' could not be misconstrued and it seemed he was receptive to her advances. She held onto his arm as the two of them walked ahead of the group, Naruto, Sakura and 'Haku' close behind. Sakura held the conversation but much to Naruto's discontent 'Haku' stood in-between her and Sakura.

As they reached the middle of the bridge Naruto couldn't help mourning a little as memories of what exactly took place here back when she twelve seemed manifest right before her eyes

"Are you okay Usagi-chan?" 'Haku' querried, looking down at her. Naruto blinked herself out of her reverie and forced a grin. "Of course I am!" She exclaimed and then pouted, "So I really look that miserable?" She asked, looking shyly back at the man she loathed. An arm, without permission wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to 'Haku'.

"I was just admiring how pretty your eyes were, but it seemed you were in another world." He smiled charmingly as Naruto resisted the urger to grab that same arm and use it to throw the man off the bridge.

She stretched her smile as her eyes squinted shut. She did not like the idea of this man looking into her eyes and feeling anything except fear. Disgusting. "I didn't sleep to well last night." She stated, resisting to bite it out.

After a tedious walk, Naruto in strained silence as she was attached to the man against her will, the small group returned to the bar they all originally met. Thankfully this meant Naruto was now dislodged from the Haku impersonator, she sat back in her seat, sagging a little in relief as the men went to the bar to get their drink.

"W-wow, Usagi-chan," Sakura started, she looked at Naruto hesitantly. "Haku-san seems very taken by you," her smile strained in its genuinity. The pink haired woman picked up Naruto's hand and held it in her own. "I'm so happy for you," Sakura falsely giggled. When Naruto took her hand back, she noticed a small white slip of paper in it. She recognised the slip at as a drug tester, having been taught about them before, Naruto knew it was to be used to colour code liquids for what poisonous substance was within them. She knew automatically that Sakura had slipped her this because she was suspicious Naruto was now being targeted.

Naruto smiled back pleasantly while trying to figure out in her head how she could subtly test the drinks these men were getting without raising suspicions. The men were taking a while to get their hopefully not spiked drinks and it gave Sakura, Ino and Naruto some time to talk in code.

"Haku may be very kind to me, but we all know that Minako is all Zabuza and can look at," Naruto giggled behind her hand, using Ino's alias. Ino in turn blushed, "you think so?" She asked, her eyes averting, choosing to look towards the bar where the drinks were being made. Sakura smile slyly at Ino, "should we be worried about you not coming back to you room, tonight?" She asked. Ino blushed fittingly for the part. "That's quite an outrageous accusation, Ami-chan." Ino batted her hand as Sakura. 'Ami' shrugged Ino off and sighed indulgently. "How lucky you two are so popular, if only there was a third man."

'Haku' and 'Zabuza' being in earshot now and they returned with a drink for each lady. "It would be my pleasure to set you up with someone Ami-chan," Haku winked at Sakura. "It would be hard to find a man worthy of such a beauty, however, but it can be arranged." He then slid into the seat next to Naruto. "I wasn't sure what drink you would like, so I got this. It's lychee flavoured, I thought you'd suit something as sweet as you look." He smiled at Naruto as she swallowed her bile.

It would be suspicious if she didn't give it a taste at least, the paper hidden in her hand, stuck to her palm with sweat. She smiled graciously at Haku. "You are too kind to me," Naruto hesitantly put her lips down to the straw, sipping only the tiniest bit. She really hoped her spit didn't dilute it too much, because when she lifted her hand to her face in the pretence of a well natured giggle, Naruto let the liquid spill out of her mouth into her palm successfully soaking the slip of paper.

Haku continued to watch her, his smile never wavering. "How was it? Did I do a good job?" He asked. "Mmm…" Naruto hummed nodding her head, when her continued to stare at her unmoving she added, "it's very… sweet. Thank you very much." His smile grew larger in satisfaction for a moment before he turned back to the conversation happening around the table.

Naruto resisted sighing in relief and tried to subtly look at her hand from under the table. Nothing, no colour, it could mean it wasn't poisoned. It could also mean her sample wasn't potent enough. Biting the bullet, Naruto decided to trust the process and allowed herself to slowly sip at the drink.

Sakura and Ino didn't seem to have any qualms with their drinks so it was probably safe. She didn't really need to worry about getting drunk if that was their end goal with alcohol, she could trust Kurama to filter out most toxins.

She wondered how proficient Kurama was with other mind altering substances. "I can assure you, that anything you consume will have no effect. Even if you were to be poisoned the healing process would be fairly instant. Such as the snakebite from you packmate." Kurama inputted quickly. Naruto felt a tickle of irritation. "You couldn't have mentioned that before I tried preforming my own poison test?" Naruto grumbled into her head.

"I like to see you thinking on your feet." Kurama replied simply and then exited the conversation as Naruto now drank at her cocktail with more vigour.

"Usagi-chan, you must be really thirsty!" Haku exclaimed as he looked at Naruto's already finished drink. She blinked at him, now paying attention to her surrounding once more. "I did?" She looked to Sakura and Ino's still almost full drinks. Oops? Was it weird to drink too much? Should she be pretending she was drunk now? How strong were the drinks? Naruto felt now was an appropriate time to curse her lack of drinking experience, but if she remembered correctly, alcohol never really went into effect immediately for anyone, giant chakra demon filters or not.

"Maybe I should go and get some water…" She pushed her seat out and walked briskly to the bar before anyone could 'helpfully' get her water for her. As she waited for someone at the bars attention she wondered if she should order a bottle of sake to their table as their company irritatingly wasn't drinking themselves.

The bar was far busier than it was the evening before. God know why, it still a weekday. This did however mean she may be stuck waiting for a while. She took position close the front of the bar where some people were sitting on barstools, drinking and chatting. As she waited, tapping her fingers on the counter a familiar face made her freeze. Sitting right next to her on a barstool with brunette hair was a face she could never forget.

The man paid her no mind as her jaw fell open, outwardly gaping. It couldn't be possible? Except it totally could be possible! But what were the odds. Sukea, the travelling photographer was sitting quietly, sipping at a small glass of sake, seemingly content.

Forgotten memories came flooding back to a smaller team 7 running around together when they come across a handsome stranger who joined them on their journey of trying to capture an image of Kakashi-sensei unmasked. She went from gaping at him obnoxiously to sharply turning her head straight again before she was caught with such a stupid expression. Her hands twisted together on the bar counter as the corner of her eyes narrowed to watch him from the side.

He was doing a job in Wave country maybe? Should she say hello, would he even remember her? She blushed at the memory of them all spectacularly failing together. How odd that he never returned to Konoha after that fated meeting. More casually this time, she turned around to fully face him, waiting for him to notice her.

When he finally looked up from his drink and faced the expectant woman he smiled pleasantly. Could it be he remembered her?! Naruto felt giddy in excitement for the first time since she had met 'Haku' and 'Zabuza'. "Sukea!" She beamed loudly, not bothering to use her inside voice. He raised an eyebrow as his smile fell and he suddenly looked sheepish.

"Sorry, have we met before?"

Naruto deflated like a balloon that was popped. Of course he couldn't remember her, stupid, supid Naruto! She went to tug on her hair in distress when the brown locks jogged her memory up to her situation. STUPID, STUPID, NARUTO!

Her face flushed in mortification as she realised she was in disguise. "Uh…" She fumbled with her words, how the fuck does she explain this. Usagi and Sukea have never met!

It seemed that Sukea was some kind of guardian angel because before she could make any more fuck ups he smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. I'm a travelling photographer, but sometimes I forget faces. Could it be I have taken photos for you before?" He asked still smiling at her pityingly.

"Usagi-chan?" Haku came up behind her. "What has been taking you so long? Is this guy giving you trouble?" That irritating arm wrapped itself around her waist possessively. Her head snapped to look at the offending man. "N-no." She denied. "I just thought I recognised him is all." Haku looked down at her, his friendly façade wiped as he looked at her analytically. What he was trying to figure out God could only tell.

"Let me get your water for you, go back and join your friends." That contemptuous smile was back, and he let her go. Sullenly, Naruto turned to leave.

"It was lovely to see you again, Usagi-chan," Sukea said to her lightly. She flushed and bowed to him before wonkily walking back to the table. As she slipped back into her seat, she couldn't help thinking about how cute the beauty mark under Sukea's lip was.