Well... that escaleated quickly. But I didn't want to strech the first mission over 10 chapters, so I decided to make this one a bit longer. And also I was in the mood for it :D
You'll be able to deal with it, I'm sure, you good!
Dammit! Yato cursed softly and let off of Seydo. Millimeters before Paku's blade pierced Tayuya's torso, Yato stepped in and grabbed the blade of Paku's sword in his bare hand.
Tayuya let out a startled "Uhm ..." Paku's eyes widened in shock. The blood dripped from Yato's fingers. "Hey, I had everything under control here, you stupid!" Scolded Tayuya.
"This is no gimcrack here.", Yato warned his team partner in a cold, emotionless and serious voice. "Chikaidesu!" Yato gripped harder and Paku's sword pulverized.
"Chidori!" Shouted Seydo, who came from above them to counterattack.
Yato had perhaps a split second and had to act intuitively. He gave Tayuya a quick shove that she fell off the roof and came out of the jutsu of Paku. Then it impacts him.
"Yato!", Tayuya shouted worried. While falling, she managed to play notes and caused the doki to catch her with his claw. She managed to fall unscathed. A large cloud of mist prevented a clear view of the situation on the silo roof. Did he get him? she wondered quietly. When the haze subsided, she could see what had happened. Seydo had cut through a tree trunk with his Chidori. A body replacement! she thought relieved. At the same moment, however, she saw that Paku had disappeared. "Not this time!" She announced and jumped off the Dokis claw. When she was still in the air, she saw Paku come out of the ground where her shadow was right before.
"What's the matter, little girl? Scared?" Paku scoffed.
"Is that all you have?", Seydo shouted meanwhile, while he pulled his hand out of the tree trunk. When he straightened up to look around, he couldn't see Yato. Suddenly it pulls him into the depths. Two arms came out of the ground, grabbed his ankles and pulled him down, so hard that the part of the roof under Seydo collapsed. Fortunately for him, the silo was half full of grain and he landed softly.
The man in the tattered linen shirt stands up and brushes off the dust and the few grain sprouts. He looked around again. It was dark in this silo. Only the break from the roof threw a little light inside.
"Are you looking for me?" Yato asked in a cold voice. Seydo looked over and saw that his opponent was standing there on the ceiling. Seydo made a scroll forward. "I wouldn't move much if I were you!"
"Tzeh! What do you want to do anyway?", Seydo replied stubbornly.
I won't be able to target him if I must keep jumping around so his shadow jutsu doesn't catch me! I have a plan! Tayuya fiddled with her thoughts. She threw a smoke bomb under her so that she would land in a billow of smoke and the enemy could not catch her with the jutsu of his. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! She created three shadow clones of herself, which was already draining her chakra. Each of the clones jumped out of the smoke in a different direction. One landed in a nearby tree. The other on the shoulder of her bandaged, armless Doki. Another one on the barn roof, where the silo belongs, and the last one a few meters from the building on the meadow. When the smoke from the bomb subsided, Paku stood there. All four Tayuya images went straight to the flute playing position in case the shadow trick caught them again.
"Aha, the little girl thinks she's clever ...", the shadow specialist sneered.
"Didn't you notice all the letter bombs on the walls?" Asked Yato, who was still hanging on the inner ceiling of the silo. Seydo looked around a little more closely and saw the letter bombs. However, he did not understand what this should have to do with his movements, so he moved his right foot out again a little. By chance, a little sunlight was reflected in an area of the air where one would not suspect anything.
"I see! You wired the whole silo with letter bombs so that one wrong move blows this part up!"
"A hundred rubber points to the felon sitting in trouble!", Yato replied highly ironic, but still in an apparently emotionless voice. "I'll ask you one last time, where is the boy?!"
"Heh, you would like to know that?" Seydo replied disrespectfully. He now stuck out his arm a little, because a few centimeters in front of him he recognized the extremely thin wire by the reflection of the sunlight.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Yato warned urgently.
"I'll tell you something now! You are not the first one who tried to escape my jutsu with cheap shadow clones!", said Paku. Tayuya and her clones pale with shock when they all noticed that Paku appeared behind them all at once. This time even so quickly that she hadn't even noticed that he had sunk into the ground in the meantime. The problematic thing was that she had moved her head a little away from her flute in the shock situation.
Damn it, I can't move that much at all! she cursed.
Seydo concentrated Chakra in his hand and led a little of it in the form of a Raiton through the cables, with which all letter bombs were neutralized. Yato did not have his Sharingan active now and the lightning chakra was only guided through the cable and was not visible. The young Ganan was still holding the end of the cable in his hand, and he quickly felt an electric shock that went through his whole body. Damned! he cursed. He was no longer able to concentrate his chakra, not even in his feet and so he fell headlong towards the grain.
"Let's play a game girl! Who's the real one? Let's find out!", Paku played with her. The first shadow stabbed the Tayuya clone in the meadow with his short sword from behind through the chest. Puff! He dissolved. "It's probably not her ... how about this one ?!", the Paku shadow shouted, who stabbed the image of Tayuya on the tree with the short sword from behind through the lower right belly. The two other images of her dissolve, just like the Doki, who vanished into thin air. A little blood started to run out of her mouth.
Yato was completely immobile due to the electric shock paralyzing him. He had no way of defending himself in the case. Before he hit the ground, Seydo ran towards him. Chidori! Seydo rammed the lightning sphere in his right hand through the belly of the defenseless Ganan and pulled it out again so quickly that the impact on the grain would be as painful as possible.
Tayuya fought hard against the pain in her lower abdomen. However, she couldn't stop the flow of blood. Paku pulled out the sword and was ready to stab again. Tayuya now used everything she could bundle in sheer willpower and fought hard against the opponent's jutsu. She got close enough to her flute and started playing a genjutsu tune. "What?! How is that possible?", Paku marveled. The sky above him blackened and suddenly the three Doki were standing behind him. Every impression was hazy and psychedelic. "What is happening here? A genjutsu?!"
Seydo took the few steps towards his defenseless opponent and was about to pull out a kunai when he suddenly felt a metal blade on his neck. How did he do that? he thought.
"I'll be happy to explain it to you again: If you look me in the eyes, it's over!", Yato explained very coldly and calmly. "One wrong move or remark and your head is off!"
"What do you want from the boy anyway? What do you even know about him?" Asked Seydo in his hopeless situation.
"That doesn't matter, and I don't owe you an explanation either! And since you won't tell me where to find him anyway, that's it for you.", Yato finished the conversation, closed his eyes for a moment and mercilessly decapitated his opponent. The young Ganan grimaced in pain: I hate that! Then he jumped out of the silo. Tayuya's melody couldn't harm him at this point, as he still had his Sharingan active. Shocked, he looked over into the trees and saw that Tayuya had caught her opponent under the spell of her genjutsu, but also that she was badly injured and had already lost a considerable amount of blood, which he said of the small pool under her and the big red one stain on her tunic. Yato jumped into the middle of their scene and appeared twice. The real Yato directly supplied Tayuya's heavy bleeding with a medicinal ninjutsu. A chakra clone, which he casted with his Sharingan took Paku into a headlock from behind and held a kunai to his back.
"Is there anything the oh so great hero can't do?", Tayuya asked angrily when she saw the healing jutsu in action for the first time. When it was last used on her, she was unconscious.
"If I search long enough, I'll definitely find something!" Yato replied ironically with a warmer voice and a smile on his face. As soon as he turned his attention to Paku, his voice dropped to the cold again: "Where is the boy? And no tricks! You will be our hostage until we have found him. I will not hesitate to cut your head off, if you're trying to mislead me!", he warned with Sharingan pointing at Paku.
"The barn has a sealed cellar, where we keep boy!", the hostage uttered resignedly.
"Don't feel great just because you saved my life at the last second!" She bit her teeth in pain because her wound made it difficult to speak and she is already dizzy from the blood loss.
"Calm down!", Yato recommended to his partner, "Your wound is not ready for the exertion, and I am not quite finished here either!"
Tayuya closed her eyes and even if she hated to show weakness, she had to acknowledge that he had saved her life and a relieved: "Thank you, Yato!", with a downcast look escaped her.
It was new to Yato that she showed her appreciation to him, even if he never asked her to do so: "You're welcome! And I would do it again anytime, even if you didn't ask me!", he assured her, she hid her slight blush.
"Oh, how romantic!" Replied Paku, annoyed!
"Shut up, scum!", Tayuya hissed at him and he shrank back slightly.
"You should be able to walk again now!", Yato explained to his partner, "But no false pride! It is important that we take a break immediately and treat your wound if it causes problems."
"All right!" replied the young lady flippantly.
"I'll take care of you now!" Said the young teenager in the direction of Paku! The young Ganan pulled a scroll from his weapon bag and wrote something on it with pure chakra. What Tayuya could see seemed very cryptic to her. When he finished writing, he bit his thumb and rammed his palm into what looked like a circle with characters extending from it. The chakra writing rose from the scroll, and now this strange thing was on the palm of Yato's hand. He punched his palm against Paku's stomach, and the writing spread all over his entire body.
"What is that? What is happening here?", Paku asked fearfully.
"This is a prison seal! It prevents your ability to concentrate chakra and should keep you from doing stupid things towards us!", the Ganan explained calmly. Paku was completely unable to move. Yato lifted him onto his shoulder. "Now let's check for the boy!"
As they entered the secret cellar of the barn, all three of them cought a foul smell in their noses. The walls were partly damp and mossy. Light came in only from the entrance. A makeshift torch hung over the entrance to the sealed room.
"But these are not complicated seals!" Yato blasphemed.
The idiot knows about seals as well! Tayuya was secretly annoyed.
"Release!" Yato yelled and the sealed barriers popped off the door.
"Who's there?" Asked a childlike and frightened voice.
"Don't worry, we're here to take you back home! You' must be Katamaru, aren't you?" Yato asked in the warmest voice he had.
"That's my name," replied the boy, confused.
"What's going on? You don't seem particularly pleased to be able to return home." Yato wondered.
"Where is my home?" Asked Katamaru.
"In Shizugakure! Your family is very worried!", Tayuya interrupted. She too had a warm voice.
"Family?" The boy was utterly confused.
"Come on, we'll take you with us first.", Katamaru followed his rescuers without a word. "We're not going to jump through the trees, your injury hasn't been cured well enough for that. It'll take a whole day, but that's the way it is.", Yato suggested.
"Oh nonsense! I can piggyback the little one and then it'll work! The wound can take that!", Tayuya replied optimistically.
"I can't imagine that by no stretch of imagination!", Yato contradicted her, "The wound is still too freshly healed, and experience has shown that it takes about a day for my medical jutsu to reliably heal the wounds, of course depending on the severity of the injury. "
Tayuya was annoyed by the condescending and instructive nature of the former Konoha Shinobi. So, she put Katamaru on her back and jumped off: "Catch me if you can, smart ass!"
Oh man! Yato had to smile a little to himself. And so, he jumped after. "If we can keep up the pace, we could be back at Sensei Kagame before sunset!" Commented the young Ganan. Tayuya was plagued by pain throughout the entire trip, but she really wanted to go to the fair, not least because she knew that it would annoy her companion. So, she bit all the pain away and let her willpower carry her.
Arrived in Shizugakure, the two delivered Paku to the pawn shop and showed Katamru. Paku was brought to the local prison with immediate help from a temporary ANBU. The pawnbroker then handed the two of them the reward money: 50,000 Ryō. Since Yato was a little concerned about the boy's confused demeanor, he said at the pawnshop that he would personally hand over Katamru to his family. He asked where the royal family is. The pawnbroker told him it was only a 5-minute walk to downtown Shizugakure. The royal house is the central building of the village. On the way there they could see how the first booths were set up for the evening fair. When the two arrived at the royal house, the three stopped in front of the door and paused for a moment.
"I think you should do that, Tayuya!" Yato suggested.
"Why is that?" She asked him.
"I'm not good at this!" The young Ganan exclaimed.
"Whatever!", She equalized. She gently grabbed the boy's hand: "Come on!" Katamaru followed her wordlessly and Tayuya knocked a little briskly on the door. A butler opened.
"Shizugakure Royalty, what can I do for you?" The man asked in an extremely polite and formal tone.
"We have returned from our mission, and we wanted to hand over the son of the royal family again.", The red-haired girl explained with a friendly smile.
"Is that even possible?", The butler eyed the boy incredulously. "One moment please!", He apologized and closed the door.
"Strange.", Yato commented. "Katamaru, how long have you been away from home?"
Katamaru hesitated a little. He replied shyly: "I can't remember being in this place before!" The two ninjas reacted in shock. The door opened again. This time it wasn't the butler, but the head of the royal family. Even before the lady in the gold-blue kimono said anything, tears began to run down her cheeks.
"Katamaru, is it really you?" Asked the lady. Yato and Tayuya just stood by without a word. The royal lady embraced her lost son.
"Mummy!" Replied the child. Even if he never really knew his parents, Katamaru could feel a purely intuitive connection to the woman who appeared to be his mother. She straightened up and held the boy's hand.
Still in tears she said: "My name is Lady Shizu. I thank you both from the bottom of my heart that you have brought us back our lost and only child! How can I thank you for that?", she asked with a sincere voice.
"Don't worry! It's our duty as a Shinobi!", Yato replied trustingly.
Tayuya choked briefly in her imagination: I get nausea from this sentimental chatter! Yato could sense that his accomplice was not particularly taken with his philosophy. Lady Shizu did not just let them go and gave them 200,000 Ryō each.
"Please take this! That is the least we can do, and money is the last thing we lack. Thank you both for your sincerity! I hope you didn't face any severe issues?" Asked the relieved queen.
"To be honest-", Tayuya wanted to interject, but Yato covered her mouth with his hand and replied on her behalf:
"Not at all! It was no big deal!", the royal lady smiled a little and then said goodbye to both.
They first made their way back to the Atsuka domicile. "You could've left out this fleapit and told the woman that we were in real mortal danger in the meantime to bring her brat back home!" Said Tayuya reproachfully. "After all, I sustained a not so insignificant injury!"
"Oh, suddenly the injury matters? Didn't you just say grandly that it would be just fine?", Yato replied with a slightly sarcastic undertone.
"Now watch out, you smart ass! Just because you got away without any major injuries doesn't mean you have to appease the actual damage in front of the oh-so-great queen, got it?" Tayuya snapped back.
"Oh yeah? You mean I haven't been injured at all?" Yato asked, a little depressed.
"I can't see any! Or do you want to tell me that the small cut from Paku's blade in your hand is an injury?" She asked angrily.
"Do you think physical injuries are the only damage you can get from a fight?" Yato asked her with a downcast gaze.
"What is that supposed to mean now?"
"When I saw that you had a huge blood stain under your tunic and I saw the puncture, I was worried sick!", Yato assured her.
"Now don't come at me with such sentimental bullshit!" She replied. Is he serious? Why is he worried about me? He barely knows me, doesn't he? As tough as she has always acted, the fact that someone cares for her is incomprehensible to her and should not leave her for the rest of their time.
Without further exchange and lost in thought, the two reached the Hidden Compound. Kagame sat by the pond and meditated.
"Oi! We're back, old man!", Tayuya shouted from afar.
"Have you completed your mission?" Asked the teacher.
"Yes of course!", Tayuya replied confidently. Kagame waved his hand.
"Have a nice evening then!" He suggested. When the two arrived on the upper floor of the building, Tayuya took another shower.
"Don't forget your towel this time!" Yato yelled at her.
"Leave me alone!" Replied the redhead, lost in thought again. What's wrong with the boy? All I do is insult, box and yell at him, and he still worries about me? Why? Based on what? For him I'm still more or less an enemy, am I not? Tayuya stood motionless under the hot water of the shower head for a few minutes. She had crossed her right arm over her breasts and with the other arm she was holding the wound. What's the matter with me? Why do I care so much? It shouldn't bother me at all and normally I should not mind? Tayuya shook her head and pulled herself out of her thoughts.
"Is everything ok in there?" The young Ganan asked worriedly.
"Everything is fine, didn't I tell you to leave me alone?"
"You did, but you haven't moved an inch in the last five minutes and the water keeps running. Does the injury hurt?"
"No and now get out of here!", She remained stubborn. Even if her injury was bothering her a little, that didn't stop her from showering. So, she continued without worrying. When she finished the shower, she noticed that she had forgotten to bring a towel with her. "Yatooo?" She called in a fake sweet voice.
"Huh?" He loudly mumbled back.
"I probably forgot to take a towel again!", she said still in her fake voice.
She can't be serious? I told her beforehand! Yato thought annoyed. If she would cause less trouble and listen to me, everything would be easier. He waddled into the bedroom, grabbed the first towel he could get hold of and handed it to Tayuya with his eyes closed.
When the red-haired Kunoichi had finally left the bathroom, Yato couldn't hold back his disgraceful comment: "Is it going to be a common procedure to carry your towel behind you every time just so you can call me a pervert?"
"No reason to be annoyed all the time! You should also consider yourself lucky! That's how close you'll come to a naked woman as you can!" She countered self-confidently. "Let's go then! We could really do some more errands."
"Whatever!", The former Konohanin replied annoyed. The way back to Shizugakure was not very eventful. Except for a small dispute about why fairs are not so good, the two exchanged surprisingly little with each other. As soon as they arrived in Shizugakure, Tayuya was amazed by the variety of colors. From her imprisonment in Orochimaru's hiding place, she only knew gray and darkness. Above the roofs of the village and along the power lines hung little paper lanterns in all kinds of colors: blue, red, white, purple, green, orange and colors whose hue Tayuya couldn't even name. There were people all over the streets. Small children playing hide and seek or nibbling on candy. Old married couples who sat on the benches by the side of the road and exchanged stories about the past and enjoyed the atmosphere. All these environmental impressions triggered a feeling in Tayuyas chest, which she had never felt before. It felt like zest for life. Yato could literally see the glow in her eyes. And he had never seen such a fascinated and almost childish smile on her face either. I must admit: It was worth coming here just for that. The radiant happiness in Tayuya's face made his heart warm and his pulse increased a little with happiness. All in all, there was a harmonious idyll and feel-good atmosphere. Tayuya finally dared a few steps. And stopped at the very first stand. A Kimono booth. She had never worn something like this before, but when she looked around, she noticed that almost everyone at the fair wears one.
"Yato, we need these Kimimo-things like that!" She spoke.
"They're called Kimono!" He corrected her.
"Save your shit and try one on!", she replied, without appearing angry or annoyed this time. The overstimulation of happiness outweighed any nonsense that Yato could have done.
"Well, all right!", He resigned and looked around a little. Hmm ... this one look very chic. He thought to himself, holding a black kimono with blue stitching in his hand. Fashion affinity was not a quality Yato would ever assume, so he thought: Simplicity is key! He couldn't make out instantly where Tayuya was. She was like jumping into the store and trying them all on one by one. The woman at the cash register couldn't help but smile.
They're cute, aren't they? she thought secretly. Will I find such a great husband one day?
"That's him!", Tayuya shouted and burst out of her locker room. She wore a kimono in a whitish pink. There were red seams on it that emphasized the natural areas of the body and a sewn, red dragon with golden eyes adorned her torso region. In this clothing, new to her, Tayuya felt awesome. Yato stumbled out of his in his black kimono. "Do you want to wear that?"
"Erm ... yes?" He replied, slightly unsettled. "Is there something wrong with it?" He asked.
"It's black... and boring..." she replied. She is also not a person who would have put much emphasis on fashion in the past, but it bothered her a little that her Kimono was fancy in her eyes and Yatos, on the other hand, was rather simple-minded. "Well, if you think so!" She replied and just shrugged her shoulders.
"That makes 3,000 Ryō each!" Said the cashier in a friendly manner. Tayuya was pulling out her wallet, but Yato held her hand and with his other hand he handed the shop lady the money with a little tip on top.
"Keep the change!" He said with a nice smile. And so, the two of them moved forward. A few stalls down the road, Yato bought her a cotton candy, a few stalls down sweet dango with chocolate icing and again a few huts down there was a target booth with the advertisement: "5 Kunai in the middle of the target and win a plush teddy!"
"Hey, you smart-ass show-off, how about a little bet?", the Kunoichi challenged her companion.
"I'm always in for a bet!", replied a determined Yato.
"That makes 70 Ryō each!" Said the young man at the cash register. Tayuya thundered the required amount on the counter and had five kunai handed over to her. One ... two ... three ... four ... five ... She had fired all five kunai and all five hit the mark.
"Top that, you scum!" She demanded cockily with a smug smile. Confident of victory, Yato grabbed the five kunai and stuck one on each finger of his right hand. With just one throw, he hit all five centers without any help from any of his visual Jutsus. The cashier was completely flabbergasted.
"Erm ..." stuttered the cashier, who just got rid of two huge plush teddy bears.
"Fucking show-off!" Tayuya cursed annoyed.
"You wanted to bet!" He replied in a know-it-all manner. However, that was just the beginning. All evening long they competed in all kinds of disciplines. Completely exhausted, the two of them end up on a higher roof of the village, from where they could overlook the entire fair. Tayuya rested her head on Yato's shoulder. Without any thought as to whether it could be wrong, whether it shows weakness or whether it shows any affection that she was not ready to admit, she simply enjoyed the evening and the peace of the moment.