Chapter 27
It was cold, their breaths steaming in front of their faces. The trees were stripped bare, which made hiding in the still green and lush pine trees the most obvious choice. What a pity the forests around the Hatake compound didn't carry any of those. It was like a constant reminder that they weren't in fact in the Hatake mountains anymore, but rather bound by what was given to them.
Lands lying dead in the winter instead of coming alive in different ways.
Before they had moved to the Land of Fire, winter had always been his favourite season, but here-
Here it was bland and boring.
He heard them more than he could smell or see them, little twigs breaking underneath their steps, panting breaths and rustling clothes. They were getting better then at using the wind direction and moving in the shadows. Still no better than new-born fawns, but that was the price to be paid for growing up in safety and more forgiving lands. There had never been anything to harden them, even the war something they only heard of and would hopefully never have to endure themselves.
He felt glad for it.
Paper rustled, pulling him out of his thoughts, as Koguma continued reading the scroll with his reading glasses firmly tugged on the ridge of his nose.
The sight made his shoulders tremble in a silent snicker- He had pestered him for weeks to finally go to the doctors and get prescribe one. With how stubborn he had been about neither needing nor wanting one, Koguma had a hard time acknowledging that it had been a stroke of genius after all. Maybe if he had had one as a child already, no one would have ever called him slower or less intelligent than his oh-so-glorious brother.
His lip tugged into a smile as he noticed the pups getting into position- Tensai coming at Koguma from up the bare canopy, while Omugi and Sakumo circled him in from further down, cutting off any potential escape routes. As if not yet having noticed them and only getting ready to leave, Koguma took of the glasses, tugged them into his weapon pouch and rolled up his scroll. The next second the kids came flying at him, wrapping him up with an abundance of ninja-wire against the branch he was sitting on and shouting in wild cheers over their success.
"We made it before tousan!" Tensai called, pumping her little gloved fists into the air.
"Two hours fifty-two minutes. Well done, cubs. That's twice as fast than just a week ago."
"It'd be much easier if you wouldn't hide your chakra or scent," Omugi accused as she jumped onto his lap and snuggled up to him. A deep chuckle resonated in Koguma's chest as pulled her closer to his side.
"That's half the fun," Tensai opposed while she gave a playful kick against Koguma's feet. "Otherwise it would be too easy."
"Where's tousan?" Sakumo spoke up, looking rather warily up and down the tree, as if waiting for his father to jump at them. That kid had certainly grown in a miniature copy of his grandfather with his too large mouth, dark eyes and wild hair. Even got his cautious temperament to go along with it.
Thank the gods for that.
With a yelp both his son and Tensai got pulled upside down into the air as their own ninja wire wrapped around their ancles with a well-placed cut. Omugi had been able to save herself by clinging onto Koguma. She surely had his mate wrapped around her little finger for having him help her like that.
"Have been here for three hours already," Kama drawled as he jumped down onto the branch. He gave Tensai a playful shove upon her stubborn sticking out of her tongue, making her sway like a strung up chicken in a breeze.
"Three hours? So you were here before touchan?" his eldest mocked as if finding a mistake in his maths.
"Who said your touchan has to hide by himself? The other week you took eight hours to find him, that can get quite lonely, pup."
Her mouth pulled into a delightful pout, while his son had started to inconspicuously use his kunai to cut himself free. "You just don't want to share him!"
With quick reflexes, Koguma reached out and caught Sakumo in his sudden tumble out of the trap to keep him from plunging down the tree. The boy's knitted hat landed with a soft thud onto the frozen ground below just a few heartbeats later. "I'd say it's time for some lunch and a good and long afternoon nap."
"Only because you want to." Tensai grumbled as Kama freed her from his snare and helped her get down the tree, Koguma landing beside him with Omugi and Sakumo on his arms a second later. He kicked up Sakumo's hat and handed it to Omugi to push it onto her brother's wild mop of hair.
"Nothing wrong with a little napping," he muttered and blew playful raspberries onto his son's chubby cheeks, making the boy giggle and shriek as he tried to pull away. It made Omugi's task somewhat harder.
No, there was nothing wrong with napping per se, Kama thought, as he watched the dark circles underneath Koguma's eyes, but he surely tried to spend a lot of time sleeping the day away. It was slightly concerning.
To make matters worse that dreadful brother of his had been a regular visitor, coming into their house every time he felt like it and just plonking down right beside Koguma wherever he was roaming about. Either cooking a meal in the kitchen, meditating in the garden, reading scrolls on the porch or napping in their bedroom. Kama had nearly lost his shit seeing them both nap on their furs in their bedroom, as good as sprawling over each other. And sometimes they would just disappear without another word, only coming back hours later, bruised and battered and limping.
He hated how close that whole damn incident of Risu coming crawling out of his grave had brought them together again. Like two planets orbiting each other constantly, unable to move without the other. The sort of dependency that was entirely unhealthy and he'd much rather share with Koguma himself.
He was his mate for sage's sake!
His.
Well, at least that arrogant Uchiha had been right, even if Kama wouldn't admit it with his dying breath. Apart from the dark circles underneath his eyes, he looked healthy, eyes lively, skin tan and sporting a tad more flesh on his rips than before. Finally Kama couldn't count them through his muscles anymore and he had to admit that he most certainly liked him bulkier. Doing mundane stuff like cooking, cleaning, going to the market and playing with their pups really seemed to loosen him up. The war had made him harsher and gruffer and Kama was delighted seeing him this soft again after only three months of rest.
They stepped out of the forest and onto the paved streets, turning around the corner to what once was Koguma's house and was now theirs. And like fucking clock-work, that white-haired idiot was once again waiting at the front gate, smirking at them as they neared.
"Susumu," Koguma greeted in his gruff voice, walking right past him with Omugi and Sakumo still on his arms. Kama had suggested locking him out of the compound with those new seals of theirs, but unfortunately, he had been reminded that Susumu was technically one of them with that adoption and there was no way Koguma would have him do that. At least it locked out any potential grave-robbers. Konoha surely had fucked up big time.
"Kogu," the man sing-sang, following him straight up to the front door and lazily kicking off his shoes while Koguma helped the pups putting theirs away. "Kagami's back, as well as Hiruzen and Danzo-" That made his mate perch up and spare a glance at his brother, his eyebrows hiking up to his hairline. It would mean the hokage had returned as well. Maybe they'd get to see if the seals were to hold up even against a kage-level shinobi."-So I thought we could maybe have dinner at my place tonight, all invited."
His lips thinned and he turned away, following the kids into the kitchen, Susumu right at his heels. "Are they aware of your plans as well?"
"Yeah. Already asked them before coming here. Ryujin and Maho would be there, as well as Biwako and Nami. Kikyo would be delighted having you come around as well." He helped him wash the kids' hands, while Kama started setting the table with the food that had been left over from breakfast.
He simply hummed in reply as he dried their little fingers with a hand-cloth.
His brother paused, shot him a weird look, his smirk suddenly strained, before it turned easy again. "Blink three times if that idiot is keeping you against your will," Susumu whispered, clearly wanting Kama to hear, especially with that stupid smirk of his.
Koguma's amused snort had Omugi grin brightly and he waved her off to help Kama set the table. "What if he even robbed me of that ability?"
"Well then-" He took his hand and tapped onto the palm with his fingers, looking suddenly all serious. Having Koguma roar in laughter in reply surely surprised the hell out of Kama.
"And I should now with the albino returned? Sounds like a terrible idea."
"Don't tell me you're scared," Susumu teased in return, letting his hand fall down again. He was, however, too slow to escape Koguma's reach as he locked him underneath his arm and violently ruffled his hair. "Fine, fine! I surrender!"
Kama had to resist the urge to snarl at the sight and instead herded the children to the table.
"We'll be there," Koguma mumbled as he released him, getting his hands batted away as he tried to help Susumu in brushing his hair down.
Susumu lighted up at his concession and sent Tensai, who had observed the whole spectacle warily, a wink. Such a clever girl for distrusting the obnoxious idiot. "Good, see you then."
Koguma watched the door through which he had left for a long moment, his arms crossing in front of his chest and soft expression fading. Only when Kama pressed the bowl of rice into his hands, did he move again. Before he went to his spot at the other end, he leaned over to Kama and pressed a soft kiss onto his head, sending him a small smile right after.
His affectionate gesture still couldn't mask the sour stench of stress seeping out of him.
The hokage returned- Kama couldn't help feeling anxious at the prospect of his mate being punished for his desertion himself.
It was an empty silence that carried through the room, even with over three dozen shinobi collected. All standing straight as a rod, arms clasped behind their back and staring straight at the hokage. None of them had knelt, something the hokage and the clan-heads collected surely hadn't missed.
"You left the battlefield without being dismissed. I could let you all be trailed for desertion."
Their eyes betrayed nothing, no muscle moved and yet with the defiance radiating off them, the unspoken challenge couldn't have been any more clear had they shouted it right into his face.
"The war is not over yet. You will return to your posts, to your squads and carry out your orders as shinobi of Konoha. You have had months of respite, a lenient favour granted to you. Now we expect you to take up your duty once more, as your pay for disobeying a hokage's order."
The shinobi and kunoichi collected didn't move, but their eyes continued accusing, roaring, damning.
"Edo Tensai has been declared a forbidden technique and will be sealed away-" for the first time an audible shuffle could be heard. "Never to be used again by anyone." Pale red eyes hushed over their forms, arms hanging tense by his side and mouth white through his thinning lips.
Beady eyes hushed to one of the figures standing behind the hokage – grey hair chopped short, large mouth increased with lines of age and posture closed off.
A snarl seemed to tug at frowning lips, showing off the tips of large and pointy fangs, but the expression remained impassive. It might as well have been a trick of the light.
Sutoro was very aware that any respect he may have regained in Koguma's eyes during the course of the years had dispersed upon his inaction, even after they had held clan meeting after clan meeting until deep into the night, his kin begging him for retaliation. But what was he to do? Have them leave? Where was the clan to go? There would be nothing but ghosts waiting for them in Yama no haru. They could find a spot somewhere else, cultivate the lands, continue as a free clan taking contracts as shinobi, but what for? The Hatake would wither away into oblivion on their own. They were simply too few to last. What then? Challenge the hokage and his authority? The Fuma had dared addressing it one council meeting- they had basically been ostracised, even though Sutoro had been certain to see the same fire burning behind the Uchiha's eyes as well.
The seal Koguma had pressed into his hands one day and that just needed to be slightly modified and, frankly, straightened out, had been the only solution available. Although it served its purpose in keeping all strangers out of their compound, it's purpose had been another.
An obvious sign of distrust towards their village and its leadership. An entire clan declaring that it felt threatened within the walls of its own home.
The hokage had taken one look at it, thrown his flying rajin through the invisible barrier and promptly got disappointed when even that didn't let him enter. Sutoro had chugged the kunai right in front of Tobirama's feet again.
Suffice to say, Konoha and the Hatake were at a stale-mate at this point. Still having to accept missions and act as shinobi to the village, but only through a sense of duty, not trust or love or that damned will of fire Hashirama had always spewed about.
The other clan's had watched them shut off from Konoha with a sense of awe for their courage and wariness for their receding.
Yet despite it all, Koguma damned him, in fact surely the entire clan did, the tension in the compound almost malleable. Had this been the old times, someone would have challenged him for his apparent inability to lead already. Even now he was sure some of them considered it an option.
He let his gaze hush over his kin once more, Koguma standing at the very front almost giving the illusion of him protecting them. Maybe they just didn't even register as a threat to him anymore, a bear turning its back on hares. Koguma, Takeo's pup. His only living son. His godson.
Gods, his godson.
Not that the pup had ever realised, but how could he with how little Sutoro had done for him? How he had abandoned him and continued keeping a distance even after his integration into the clan.
His integration into the clan. Only in word. He kept no illusions of him ever being able to find love for the Hatake, of him finding devotion or loyalty. He may be a gruff and closed-off man, but he was as open as a book every time he beheld his kin, beheld the compound, beheld him as clan-head - He hated them all.
The only question to remain was whether he hated Konoha even more.
With what the Senju had done back on the battlefield, he might- resurrecting their kin, Hatake, Okami, Rinkusu, wielding rusting blades, lifeless, conscious, talking, mute. Sutoro had to divert from such thoughts lest they would make him brim with anger. As clan-head, he couldn't allow himself such feelings, not when everyone would be able to see, when the other clan-heads would be able to spot his weakness, when Koguma would take the little hole of doubt gnawing inside of him and rip it right open.
His father had been able to do that as well, make him doubt everything and then yearn for his approval. A cold, but forgiving man, honourable and righteous, who had still been so young and reckless before the birth of his first son. Someone who could spot a weakness and use it against whomever he pleased with ease. Someone with a healthy dose of humour and sense of fairness. It had been a weird companionship they had shared during their adolescence- a strong bond, not always able to see eye to eye but willing to have each other's backs anytime. War did that to people.
He wasn't too sure they would have become such close friends in peacetimes. But then again, the Takeo he had known wouldn't have been able to be during peace.
Umi getting pregnant, even though they hadn't even been married or actually courting at the time, had been more of an unwanted accident and yet turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to his friend. It had felt as if Takeo had found purpose, something to root him, something to help grow instead of take down. And what a gentle boy it had been, so very different from his father and even from his rather determined and no-nonsense mother. It had always been a mystery to Sutoro where the boy had gotten it from.
Maybe Takeo would have been like that hadn't his father been such a demanding asshole, wanting the title of head of the Kuma for his own son.
Koguma's eyes remained steely as he listened to the hokage's lecture on diligence and loyalty. Sutoro was sure to see the hint of a scar peak out of his high-collared shirt. Bite-marks, Kama had confirmed the statements of their other kin as he had pressed him for answers one evening, but what exactly had happened with the Kitsune, Koguma had never told him either.
They had constantly joked that he had been the runt of the litter, but how very far away from the truth that had been. He was more Kuma than his brother could have ever grown into. It had simply been a jest of the gods to let him come out of his mother as premature as he did. A true miracle, him surviving against the odds, always wrapped against his mother's bare skin to keep him warm and imitate the safety of her womb.
The moment it had become clear that Koguma would life, a strange twinkle had entered Takeo's eyes and for the first time he had looked just like his father before him. Oh, how roughly he had tried to shape him into the potential shinobi he had been able to spot, how he had chiselled him down and built him up again and again. Sutoro had grown sick when his friend had shamefully recounted the incident of his son nearly drowning as he had returned to their camp. The hesitation as he witnessed the last moments in which he defended his life, kill that boy and even dare to roar and slash at his father afterwards, had shown glimpses of the old grizzly bear.
His own actions, or lack thereof, had scared the fuck out of Takeo.
His friend must have never told Umi, or that woman would have skinned him alive for it. His brother, Kenji, would have helped her do it and fed it to his summons, piece by piece.
That man had always been a loose cannon, too directionless and wild for his taste, but he had loved his nephew with a zealous fever. Truly the only thing that had made him predictable, especially when he considered him threatened.
And now Kama had made Koguma, who was so like his uncle (so like his grandfather, a treacherous voice whispered in the back of his mind), his mate.
Sutoro really didn't know what to think about that. His feelings had been all over the place the moment his son had told him- Shock, because he had always regarded Koguma as something not-quite a son, but close enough to it. (And yet he had abandoned him. left him to die, his godson, Takeo's flesh and blood although he had promised-) Anger at himself, because he just couldn't find it within himself to be happy for his son. A sense of nostalgia, because Umi had always insisted that it would come to this, even back then already. Oh, how she must be smiling down at him, now that her predictions had proven right. And fear, because he could spot Kenji in Koguma so clearly, could spot all that underlying rage and loathing and drifting and it scared him. A merciless Kuma left alone with his instincts and with his baggage for so long.
He didn't want his son anywhere near that, didn't want his grandchildren anywhere near that.
Somewhere deep down in his heart he had to admit that he didn't want his clan anywhere near that either.
His face twitched as he supressed the urge to frown.
Gengaku with his whispered warnings surely was beginning to get to him, for even thinking of abandoning Koguma once again.
He was his son's mate, for sage's sake and the pups loved him with a feverish clinginess.
Moreover, Koguma wasn't anything but devoted to those he held dear. He would never, never do something to hurt his pack and Sutoro knew Kama and his children were included in that.
Sutoro had to do better and make sure he got to view the Hatake as pack as well. With Koguma at their side, they wouldn't have to fear for anything the village could throw at them ever again, especially if the tales of how he had been fighting with and for his squad were even remotely true.
Sutoro felt that the seal Koguma had practically gifted him was a rather promising start. Perhaps seeing him standing before his kin and hiding them from the hokage's gaze was even the first step. Now it simply was upon Sutoro to tend to it and make it grow.
"Dismissed," the hokage spat. It was telling, oh so telling, that every one of them waited for Koguma to move, the men and women he had led away from the battlefield only then following in his wake, Susumu right beside him.
Disappointment, because Koguma could have been the next in line to the title of clan-head, had Sutoro simply gone back and fetched him.
There were a lot of things he regretted these days. He hoped Takeo would find it within him to forgive him when they were to meet again.
Dinner was awkward, it often had been these last few months. Not as downright hostile and stiff as in the beginning, but still carrying the air of people being on their guards, not trusting themselves to fully relax in the company of each other.
Well, except for his son that was. He could always trust in him to completely disregard the mood of any situation he tapped into.
"He beat your ass again, didn't he?" he drawled, his mouth still stuffed with fish and rice. Gods, what terrible manners. His late wife would level him with the deadliest stare for it, making his skin crawl, but their son had always been a handful and leaving him alone with the responsibility of raising him, hadn't made things easy. "You look like shit-"
"Language."
Kama scoffed and rolled his eyes at Koguma, who was busy getting a second serving on Sakumo's plate. "One would think you'd learned to not challenge Kogu to a full out spar."
Honey eyes darkened and narrowed as they turned to his son. "Ah, Kama, you should know all about that. Haven't won a single spar against him yourself, have you?" His split lip tugged with every one of his words and his shallow breathing betrayed his bruised rips underneath.
"At least I come out of it not looking like a broken doll."
"No, you come out of it whimpering like a kicked puppy."
Kama's face twisted at the retort, but feeling Koguma's displeased glance had him stuff his mouth with food again to choke the surely foolish reply waiting on the tip of his tongue.
This was the same rhythm it took every Sunday. Once a week, they would hold dinner here at his house, ever since Omugi had pleaded with Koguma to come along- it turned out the girl was just as possessive as her father. The children had a special something with him, able to turn him soft and generous, and maybe a bit unwisely, he had agreed. Bound to his word, he turned up every Sunday at half past six, the children practically hanging off of him from wherever they had swept him up and came in to help Nari cook dinner. They never spoke, leaving the kitchen silent except for the clatter of cutlery and pots, but Sutoro knew the woman held him in high regard ever since he had basically freed her from her marriage. That his brother dragged along every single time, sitting in a corner and cleaning his fingernails or simply watching the room with a smirk on his lips, didn't exactly help ease the tension.
Both men, now sitting next to each other, held the same reserved expression from when they had sat in his living room the first time around, caked up in mud and drenched through to the bones with rain. Sometimes, out of the corner of his eyes, he was sure to see the shadow of the third lanky teenager that had been with them. Like a ghost haunting and keeping his team safe.
Small steps, Sutoro repeated to himself. Trust, just like flowers, had to be grown with patience instead of smothered with care.
"Any reason for your fight today?" Kama mumbled after a while, shooting questioning glances at Koguma, who had barely touched his dinner. The man surely was unusually reserved and quiet today, even for his standards.
"Just a friendly afternoon spar with my brother," he replied in his gruff voice, raising a puzzled eyebrow at Kama's cautious question.
Susumu's mouth pinched, gaze turning inward, likely considering adding anything at all. "It's gonna be a boy." His lips curved into a bright grin, softening his honey eyes as they all congratulated him. Sutoro had always had the nibbling suspicion the man wasn't able to father pups, so hearing that his wife was pregnant two months after their return, surely had surprised him. Had the timing not been so fitting, he would have even silently accused her of finding another to do the deed.
Kama's chewing had stopped at that as he watched the scene. "A boy? And how does that translate to a fight?"
"It doesn't," Koguma muttered, the only one not surprised by the news and gave his brother's hair a soft pat, before leaning back while crossing his arms.
The conversation turned to more mundane topics, mostly carried by Susumu and Nari, after that.
Once everyone had stopped eating, Omugi dropped back from the table and silently crawled over to Koguma. He opened his crossed arms and pulled her onto his lap without another word. It was a futile move to try and keep her away- she would whine and then cry miserably and it would only result in Nari being depressed in the eye of her daughter's devotion and Kama running out of patience upon Nari's reaction. Not that his son had much regard for the mother of his children. If it were up to him, he would have fetched the pups and moved them into Koguma's house already, but luckily, Koguma seemed to have kept his reason between the two of them. How terribly that would have backfired now that they were ordered to return to the front in a week's time, leaving the pups aching and confused.
"I saw Ryujin today," Omgui began chattering away, which made Koguma look down at her instead of listening to his brother's conversation. He sent her a soft smile.
"Did you now? And here I thought you had been with me the entire time."
Omugi's nose twitched and she shot him a gap-toothed smile showing the first of her sharp canines. "No- you were napping and so I went to Nami-chan's place and then I played with Ryujin in the garden and there-" His granddaughter continued recounting her whole afternoon in as long a sentence as she could apparently manage, but Koguma merely listened patiently and even asked some well place questions to steer her train of thought.
After watching it for a minute, Tensai followed suit, sitting down at his other side and got wrapped underneath his arm. Occasionally, she added to Omugi's story on how they had tried snatching Kagami's forehead-protector right of his head. Sakumo at least spared a weighing look at Sutoro, before he too joined his siblings. He didn't hang off him as Sutoro sometimes spotted him doing when they were playing outside with Koguma or training with him, but he certainly sat down close enough to lean against his side. Instead of joining his siblings' blabber, Sakumo merely gave in to the urge to turn his face against his green sleeve and take in a deep breath.
The day of Koguma's return, the boy had shot up from his spot on the porch where he had been teaching him and suddenly jumped over the garden wall. Sutoro had hastily dashed behind him and found the boy wandering randomly up and down the compound, nose held high and chest pulsing with his sniffing. Only when he steered around a corner and bumped right into Koguma standing there, bloody and battered, did the penny drop for Sutoro. The boy had been able to track Koguma's scent the moment he had entered the village. More importantly, he had remembered his scent. He had been but a year old last he had seen him and yet he stood there before a bloody and limping stranger and on an subconscious level must have associated him with safety and care, because he flung right at him.
It had been enough to nearly give Sutoro a goddamn heart-attack. Thank the gods, Koguma hadn't been too out of it to harm the boy suddenly pouncing at him and instead knelt down and embraced him properly.
A shudder ran down his spine.
That could have gone wrong on so many levels. But then again, ever since that day, Sutoro had been convinced Koguma could never hurt them.
His grandchildren certainly started smelling like the furs Kuma's had always tended to sleep on, seeing how much time they spent with him. It made his heart ache with how violently it reminded him of Takeo, of weeks spent at Bear's Den when his own father had still been alive and head of the Okami. Of Kama and Koguma sticking their heads together when his son tried to string him up into another stupid idea of his. Of drinking Umi's tea when he had been reminiscing about things past at the campfire, watching Kenji entertain the pups of the clan with his shadow plays, hand's casting rabbits and eagles unto the cave's walls.
After a while, the kids blabbering subsided as they turned drowsy, so Koguma turned to press his nose into Omugi's hair, before he began peeling her away from him. She didn't struggle, but it was clear that she was unhappy with it, while her sister stepped back out of her own violation. Once sat down onto the ground next to him, he rose and gave a quick ruffle through Tensai's and Sakumo's hair. His brother was already standing at the door, waiting for him to join, while Kama remained sitting with a pout. He never followed Koguma back to his place before the pups were put to bed, he had that much decency at least.
"A pleasure as always," his brother drawled and gave a mock bow at Kama, who immediately gaped with anger. For just a second Koguma's expression softened as he shared a look with the sulking man, his lips stretching into a warm smile, showing similar dimples to those Umi had had. It made Kama immediately perk up again.
Then he turned to him and took his leave with a short nod. Sutoro dipped his head in curtesy and watched them leave.
Small steps.
The moon stood high in the night-sky, outshining the stars looming above and created pools of pale light on the still tatami mats. A kodachi hung up displayed on the wall, hooks beneath it betraying the absence of its longer companion, while a shorter sabre leaned against it in a corner. Two dark uniforms stood on clothes-racks, several items of clothing looking grey in the moonlight haphazardly thrown on top of it.
Figures lay bundled up on the floor outlined with furs and blankets and a fortitude of pillows like a little warm nest inside the large space of the otherwise spartan and practical bedroom.
The room was ice-cold, grey and mostly empty and yet it looked safe.
With a feather-like touch, Koguma's fingers traced the outline of Kama's mouth, making the tender flesh dip and twitch at times. The pinkish scars on his hands and fingers were nearly of the same shade as Kama's lips, the skin of his lower arms so comparingly pale to the rest of his bronze taint from being wrapped up all the time. His fingers continued their journey further up to his cheekbones, leaving his palm to gently cup his face, while his thumb brushed across the freckles adorning them. Koguma closed his eyes with a deep sigh and pulled Kama tighter against his bare form, before drinking in his sight once more.
"A thought for a thought," Kama whispered after a while, his cheeks still delightfully flushed and hooded eyes droopy with contentment. Silver lashes framed them and shimmered nearly white with every blink.
Koguma stayed silent for a moment and instead let his hand trail up further into his silver hair. "I think –" It was pulled out of its usual ponytail and spreading beautifully across his lean back and onto the pillow. The strands spun around his fingers as he twirled them, looking like liquid silver in the moonlight shining into Koguma's bedroom. "- I'm not sure whether I like your hair up or down more."
Kama's answering smile was radiant. "I'm thinking it had been you challenging Susumu, hadn't it? You carry too few bruises for letting him use you as a punching bag." The scar on his upper lip twitched as he talked and made the tip of his sharp canine peak out. Shimmering white like bone against the rosy skin.
"Should I need any reason for wanting to kick his butt?" Koguma hushed back, still playing with strands of his hair.
"No." Twitch and peak. Koguma dropped the silver strands and instead brushed with his thumb against the scar once more. "I wholeheartedly agree that he should be every once in a while. But it's not really something you do with your brother. Did he say something stupid?"
"He always does, he's Susumu."
Kama hummed at that, paused and then shared an amused smile with Koguma seeing that he had copied his vocal tick. "A boy, huh? And here I thought he was shooting with blunt kunai." He pinched his lips. "He looks happy."
Koguma regarded him for a moment, while brushing some loose strands across his rosy cheeks and behind his ear. "He is."
"You're not."
"I am," Koguma disagreed. "He had wanted this for a long time."
Kama's lips pressed into a thin line, gaze hushing down to his fingers beginning to dance across Koguma's chest. "But something's bothering you. Is it the prospect of going back to the front?"
Koguma took in a deep breath and shakily let it out of his nose again. "I wish I could say I hated it up there, I was sure I did-" He paused, his beady eyes hushing between his. "And yet I miss it. It's too silent here, too calm, too-"
"Soft."
"Yeah. As if Konoha itself hasn't yet realised that we're at war. The whole Land of Lightning affected by it, the starving civilians, the burned down villages, razed fields, ravaged battleground. Still, here lies Konoha, untouched, unharmed."
Kama's fingers trailed up the scar going along his chest, to the vein on the left side of his throat that thumped with his heartbeat. "So, you're not upset about Susumu becoming a father, or returning to war, but-" He paused, his eyebrows pinching as he tried to gauge his reaction. "Konoha? The hokage perhaps?"
"Do I need to be upset? You're getting spooked by shadows."
"Still not a yes or no to my question."
His hands stilled as he locked eyes with him. "I am upset about many things all the time." Kama stilled at that hushed confession, worry etching his face. "I think- no I wish, Susumu would stay here with his wife and see the birth of his son." Kama had perked up at the mention of 'would' not 'could'. "I wish I wouldn't find- contentment in fighting the albino's war. I wish I were a better person, able to forgive and live without constant anger. I wish-" The word got stuck in his throat.
Kama raised onto his elbows, his hair gliding out of Koguma's loose grip while doing so. "Kogu?"
"It's nothing," he scoffed after a deep breath. "Let's just enjoy the night as it is."
"Kogu, please, don't push me away-"
His lips thinned until they pulled into a snarl. "Not push you away?" His tone promised nothing good with its sudden coldness. "I wish Risu were alive." Kama flinched. "I wish Madara were sitting in his office. I wish I had never entered Konoha, never left Yama no haru, never had to bury my uncle, or see my mother die. I wish my father would have spared a single word of praise for me- " He had started twisting out of their blankets as if intending to leave, uncaring of the cold air biting his bare skin.
Kama shot into a sitting position, grabbed Koguma at his shoulder and pulled the man back against his side. "Kogu-" he called to stop him from going. "Kogu, I'm sorry-"
"You're sorry? I wish I could remember my brother's face, his name-" he continued onwards, his hands tugging through his hair, upper body curling up in on itself, but at least not away from him.
"Ibiki," Kama said as he leaned downwards and made haste to strengthen his grip and tug him closer still. "His name was Ibiki, because he would always snore. Your genius brother snored like a clogged up hog."
His tense body stilled and then relaxed with a snap, his breathing shuttering in his chest. "Ibiki."
"Yeah, it drove your mother up the walls and there was nothing they could do about it. He had a crooked nose, I can't remember him without it. Pale green eyes, narrow face, thin lips and a crooked nose. Ibiki, they named him Ibiki when he turned seven."
"Ibiki," Koguma croaked once more, still turned from him with his head tugged between his knees like that.
"He was always so quiet and watching. I thought it unnerving, the way he would watch the two of us. Watch any of us. And no matter what shit I tried to rile him up with, he would remain calm, sometimes even smile at it. I always thought he was arrogant."
A deep breath stretched Koguma's chest and he uncurled himself to blankly stare against the opposite wall. Kama didn't dare move a muscle, sensing that something worked hard behind Koguma's expressionless façade. His head tipped slightly to the right, eyes narrowing and then a whole array of emotions flashed across his face- anger, frustration, disappointment and finally resignation.
"Ibiki." He reached out with his hand and stroked across the silver hair that cascaded over his shoulders, sparing him a sad smile. "Will I forget my parents and uncle as well, I wonder?" His face might have finally been turned towards him, but he wasn't really looking.
"I'm sorry, Kogu, I shouldn't have pushed."
"No, you shouldn't have."
Neither of them found any sleep that night, Koguma completely retreated into his mind, while Kama anxiously kept watch of him.
The lone kodachi loomed on the wall.
The young chunin was shaking with fear as he stood opposite blazing red eyes, the scroll he was clutching in his hands long forgotten. "But you're ordered-"
"You should better just give him the scroll, kiddo," Susumu spoke up as he continued watching the clouds.
"Go on," Asa crooned, "Give me the scroll, kiddo." The chunin looked as if he really didn't want to anymore, but upon the Uchiha's impatient wink, he took a slow step forward and dropped it into the man's hand. Hastily he retreated to a safe distance. "The scroll's for Hatake, Ko-"
His wavering voice got interrupted by Asa's angered hiss and Susumu's tsking. The boy gulped, shortly daring to spare a look at the two figures witnessing the whole thing unfold in silence. Slaty eyes watched him behind hooded lids as the man cleaned his fingernails using a kunai. While a looming figure sat right beside, apparently occupied with reading a scroll, but locking eyes with him the moment he felt his gaze.
It made him turn around and leave without waiting for reply like he had been ordered to do.
"Damn, Asa, no need to scare them all-"
"Language."
"Language my ass," Susumu whispered defiantly. "What's it say, Asa?"
The Uchiha had long since opened the scroll marked with 'Confidential', scoffed and tossed it to Koguma's waiting hand. "Ah, some shit-"
"Language," Koguma mumbled absentmindedly, his eyes narrowing behind his reading glasses as he took in the content.
"-Something about having to meet up with squad two and investigating some villages hiding Kumo-forces."
Susumu groaned. "Boring."
"Hunting and tracking squad, remember?"
"Still. They might as well task us with delivering scrolls like the chunin just now."
With a little frustrated scoff, Koguma lit the scroll on fire in his grasp. "Alright, gear up. We're off in five."
His brother let out a longsuffering whine, stomping off towards the tent like some pouting toddler, which immediately earned him a knock on his head from Asa.
Kama returned his attention to picking his nails, pursing his lips lips thoughtfully. "How's it working with those glasses of yours?"
It was silent for a long while, but he simply waited it out. "Well."
"Someone must have had a brilliant idea forcing them onto you-" He yelped when Koguma tugged at his ponytail. Not that he really minded.
"Watch out that you don't choke on your self-praise. It sounds rather sticky." Koguma's fingers gently cradled along his scalp, soothing the pain. "But yes, it had been a good idea."
Kama stilled, mouthing 'good idea', before a delighted and disbelieving grin spread on his face. "Finally! I knew it!" He hastily evaded Koguma's hand to avoid another tug at his hair. "You just didn't want to say it! You're turning into an old man; white hair, grumpy and needing reading glasses."
The air left his lungs in a wheeze when Koguma managed catching him, his arm twisting tight around his chest. His breath tickled the outer shell of his ear as he leaned down. "An old man, eh? And yet I'm still kicking your ass during every spar. Must say a lot about your abilities then."
"Maybe I'm letting you win," Kama managed to press out, heat flushing through him feeling Koguma's body pushed against his backside. To not get side-tracked, he promptly used a small lightning jutsu to make Koguma release his hold.
"Oho, I doubt it," he mocked, shaking off the twitch in his muscles as if it were nothing. Unbelievable.
"Wanna find out?"
They shared a wild grin, for a moment indulging in the illusion that they could actually start a spar right then. But then Susumu and Asa strode out of their tent again, shooting him impatient eyerolls seeing that Koguma hadn't packed his own gear yet. So, he stepped away and simply shook his head in amusement when Kama mocked him with small insults about his age. As if Kama wasn't the elder between the two of them- twenty-six to his twenty-three.
Didn't mean he was above kicking the back of Kama's knees and getting him to drop onto the ground after being called a grumpy geezer.
"Itsuki."
"No." The answer came quick and resolute.
Susumu pondered, which made his lips pinch and eyes squint as he tried to come up with other names. "Minato?"
An unimpressed snort answered him. "In memory of the harbour we blew up? Don't be daft."
"Eh-" Susumu let his gaze wander, head turning left and right as he tried to find inspiration. Bare trees, more bare trees, some tents, rocks, campfire, logs. Some more bare trees-
He paused for a moment to regard his brother furrowing his own eyebrows in thought. They were lying next to each other on the furs they had dragged outside and close to the campfire to warm them. Susumu had his arms crossed behind his head, while his brother twirled his thumbs on top of his stomach, one leg idly propped up on his knee. They were surely making an odd pair lying around like that in the freezing cold, but Koguma had awoken drenched in cold sweat and chest heaving, like he tended to do since that fucking albino had yanked Risu back to life, so Susumu had dragged them both outside. It didn't help that Kama was on a mission himself, which always made his brother more nervous to begin with, not like that absolute dumbass of a man had even realized how fucked up Koguma was at the moment. How they both were frankly fucked up.
Bad tempers resulting in nasty spars, terrible insomnia which they tried to compensate with naps (a whole lot of them) and frankly a sick compulsion of needing to keep each other in their peripherals. It had been a miracle Koguma had put on weight in Konoha at all, but Susumu suspected that he simply had managed through acting as a garbage disposal for all the food Kama's kids couldn't finish.
Gods, he was so damn blessed to have Koguma at his side through all of this. Through his moods. Always willing to do anything to make him happy, even if he had to completely disregard himself for it. Moreover, Susumu had been lucky that Kikyo had finally, finally gotten pregnant to drag him out of his lethargy and the following fury. Fury at Koguma for holding him back before Risu collapsed into dust, fury at the village for being so unbothered by it, fury at the albino-
"Keisuke," he spat out the first thing coming into his mind to stop his train of thought and calm his nerves.
The campfire popped and sent burning ashes into the murky twilight of the early morning hours. Koguma cocked his head as if actually considering the name, but then shook it. "Too many with 'K' to begin with. Kama, Koguma, Kagami- nah."
True enough.
Watching the embers dance up into the sky-
"Hotaru?"
"Pathetic."
He gave off a short hum, feeling like that had been an answer Madara would have chugged at their heads. On second thought, it was a rather soft name. "You could give off some suggestions yourself, you know?"
Now it was Koguma's turn to hum as he considered. "Ichiro."
"First son? Gods, how uncreative, but then again, I shouldn't have expected more of a clan naming their kids 'Koguma'. Surely only to buy some time to come up with a better one. You know what- Maybe don't give suggestions after all."
Koguma snorted at that, exchanging an amused glance out of the corner of his eye upon his teasing reply.
Not a moment later, both of them tensed as they noticed people coming closer to their spot, but feeling Koguma relax again had Susumu drop the kunai he had been clenching behind his head. Surely had identified them by their smell-
"When's the baby due? Has to be a long way still, because I can't see your belly swell-" a familiar voice joked, before he plonked down on the log beside them.
"Ah, don't bother the two father's to be, Danzo, I mean, one can see that Susumu is practically glowing from the hormones." Hiruzen yelped as Koguma managed to swipe his feet from under him in a lazy move and he landed hard on the frozen ground.
"Watch out, Koguma, Hiruzen's on medical leave, having sprained his ancle and all-"
"I broke my leg, you idiot-"
"Pah, boils down to the same thing."
"If you hadn't chased after the Kumo-nin-"
"So now it's my fault?"
"Gods," Susumu drawled loud enough to stop their arguing, "You sound like a bickering married couple. Haven't had enough sex or what?"
Hiruzen flailed and Danzo sneered with a whole lot more disgust than was technically necessary- and they called them the weird ones. At least they were clear on their bond and boundaries with one another. Those clans surely were raising stuck up morons for being so prickly about it. A soft scoff had him perk up and he turned his head just in time to see a grin spreading onto Koguma's face- As clear a win as there had ever been one. The man had always been a sucker for quick, ridiculing retorts. "Akio."
"No," his brother chuckled, even shaking his head in an amused manner.
"Riku."
"Now you're just being absurd. You can't name your cub after the first thing you lay your eyes on."
"Touma."
Susumu plucked a pebble from the ground and snapped it at his friend. "Shut up Danzo, you have no word in this."
The man had the audacity to raise his eyebrows in challenge as he scratched at that nasty scar on his chin, but he quickly got side-tracked by Hiruzen's cackling. A quick knock on his head had him shut up. "You could've asked for my advice when naming your son," he almost whined at the Sarutobi as he rubbed the top of his head and mumbled something about abusing the sick. Danzo would call it reprimand, but Susumu knew better.
"When your first suggestion for Susumu's kid is 'Iron'? I think not."
"No, because Koji is much better."
Susumu turned to stare up into the suddenly brightening sky, the sun beginning to outshine the stars still straining to sparkle through with its pink rays. "Risu."
Danzo and Hiruzen immediately stopped in their bickering and he was sure Koguma had grown rigid beside him. It took a long while before he answered. "No." It was a soft and melancholic sound.
Yeah, maybe that would be a bad idea, them looking at his son with grief in their eyes and sadness in their voices. He hadn't even really wanted to say it out loud, simply a thought racing through his mind as he watched the stars lose their battle against the first morning light.
"Yasashiko?"
His brother shot up in a sitting position, surprising the fuck out of Susumu with the hasty movement.
Koguma's gaze was intense as he stared down at him. "You would name him that?"
"I- yeah, of course. It would be an honour." Susumu got up into a sitting position himself.
They stared at each other a long time, before Koguma turned away, mouth agape and apparently stunned into silence.
"Hell, Kogu," Susumu started, getting a bit nervous upon his intense reaction, while Danzo and Hiruzen watched on silently. They had probably no idea what was going on. "I would be honoured to name him after any Kuma. He will be one himself after all. If it wouldn't be weird to name him after you, I'd fucking do it." Still nothing but that dumbfounded silence. Changing his tactic, Susumu asked, "What had been your ojisan's name?"
"Kenji." An answer, a bewildered one, but still an answer. That had to account for something.
Susumu shook his head. "Nah, that's got a 'k' in it. Your father then."
"Takeo." Koguma swallowed hard, before rigidly facing him again, shock still etching his eyes. "But please don't call him that."
Uff, there were some deeper problems resting there. "Alright. Your brother then."
It was silent for a long while. "Ibiki."
"That's a stupid name." For a moment he worried it had been the wrong choice cracking a joke now, but when Koguma gave off a startled bark that almost sounded like laughter, he joined by grinning himself. "Kuma most certainly have been terrible at naming their kids."
"Fair enough," Koguma exhaled, his expression falling into something rather fragile and small. He took a deep breath and it disappeared again. "I better start cooking breakfast before Danzo and Hiruzen begin complaining about it. I'm sure Asa will be awake any minute now as well." His movements were too fucking graceful as he got up for them having lain out in the cold for so long.
Ordering Danzo to fetch water and Hiruzen to begin washing the rice, his brother moved away himself to get some more wood for the campfire. Against his retreating back Susumu called, "Tendon!"
Koguma's deep and infectious laughter rang across the clearing as he continued walking away from them. "Can't name your cub after a dish."
He grinned from ear to ear hearing it. Gods, he loved his brother.
He kept hidden behind the largest tree he could find, straining to get his erratic breathing under control- it wouldn't do for him to be spotted by his foggy breath or its sound.
The left side of his face was still aching from the impact just before and he was certain the skin had even been cut. He couldn't quite tell with the cold numbing his face, making it nearly as frozen as the tip of his nose and fingers, but he was sure the warmth dripping down his cheekbone was blood.
A quick swipe across his face got rid of the treacherous liquid, scaring him that he would be found out by its smell alone now as well.
The palms of his hands scrapped against the rough bark pressing against his back, as he strained for any noise betraying his pursuer- no luck. Only the soft sighs of the plush snowflakes tumbling down to earth in a wobbly dance. The snow might cover him up rather well and swallow all sounds, but it also didn't make his life any easier by having to watch out to leave no footsteps on the soft blanket covering the earth.
After a moment he dared a look behind the tree as he wasn't nearly as good as Koguma at sensing people moving up at him-
Nothing.
Instead of relaxing, he tensed even further, dread running down his spine and before too long, something- maybe a small sound of braking branches, or an unusual amount of snow coming down on him, made him look up.
Too late.
He went down with a scream as Koguma stuffed his face with another snowball.
"Got ya," his brother cackled with a whole lot more amusement than Susumu actually wanted to tolerate.
He tried to wind out of his grasp, but his actions proofed futile, so instead he scooped up a whole lot of snow himself and pushed it blindly down Koguma's collar. His arms let go of him and with a yelp, the man tried to shake the icy substance out of his clothing.
With a war-cry, his face absolutely freezing from the harsh treatment and the half-molten snow still sticking to it, he charged at his brother. To both their surprise, they came crashing down onto the snow as Susumu had had too much momentum and Koguma too little footing. They disappeared in the metre-thick layer with an almost soft 'Whomp'.
It was silent in their little burrow, snow cradling them in left and right and for a moment it felt almost cosy and warm- but that was surely Koguma's ridiculous body temperature radiating out from underneath him.
They shared a flabbergasted look, until they both erupted in hiccups, laughing upon their silly predicament. It took a moment before they calmed down again, Susumu noticing only then that Koguma had actually caught him and made sure he would fall on top of him and not get buried underneath his weight- such a thoughtful man.
"Susumu, do you wanna stay down here forever?" his brother teased with his eyebrow raised up in question.
Promptly deciding to be a little shit about it, Susumu snuggled up closer against him and splayed across his body even more to drive home his point. Snow trickled down onto Koguma's face from the movement, which he tried to blow away with his breath. "Dunno, I'm feeling rather comfortable right now."
"I could just chuck you into the snow."
"You could, but you won't, you love me too much for that."
A snort was all the answer he got, but Koguma didn't follow up on his threat- it made Susumu grin knowing his brother so well-
and then he was lying face-first in the snow.
Spluttering he came out of the hole they had left and stared daggers at his brother sitting against the tree and shooting him a shit-eating grin. "Could have warned me." Heaps of molten snow came tumbling out of his clothes and hair as he brushed it out.
"I think I did."
"Pah." He stomped up to him and childishly shook out the last of the snow right on top of him. Served him right. Then he too plonked down and looked out onto the winter landscape.
"Remember when we did something similar years back with the old man? We had been hunting rabbits."
Koguma rolled his head back and stared up into the sky. "We did this often, Susumu. We were kids and it was winter." A pause. "But yeah, I know what day you mean."
It was silent for a long while as they both got lost in their thoughts. "What do you think ever happened to Jin?"
A deep hum met his question. "I think he's still up and running. He's tough as leather and just as hard to wear down."
"He had offered to inherit it all to us, you know."
"I didn't."
"No, I guess I never told you." Susumu's eyes wandered down onto a loose strand of wool on his shirt, at which he immediately began to pluck. "D'ya think anything would have been different, had we stayed?"
His brother took in a deep breath as he considered his answer. "Some things, yes. Other things-" He paused, not needing to say anything more. They both knew Risu would have died anyway.
"Ya think it would've been better?"
"Loaded question. I think it would have been-" Another pause. "Quieter. Calmer. Harder. Do you wish for it?"
"I dunno," Susumu admitted.
"You would've never met Kikyo."
"You would've never met Kama."
A short snort made his brother's shoulders shake. He stretched out his legs and leaned back to make himself more comfortable against the tree. "I had met him before, you know."
"That's not what I meant."
He hummed in understanding.
The snow continued drifting downwards, having already managed to collect like a sheer layer upon their clothing and hair. It was cold, but also very relaxing sitting in the middle of the winter landscape, some kilometres away from head camp. It almost gave the illusion of them still being on the road and free in what to do next.
"If you'd had to choose- would it be me or Kama?"
"What kind of question is that?" He felt his brother turn his head towards him, so he did as well to meet his beady-eyes.
"Just, you know- answer it. If you had to choose, like right now if you'd only got to keep me or Kama, who would you choose?"
His eyebrows furrowed until they showed that crease of his and his lips, blue from the cold, thinned. "Do I need to ask the same of you with Kikyo?"
"Kogu."
"Is Kama eavesdropping somewhere and you just want to see him cry upon my answer?"
"As if I could spot him before you-" He paused and looked at his brother wide-eyed when his words truly got through to him.
"Such a stupid question." He turned his head away and looked displeased upon having to say that at all. "I thought we were clear on that with everything we have gone through."
It made Susumu almost emotional hearing the gruff admittance and he had too blink rapidly to dry his suddenly rather misty eyes. "Shit, Kogu-" His throat threatened to clench up, so he cleared it to get a grip on himself. "Had I been attracted to men, we would've made the perfect couple," he tried to joke away.
"That would imply I am attracted to you," Koguma teased mercilessly, leaving Susumu grateful that he didn't address his emotional state and instead tried to take his mind off of it.
"Hey, you said more than once I'm cute!"
"Yeah, like a kitten is cute or a little chick, but I'm not attracted to either."
Susumu barked a wet laugh at that and slapped his brother's side with the back of his hand. A large arm wrapped around his shoulder and pulled him closer to his side, his warmth immediately soaking into his clothes. The hair on Susumu's neck raised as Koguma pushed his face into his hair, took a deep breath and then gave him a short squeeze.
"Kogu?"
"Hm?"
"Promise me something."
"Another promise? You're racking up quite the score." His heartbeat sped up remembering the last thing he had managed making Koguma do and how fucking grateful he felt for it. Surely had given him some insights on himself as well. Maybe he should soon start giving something in return, instead of just asking. Perhaps he could start being nicer to Kama, that should surely eradicate any scores they had. (Nothing he would do ever could, he knew that.)
"When my son's born, join me to visit Jin. I would love for that old goat to meet him."
Warm breath stuttered against his hair as Koguma chuckled upon that request. "Yeah, sure. I think a visit has been long overdue anyway."
They sat for a moment longer, their breathing synchronised and postures relaxed.
"I love you, Kogu."
"Love you too, Susumu."
So fucking grateful.
Ah, Koguma was going to kill him for sure.
He spared a look at Kama, who was entirely unhappy with the whole situation himself. Arms crossed, nose scrunching and grey eyes drilling the ground as he surely tried to find a way around this.
"They must be mad for coming up with this at headquarters," Gengaku mumbled, his own attention solely on the mission-scroll Kama had received just a few minutes ago, as if willing for it to catch fire.
"Repercussion?" Susumu addressed Kama.
His mouth wiggled from left to right as he considered what he implied. "Could be. All those missions to flush out villages or low-risk messenger-ones surely had racked up for all those that had left without being dismissed."
"Can't be a coincidence," Gengaku agreed.
"I'm not sure what they hope to achieve with this," Kama continued, shuffling left and right on his feet and giving the scroll a little push to see it rolling across the table. "Sending you on a mission while Koguma's busy with another one."
Susumu scoffed. How his brother had roared at that, being assigned to team Tobirama to help them track down some guerrilla fighters together with a bunch of Inuzuka. The Nara had nearly shat his pants at his fury, surely never having expected for him to react so violently, but Koguma and Susumu had never been separated, not once during the war. That had been his sole condition for tagging along in the first place.
And now they intended to send him with Kama's squad on a separate mission.
"This isn't a suicide run, is it?" he joked, but shot an anxious glance at what basically was his brother-in-law.
"No, just flushing out villages once more. Still." He lifted the scroll and popped it into his pouch with a displeased huff. "Kogu will lose his shit when he hears of it."
They could agree on that much at least. He had made Kama promise to keep an eye on him and had Susumu swear to not do anything stupid. Well, this certainly counted under stupid, but denying a mission assigned by what appeared to be head-office itself, would be even more mad. They still weren't back in the good graced of the hokage after all. Maybe it was a test for his loyalty.
Gods, he hated the whole politics-business. His brother was much better at navigating it, always threading the edge close enough to rile everyone up, but not too close to actually fall down it.
"Well," Kama sighed with the weight of a thousand fed-up parents, scrutinizing him mercilessly while doing so- Excuse you- "We better pack up. Susumu, I don't wanna see you leave without the armoured mesh-shirt, thick woollen clothing and Konoha's armour on top. Close-toed boots as well."
"I still need to be able to move, you know-" he drawled and resisted the urge to cross his arms. Be nicer, he had sworn himself, couldn't be that hard, do it for Koguma-
"You still need to be alive when Kogu comes back," Kama corrected him with a smirk. "I won't have you die of a cold or a stray kunai shot by a nervous genin."
"So much faith-"
"No faith at all, I assure you. You're not clan-born and Koguma always pulls his damn punches." Susumu pinched his lips, doing his hardest to not take the bait the Hatake was setting for him. "You'll stick by my side and if you do anything dumb, you'll even get a nice little leash to make sure you don't wander off."
Oh, no he couldn't let that hang there- "A leash? You mean the same one Koguma uses for you? Could be a tad too short for my taste."
Kama's lips curled back until they showed his sharp canines, but it certainly didn't impress Susumu. He had grown up with Koguma after all and they were nothing compared to his. "What chubby little teeth you have," he crooned. "You surely brush them real nice."
To not give Kama the chance to come up with a reply, he turned around, exchanged an amused smirk with Gengaku, who tried to hide his chuckling, and got out of the tent to gear up.
Niceties only got you so far.
It was a desolate little village they arrived at nearly eight hours later, full of a bunch of what once had been farmers and were now just starving civilians, their eyes blank and faces wane as they watched them march through the three streets they had. Same as every village in the Land of Lightning, really. He wouldn't have been able to tell them apart for the life of him.
Flushing out shinobi was a mundane task, repetitive and rather scorned upon, since you basically tried to sniff out the wounded shinobi that had crawled into the cracks of collapsing barns or dusty crawling spaces of weathered houses. The negotiations between the hokage and raikage had ended in a stalemate, which had apparently been the reason as to why it had taken so long for him and team Tobirama to return. However, the raikage had been unwilling to accept defeat after that huge loss with the edo tensai and shit and the hokage, not ready to go the extra mile and turn into full burnt-earth mode, had merely compromised by ordering them to stop taking prisoners instead.
Most of the time, the poor bastards were simply kids having crawled back to their home villages, back to their mothers and fathers in their fear of dying, not even considering that they were damning them as well. But the guerrilla fighters that attacked Konoha squads and actually managed killing quite a few of them, were rising to concerningly high levels. Konoha simply couldn't afford of letting them, or anyone that helped them, be. Once they were healed they'd find their courage once more, after all.
Yet, if the Hatake's frowning foreheads were anything to go by, their intel had been wrong. They could usually smell their wounds ten kilometres against the wind, but it seemed there were no shinobi to be taken care of here. Fucking boring. They had spent most of the morning drudging through the snow and other bleak villages, or rather collection of huts, already. Time to move on to the next one then, maybe there'd be more for them to do.
They turned back into a fourth side-alley, to make sure they had checked every corner. Grey, grey, grey upon grey, little kiddies grabbing dirty dolls, mother's clutching at too silent infants, wrinkly men holding pitchforks and scythes. Same boring shit as every village. War certainly numbed any empathy one might have had once upon a time. Squad four moved on, their steps not crunching on the icy snow at their feet, unlike the civilians' ghastly shuffling did.
What a dead place.
Coming past another unremarkable derelict house, Susumu stopped. To Kama's credit, he did seem to take his whole job of looking after him rather seriously, because he halted as well and immediately stepped up to his side, sabre drawn. Really subtle, well done Kama, fucking idiot-
"Susumu?"
Something buzzed in the air and he was honestly surprised that the Hatake didn't notice it at all. His tongue felt as if covered in pelt and he let his eyes roam across the street once more. Instead of answering, he grabbed Kama's hand, startling the shit out of him and rapidly tipped onto his palm. 'Gen-jutsu'. Good thing the man had been so jealous of Susumu and Koguma having a way to communicate without him understanding, and had pestered his brother into teaching him as well all those years ago.
"Ah nothing," he added out loud, while trying to pin-point the origin of the illusion. It was a good one, very good even and rather subtle. So nothing major had to be different. Maybe just something small, something like just one sense, such as smell.
Would be clever, considering this was a Hatake-heavy squad. "Just need a bathroom break. Can I, pretty please, Kama-taicho?" he mocked with as much sarcasm as he could muster. The man appeared to be cleverer than Susumu had given him credit for, because his eyes darkened as he got his plan.
"No, no need to bother the villager's any longer."
What a goddamn spoil-sport! This gen-jutsu was fucking magnificent in its simplicity and Susumu itched with the urge to try and break it, see if his assumption was right and if the Hatake would grow rigid when being assaulted by the smells hidden.
Kama looked done with his shit, gaze beseeching him to don't do it and just go out of the village to regroup. But the shinobi holding up the gen-jutsu should have noticed that something was up with how tense the rest of the squad was being, and they'd surely try to escape or dispel the gen-jutsu themselves.
Koguma would let him, Susumu was sure of that, his brother simply knew that he needed to quench his curiosity every once in a while, otherwise he'd truly do some stupid shit.
Really, this was harmless in comparison to the one time he charged straight into an abandoned building because he had been certain to simply see an intricate trap waiting for them and it would have been a damn shame letting it go to waste. Oh, how Koguma had seethed and scolded him for that. He had still had his back, even though he had taken the brunt of it. Good times, good times. Well, it had gotten his brother nearly decapitated.
Maybe he could repeat that with Kama, what a bonding experience near death would prove to be. And if he got him killed along the way, well, his brother had already admitted that he liked him best. (Kama would turn out to be a goddamn disappointment of a shinobi if he'd die by some kunai thrown by a dying kid. He wouldn't deserve Koguma then anyway.)
"Susumu-" Kama called out, seeing the resolution in his eyes harden and grin spreading on his face.
"Kai!"