It has been a very long time, I hope this story isn't dead. This chapter was a bit harder for me to work on because of how long it has been, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless

QUEEN OF SPADES

Kanata Canyon, 12:21 p.m.

The home of summoning bears, Kanata canyon—calling it a magnificent sight was an understatement. The depression of land had its own body of water which surrounded a large earth surface in the centre of the canyon, like an island.

Due to the variety of bears that existed, the canyon was separated into four equal parts. These four parts indicated the four seasons.

Mere looking at it, Tanaka wondered how the canyon was able to have four different seasons all in one place, but he learned never to question ninja logic anymore.

Team three, along with Yin and Yang, were currently in a cave, in the autumn region of the canyon. Autumn seemed like the most conducive environment, which is why Yang picked the cave for them to rest in. It was much like a room, but with three beds, a rocking chair and a sofa. Yang stood on the ear of the rocking chair as Emi sat on the chair. While the three students sat on their respective beds, Yin hoarded the couch to himself

It had been exactly ten minutes since Emi Fujioka, the leader of team three, called a meeting. She wanted to discuss the mission that they were sent on and how they...performed. Even as time passed it seemed like they were all reluctant to speak.

"After you all passed out, Yin and I, with Tsume-tan's team, brought you here," Yang said. "I ordered her to report back to the hokage and gave that Nara girl the body of Euryale. A while ago, I received word that they had discovered the origin of those gorgon and had raided the base."

It seemed just like yesterday, because it was. Yesterday they were attacked by the gorgon and were petrified. Shinji's body was blown up into bits so no other piece of evidence could be gathered from his remains. Besides, what use would half a liver be...

"What about Medusa?" Emi asked; Yang guessed that Emi was disappointed she could not stop her from escaping. Unlike the rest who had slight bandages and casts on some places, Emi was covered completely head-to-toe with bandages—like a mummy.

"Still at large," cursed Yang. "They also found a girl in a pit under the base. She must've been a slave or prisoner. For now, she hasn't woken up."

"Perfect," Mairu muttered, "So not only did we have our butts kicked, but one of those monsters to escape. And best of all, we couldn't capture Shinji to interrogate him."

"According to Tsume, the victim in question is going to speak with Ibiki as soon as she wakes up." Yang moved her hand around as she healed Emi. "For now, we know nothing about her. Not her name, age, or family."

"Damn," Emi muttered, "This is petrifying."

Petrifying? Everyone looked at Emi as she made a joke about the beasts who turned them too stone. No one laughed, at least this time.

"What?" she asked, "too soon?"

"It'll never be on time," replied Kururi. The plain-faced twin had a hole in her shoulder and her bones fractured. The weapon Shinji stabbed her with was removed and she was now healing from the damage to her right shoulder.

Kururi glanced at Mairu. Her twin had her eyes placed on Tanaka the whole time, as if she were expecting him to do something.

While in her petrified state, Kururi only heard little of what happened, but that wasn't enough to totally explain what happened between Mairu and Tanaka. If only she could ask them directly. Oh wait, she could.

"Mairu," Kururi said, pulling her sister out of her glare suddenly, "why are you staring at Tanaka?"

Mairu paled a bit. She knew she wasn't being secretive at this point, but she didn't expect anyone to question her.

"Nothing." She tried brushing it off with an awkward smile.

"Liar," replied Kururi.

As the twins bickered, Tanaka stared off to space, not bothering himself with their conversation. To anyone who knew the team, it would seem like a usual gathering, but for Emi, it was clear that there were seeds of doubt and mistrust.

"Joke-tan," said Yang, silently as she healed her child.

"I know, I know." She didn't need to be told twice; Emi would have to mediate—as a normal jonin teacher should. This matter was a land mine and she was going to step on it intentionally.

She gave a slight cough to gather the attention of her team.

"It seems like we went through a lot during this...encounter," Emi said. "Why don't we share what we understand for now."

"I'll go first, Joke-sensei," Mairu said. Compared to everyone in the group, she had the least injuries. Her injuries were completely due to the petrification and probably due to punching Tanaka. "I've learned never to allow Tanaka to be mission leader; he'll suggest something like leaving a teammate behind."

Tanaka scoffed while Kururi looked at him with saddened eyes.

"Is that true, Tanaka?" Kururi asked, her slow and gentle voice resonating in the sole male's ears.

"Go ahead, Tanaka. Tell Kuru-nee how you were planning on ditching her with those monsters," Mairu sneered. "Oh, wait, I forgot that you're a mute who doesn't speak."

"Mairu, sto-."

"I won't stop!" Mairu stood abruptly and pointed at Tanaka. "He was about to leave you in that forest, alone with those...those…. things. Despite how much you care for him, he still gives you the cold shoulder and has this asshole act on him."

"First mistake," Tanaka said, "you assume I'm obligated to return respect and care just because you give them to me. We never agreed to care for each other or respect each other. We were lumped into the same team. That's all there is to it."

His words were as cold and plain as ever, and this infuriated Mairu even more. The girl was like a kettle, rapidly rising in heat.

"Couldn't have said that better," Yin said with a yawn, turning to the other side.

"Damn geezer," Yang muttered, "don't say anything if it isn't going to be helpful."

"For the love of," Mairu began but stopped in her tracks. "What is wrong with you?"

"I've heard that question from your mouth so many times in the span of a few hours," Tanaka muttered, slightly annoyed by her repetition.

Mairu took a deep breath in before speaking again.

"Well, Tanaka," she began, "Now I mean it." The way Mairu spoke, you'd think she swapped bodies with her sister. Her usual loud and demanding demeanour was reduced to a slight whisper. "We're a team. Team three. If there's anything you're not telling us—any reason you don't trust us—you might need to spill it now."

"Spill it?" Tanaka raised a brow. Tanaka stood up this time and pointed at their teacher.

"Emi-sensei is quite literally covered in bandages, and she's still bleeding right now as we speak. I don't mean to be the asshole in the room which you've all assumed me to be, but we've been here for hours. Her wounds should be clothed by now. There's obviously something fishy with that." He scoffed. "What about you? Your eyes sparked with lightning in the darkness. If anything, you're the one supposed to spill something, Mairu."

Mairu's eyes snapped as if they were trying to fry the boy with sight.

"You ungrateful piece of shit!" She walked up to him, so they were practically face-to-face. "Your teacher just sacrificed her life to protect us, to protect you. Yet, all you can do is complain about her wounds and how they're fishy? I should kick your ass right now!"

"Wouldn't be the first time!" Tanaka yelled.

"Well it definitely won't be the last either, you—"

"Enough!"

Silence became the loudest thing in the room as Kururi stopped the two with her yell. It wasn't every day you heard the girl scream, but it was enough for them to keep listening to her.

"Thank you, Kururi. I wasn't sure how I was going to get them to stop," Emi said. "I want to apologise to all of you for something." There was a solemn look on Emi's face as she spoke.

The three children sat on their beds to listen to their teacher speak.

"I should've kept you guys in check. Usually, with newer generations of ninja, all the genins just want to be heroes and protect whatever they love. That's how I thought all of you were, simpletons with basic moral codes." No one spoke. They were yet to understand why she was apologising. "When we first met, I told all of you to ditch introductions, because I believed we would learn about each other from our various missions. I forgot that we needed to know each other before going on these missions."

"Are you honestly apologizing for not doing introductions?" Tanaka asked. To him, this seemed outside the problem completely.

"Kind of agree with Tanaka on this one," Mairu said. "What do introductions have to do with anything?"

"You three don't know anything about each other, that's why you all argue all the time. And that's why we nearly died during this mission. Our lack of understanding for one another led to this…" Emi stood in pain before getting on her knees and placing her head down. "I'm sorry, you three. Please forgive me."

Being naturally used to the culture, Mairu and Kururi were not as affected as Tanaka was to their teacher bowing down. Nonetheless, they all begged Emi to get up and not to apologise, Tanaka especially.

. . .

They all sat in their same position waiting for their teacher to begin with her introductions. Since this was apparently necessary, she was going to start and make them understand what needed to be said.

"My name is Emi Fujioka, I'm 25 years old. One thing I like doing so much is laughing and putting smiles on people's faces. I love...this team," Silence, "I love my Parents, Yang-okaa and Yin-otou. My background isn't a wild one. I was raised by bears and while in the hidden leaf, I was trained by the legendary sanin, Tsunade. During the last great ninja war that we were involved in, I got hit by an enemy's attack, but in order to protect my team, I took the brunt of it, I was in a coma till the war ended, and when I woke up, I was wrapped in bandages, much like now. The reason I am wrapped in bandages like this, Tanaka, is because I am a haemophilic."

The two girls were less affected by the news as Tanaka was. They probably had no idea what it meant.

"Your wounds don't cloth," muttered Tanaka.

"That is correct," Emi replied.

"Then why the hell are you a ninja! It's dangerous! You...you were bitten by the snakes of the gorgon repeatedly, how are you still alive?"

"I am alive because of my parents. The Summoning bears are the best at medicine and healing."

That wasn't enough to silence Tanaka. He thought out loud how multiple things could cause her to lose her life immediately. Even Mairu and Kururi muttered between themselves, but they all stopped when Yang coughed.

"The bears were the first animals to feel the brunt of chakra from the great sages. Combined with their inherent ability to use nature energy, they were able to further their skill in healing quickly," Yang said quickly.

"Kururi, it's your turn. And remember, nothing too basic" Emi said.

"Sure," She began reluctantly, "My name, Kururi Okumura. 12 years old in age. I don't love anything aside from my sister, although," Kururi glanced at Tanaka for a second too fast for the eye to catch, "something might change that. I don't have the bare average fighting ability, so I use illusions as my main form of fighting. I can't say I have any outstanding physical features, so yeah...Things rarely ever get a reaction from me. I can be intense sometimes though...I guess"

"Mairu."

"I'm Mairu Okumura, I'm twins with Kururi, so we're the same age. I like a lot of things; food, dancing, music, training and learning. I love my family, Kururi especially because she's amazing. And aside from my brother, I don't hate anything else, although..." she glanced at Tanaka and he sighed. "I use taijutsu, I like hitting things."

"And Tanaka."

He was quiet, not knowing what to say. He never knew that this time would come, where he would have to explain the type of person he was. He was going to try it anyway.

"I'm Tanaka. Yes, I have no surname, because I'm part Cloud, part Sand and the rest of me is from the leaf village."

"Off to a good start already," Emi said.

"I'm 14 years old. I like reading and I love my mother, she's the only family I've ever had since I was born. I dislike...violence and illogical things." Tanaka faced everyone at this point. "You all wonder why I'm so mean and why I'm and "asshole", but then I'll be honest with you all. I prioritize the safety of myself over everyone and I pick the best way possible to do that. And there's a reason for that"

Everyone was silent, like they already knew this was his defining trait and changing that was like a lion becoming a vegan, impossible.

"Mairu," he began, "one thing that you didn't know is that when we were attacked by the gorgon, hiding in the woods, you partly stepped in the way instinctively. When you began becoming petrified, you shouted "eyes" as if you expected me to understand that the petrification began when you stared at their eyes."

"Reel it in already. What's your point?" Mairu responded bitterly.

Tanaka sighed and took a deep breath. For him to explain this to them, he needed to tell a half lie. "My point is, I don't trust so easily. Seeing you jump in the way of a probably coming attack was a shock to me. After you did that, I warmed up a bit…"

"So, what?" she questioned.

"If I'm being totally honest and plain, as I usually am, there's nothing I can say to that. I didn't trust you people because we had just met, and I couldn't just start trusting you people immediately." He said.

"We are a team."

"It's never that simple Mairu…"

Everyone was silent. They all knew Tanaka was right, but no one wanted to admit it right away. In a world where deceit is the order of the day, trusting someone for the reason of being on the same team was never a plausible idea.

"I haven't always been myself. When I was about seven, I was kidnapped by a gang in the ghettos of the Leaf. My mother used to be a pole dancer, so she owed some money and they took me because of that."

The intense silence in the room was mostly from shock and pity. Knowing Tanaka, all they were aware of was his name and his demeanour. Every other thing about him was pure experience. But hearing this was nothing less than shocking."

"I stayed there for so long that eventually I developed this split personality." Ah, there it was. The half lie. "My mother always said I used to be a happy child, until after that incident, I became silent. Shino, my best friend, helped with the search party that found me with a broken arm and swelling in my right palm. Those things that happened to me changed me. I used to be trusting, but since someone nearly killed me, I caused me to question everything, and I'm sorry I caused damage to this team because of that." At least these parts were half true.

"Mairu, I can't ask you to trust me after what I said we should do to Kururi, but hopefully this will change your mind." Tanaka spoke slowly, slightly ashamed of himself for what he did and the fact that he was saying it. "This stab wound on my shoulder is there because when Shinji was about to stab Kururi in the chest in her petrified form, I substituted with her and took the hit before…. before I killed him." He never thought about it a lot, but he really did stab someone that day. "I killed someone because they were about to kill Kururi"

Emi smiled as he said it. It was messed up, but it was good to know that Tanaka cared about her life well enough to kill for her.

"Mairu, I prioritized my safety when Kururi got captured and I'm sorry. I offended you at that moment. But, after seeing Emi-sensei,"

"Joke-sensei!" They chorused.

"Whatever," he sighed out. "After seeing her risk her life to protect me, after all your lectures and yelling and after everything that happened, I realised that I was unnecessarily mean to you both. Rule number two: Friends always come first."

Tanaka got up and walked towards the door of the room then faced everyone. Although it was painful to get on his knees and hands, Tanaka went on all fours in the eastern way he knew how to apologise.

"I'm sorry for everything I've said and done. Half of it was survival instinct. But now, I'm ready to start thinking of all of you as people I can trust. Please, Mairu, Kururi, sensei, forgive me."

Everyone turned to Mairu because in truth she was the only one with malice towards Tanaka. They were silent for almost a minute, but Tanaka knew not to get up until his apology was accepted by them.

After the time had passed, the loud sigh from Mairu broke the silence.

"I still need you to know that this doesn't mean we're totally cool. But," Mairu said, a small that highlighted her face painting her expression, "it's a start."

Everyone one around had a stupid grin on their faces. Even Tanaka had a small smirk on.

Yes. It was all going according to plan...

"Tanaka, I officially welcome you to team three," Emi said. Tanaka simply nodded, rubbing his head. Through a tiny glimpse space, Emi caught sight of something shocking on Tanaka. His right palm. It wasn't just his skin. The image of a drop of blood was imprinted on the hand. Emi knew the origins of the symbol, but what she couldn't figure out was why Tanaka, her teenage student, was part of a gang that was supposedly destroyed two years ago.

Hot water village, next day, 9 a.m.

The Hot water village was famous for hot springs and potatoes, but Tayuya didn't give a shit about potatoes. Her body sunk into the warm embrace of the spring pool, giving her skin a redder hue like her hair.

Her mission, given to her by lord Orochimaru and that Nakura asshole, was simple, capture the giant to have a bit of essence of Hoeru, the ghost town. But the expected time of arrival had been pushed back for reason beyond her or Jirobo's control. Of course, they could've stepped in to help the brats, but the giant was nowhere to be found when they got there and what was the point of saving a set of bitchy kids.

Tayuya was in debt to lord Orochimaru and was forever grateful that he gave her the ability of fight by his side personally. These moments, which practically never occurred, were still nice. Moments where she had nothing to worry about, nothing to do and no one to kill. Tayuya being who she was still kept a constant watch on every chakra signature that walked in a certain radius around her...that was the bare minimum she always did to keep herself sane. She did have trust issues.

As she walked out of the spring, a towel wrapping her figure and another on her hair, she changed into a yukata that was given to her by the motel that owned the spring. She sat in silence next to fatso.

One would think that just because they were on the same team it gave them a strong bond. Yes, a strong bond, but not a friendly bond. Everyone in the sound five was only motivated by their respect for lord Orochimaru, and that was what gave them strong team work. Outside that, they were strangers to one another, who did not need to speak.

Tayuya looked out the window and saw the streets packed with decorations, fake dragons, weird looking kimonos, people dressed up to be samurais and best of all, masks. Seeing as the target wasn't set to arrive within the next few hours—even then they'd have to wait till evening to catch Kuzan—she decided to step out, onto the streets, leaving the other sound member in the room reading a book.

As she walked down the street, a permanent blank expression on her face, she came across the movable stall of the man selling masks.

"Hey, old man," she called out.

"Oh!" His eyes sprung up with delight. "A customer. What kind of mask would you like, young miss?"

"Yeah, no," she said. "I'm not from here. What the hell is going on with this festival? What's it about?"

"Oh, a traveller," he said as he walked around and pointed at the sky, a barely visible full moon poking its head. "In this town, there are only very few times that we can see the full moon during the day, and our history implies that the great ninja hero held down the enemies for a whole day before the decree of the end of the war was passed. That day, the full moon was visible." The old man pulled out a mask and showed it to her. "The great ninja hero wore a mask and so we never knew his name, so we wear masks on this day and celebrate him with feasts and merriment."

"That's such a dumb story," Tayuya replied, yanking the mask out of the man's hand.

"Do you tell that to every fucking idiot that passes here during the festival?"

The man let out a hearty laugh. "Well, I guess some people are just more gullible than others,"

Tayuya glanced at him, then at the mask. It was a red oni mask...

"The mask, how much?"

"100"

She dropped the money on the table and ran off with the mask as the old man stared down her running figure.

"Now, that's how you get business started," he whispered to himself as he took the money and placed it in his pocket. "That's odd, I could've sworn I had another 100 here."

12:21 p.m. Hot water village gates

"Affiliation?"

"Leaf village, team three. We're here on a mission to delive-,"

"Didn't ask. Passport and nin cards." The gate keeper cut Emi off as she spoke, causing her to smile awkwardly at his attitude.

"Nin cards?" I questioned. I only packed my passport because that was all I was told that I needed.

"Oi, Tanaka." Mairu called my name, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Don't start overthinking. Genins do not have nin cards because they are not expected to be outside their village without a chuni or a jonin teacher. Joke-sensei has her nin card with us registered as her students."

"Oh..." I said, relaxing a bit.

Ever since our discussion in Kanata canyon, everyone seemed more accepting of each other. More accepting of me especially. The way Mairu guessed that I was already thinking too much, it was as if she read my mind. She must have been a Yamanaka in training.

"Enjoy your stay at the Hot water village, or don't, I don't care. Please be aware that your trip here only lasts for one night but given that the village is celebrating a certain festival currently, you will be allowed to stay for two nights."

"So, I guess you could say we have a "buy one, get one free" offer?" Emi-sensei's jokes seemed to get worse and worse.

I quickly pushed her away from the gatekeeper.

"I'm sorry for her. Our teacher is deranged," I said pushing her away.

Kururi and Mairu walked next to Kuzan who was behind Emi-sensei and me. The final mission was to visit the leader of the village and sign a document, which was the job of Emi-sensei, the rest of us were to take Kuzan to his hotel, while we left to a motel.

"Alright team, I'll see you in an hour. You can go back to the motel and relax for a bit or go around and enjoy the festival. I'll go finish up with something with the head of the village."

Emi-sensei walked off with a bag slung behind her. It was odd seeing her without any bandages. Just a while ago she was a mummy who was still bleeding out. Now, it was as if the fights never happened. They were all healed without a single scar. It was all thanks to the healing prowess of the bears.

"Well," Mairu began, pulling everyone back to her, "one of us needs to take Kuzan to the hotel."

"Why can't we all do it?" I asked raising a brow at her.

"Because the rest of us need to enjoy the festival of course!" Mairu jumped on her sister with a wide grin on her face. "Oh, I forgot, you don't like enjoying things, right Tanaka?"

"Mairu, stop teasing him." Kururi said, pulling her twin's ear.

"That's fine, Kururi," I said, directing for Kuzan to follow me. "I actually don't want to go for this festival. Too many people."

As I walked off, I could practically feel the stare from the two twins hitting my back. I was sure that they weren't disappointed: they knew how I was, and they seemed to accept it now. We finally understood each other and that was for the best now.

As I walked, Kuzan's figure towering over me extremely, I could hear the slight sigh that escaped his lips.

"This is a dangerous world..." Kuzan's voice was low as his face was morphed into a shape aside from boredom. He was deep in thought with a serious frown on his face.

"I'm sure everyone knows that," I said.

"Do yourself a favour, kid," the old man said as his wrinkly hand was placed on my curly hair. "Trusting people in this world of ours is a very hard thing. You managed to find people worth your trust. Keep them close."

He walked into the hotel, leaving me standing at the entrance with the mission nothing but a memory now. The way he spoke; he sounded like a person who had experienced betrayal so many times. He sounded like me.

As the receptionist squirmed over the appearance of a giant and ran around looking for a bed that was his size, I walked back and muttered to myself.

"I know that."

4:32 p.m. Motel

"Tanaka~" Mairu practically sang the boy's name as he looked at her from behind his book. The title read, "The theories of interrogation" in kanji. Why he was reading that, Mairu did not care. She learned to stop questioning his thought process. "All of us are going into town for the festival."

"So?" He questioned.

"So," she said, pulling his ear like a mother to her child, "follow us, damn it."

After a bit of squirming from the two children Emi came and pulled them apart. For some reason, Yang had not left Emi since the incident on their way here, so the white bear was on her head giving her an odd appearance.

"I don't want to go." Tanaka never failed to be plain and simple with how he spoke.

"Oi, Tanaka," Mairu began, about to pick at him like she usually did.

"Just do it brat," Yang said, shuffling in the hair of her child as she sneered at the dark-skinned boy. "The festival might be a celebration, but they still sell some valuable items—things that you would find very useful to your person."

"Like what?"

"I guess you'll have to go there and find out yourself."

With a small sigh, Tanaka dropped his book and put on his sandals, causing everyone in the room to smile a bit.

"If I do not see anything worth my time, I'm leaving." Tanaka said, carrying a book with him.

"Wait, wait, wait," Mairu stopped Tanaka in his tracks and tapped the book in his hands. "We're going for a festival, you do not need that book. What is that even?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, for now," he said as walked ahead of them out of the motel and onto the streets.

It was still bright and the lights on the street were yet to be turned on because of the time. Yet, everywhere was packed with people and masks were everywhere. Stalls of food, fake dragons, entertainment—adult entertainment. Tanaka looked away quickly, receiving the scrutinizing glare of the four women there.

"Calm down, I'm not like that."

"How about we get some food! I hear that their octopus and squid are delicious! What do you think, Kuru-nee?"

"I can get you guys some octopus balls. Careful though, don't make them laugh, or they can give you ten tickles."

"That was a terrible joke Emi-sensei."

"It's Joke-sensei!"

"Whatever."

"Sensei!" Mairu drew the attention of their teacher. "This old man sells masks. Everyone has masks too; we should get some."

"Not a bad idea, Mairu," said the comedian of a teacher.

"Old man," Emi began, "I'd like five masks please."

"Coming right up!" Responded the elderly man as he showed an assortment of masks for everyone to pick from. "Say you folk wouldn't happened to be interested in the history of this festival now, would you?"

"No." Short and simple, trademark of the only male in the group. "Whatever you say could end up being a lie anyway."

Emi picked a white bear mask and her mother picked a mask similar to the design of Russian dolls. A human with a bear mask and a bear with a human mask—they both looked at each other before chuckling at the sight. Kururi had a mask of a sea god and her twin with the mask of a lighting god. The irony with this team seemed to be strong.

"Come on, Tanaka, pick a mask," Kururi said, pulling the boy to the assortment of masks at the booth.

He looked around for a while, not wanting to think about his decision too much. He picked a blue oni mask and covered his face with it. It was perfect, almost as much as his white mask.

"That'll be five hundred," the old man said as he was paid immediately. "You know kid, Tanaka, was it? You remind me of this girl that came to the booth a few hours earlier. She had the same reaction to my story as you did. Pretty sure she stole my mask, but she had a red oni mask, almost like yours."

Tanaka just listened and left after he was done speaking, he had nothing to say to the man.

"You hear that, Tanaka?" Emi joked, "There might be a special lady for you out there."

While Tanaka pushed the woman's nonsense away from him, Kururi looked through her mask, a bit sad.

As they kept walking around, mask on, the team saw place where pictures were being taken.

"Joke-tan," Yang began, "You forgot an important part of introductions."

"The picture!" Emi shouted out in joy as she grabbed all three of her students in one fell swoop. You could call her the yellow flash, the way she technically teleported and arranged her students for the picture.

Tanaka was seated on a chair, with Mairu to his right and Kururi to his left. Emi stood behind them with a large smile on her face similar to Mairu who had a close eyed grin. Only Tanaka had a neutral face, even Kururi had a small lip smile. Almost immediately, all of team three had their own small team photo.

…

It became darker, almost 6 p.m. yet, none of them were tired. Tanaka on the other hand was more than ready to start leaving. As they all went around, from stall to stall, dancing and eating, Tanaka dragged his feet behind them. It was a nice festival with everything, but he would much rather enjoy the festival from the comfort of his motel.

"Hey guys!" Mairu called out with a bit of fog on her glasses. "There's a firebreather here, and he's not using chakra!"

As they all fawned to where Mairu was, Tanaka stood back, telling them to go on without him. He found a small pond with benches surrounding it. It was small and the sound of tiny fishes splashing around was just what he needed to get himself back to full energy.

The moon reflected on the pond as the sound of the festival was a long distance behind him. There was also the occasional sound of couples trying to find a quiet spot for each other.

Tanaka sat down on the extreme end of the bench noticing someone on the other end. Given that the person was wearing a mask, it was impossible to see their other features aside from their fair skin and long red hair.

They turned to each other at the same time and how shocking it was to see the same mask in a different colour. Tanaka suddenly remembered what the old mask seller said about the red oni mask.

As they looked at each other, none of them uttered a word. They both tilted their heads as if staring at a mirror image.

Why Tayuya was on the bench was very different to Tanaka's reason. The festival eventually became too annoying to be around. Too much noise, not enough service and a lot of perverts trying to grab her body under the guise of an accident. A lot of broken noses were given, and she ran here for silence. Seeing another person here, with her kind of mask was ironic and she could see he was her age with different demeanour.

They sat there staring at each other for a second, until Tayuya spoke.

"You can't just keep staring at me like a creep you know?" She said.

"I guess that makes us both creeps, huh?" He quipped back immediately.

Taken aback by his response, she turned away, looking back to the pong with the full moon in it.

"Did you really steal that mask?" Tanaka said. "The old man was talking about it when I bought mine."

"What are you going to do if I say yes?"

"Nothing," he looked away. "I have no jurisdiction in this village."

"But you do in the Leaf village…" She trailed off.

"You recognize the headband, I see." Tanaka spoke wary of her now.

"Everyone knows the Leaf village symbol." She shook the suspicion off her for now.

"I'm guessing you're not from here either."

"How'd you know?"

"You just said so." Tanaka chuckled.

"Fuck…"

"Language."

"Fuck you."

"You're not Cloud or Sand. If you were Mist you wouldn't be talking to me right now. I can't say exactly where but you're definitely not from the Land of Fire. The Land of Fire has a certain climate that affects people and it can be seen on their skin."

"You're not wrong."

"That was a lie. There's nothing like that here, but at least you admitted to not being from here."

"Are you fucking with me?" Through her mask, her eyes squinted.

"Simply, yes."

She growled and shook her head, beating up someone who was not being a pervert was exactly on her agenda. She was acting out of character, talking to a stranger when she wouldn't even talk to her own teammate. For some reason, his presence made her want to talk. It was an odd feeling.

Everyone has had that moment. That moment you realise that you are having a nice conversation with someone you just met. It was odd, calling their dialogue nice, but it was something.

"You're a shinobi, aren't you?"

"I'm not falling for it," Tayuya said.

A rock quickly flew her way, which she dodged, then caught immediately.

"That's a yes, I'm guessing." Tanaka was silenced by a rock that flew straight at his metal plate and shattered. "You really don't like losing, do you?"

"Who the fuck likes it?"

"I get your point."

There was not a moment of silence between them. And when there was, it was calm and without need for speech.

Usually, two people meeting each other for the first time and talking this much should be familiar on a name basis. But, for some reason, these two conversed on and on without a single need for knowing their names. It was not some cliché magical moment where suddenly the main character found their love interest to become a slave housewife for the rest of their lives. The truth about it was Tayuya was already curious about Tanaka, and Tanaka found her company less distracting and nerve-wracking than that of his teammates. The feeling of knowing the other person was not like the other people that you had met. That was what they felt.

Tayuya, normally being rash and foul-mouthed, seemed to tone down on the intensity of her swear words with Tanaka present. What made her this way was the fact that his intellect was coupled with a calm attitude. Tayuya, being only used to the trait of intelligence being coupled with creepiness—evidence in Kabuto and Orochimaru—this was a refresher for her. Had it been a certain intelligent cloud watcher with a lazy attitude, Tayuya would be less interested. It was a silent relief that she did not have to kill him.

Tanaka on the other hand was less tired than usual. She was rash and loud, but she was not over-energetic. This important factor was what differentiated her for the rest of his team, and this was why he was calmly conversing, saying more words than usual. The boy always found a way to gain something from every interaction he had, yet, he never saw the need to that. It was relief that she wasn't a pain.

The two were so different in terms of their basic nature but so similar with how they were acting right now, to a certain degree.

"Ninja wear their headband to other villages only when they're on a mission to wherever. So, why is a non-registered nin in the village of Hot water? If you ask me, there's a reason you don't want to be identified, am I right?" Tanaka looked away as he spoke.

Well, it was good while it lasted. He'd have to die now. There was a kunai behind her, under her yukata—the exact position of the kunai was unimportant.

"You're probably planning on trying to kill me with a concealed weapon, aren't you? Calm down, I'm not going to tell anyone."

One thing that Tayuya was somewhat sure off was the fact that he was not lying. If he knew that she was a ninja with malicious intent, he could've left with this knowledge to the authorities.

"I'm surprised," She said. "If you knew that I had my own intentions, why didn't you rat me out?"

"I have no interest in the affairs of other villages. I have my own plans, I'm not ready to complicate them by trying to give you away."

The panic that was initially on her settled as her right's hand attempt to the kunai was halted.

"I don't care either way. There are malicious ninja everywhere."

The Leaf village was one of the villages that prioritized the mission above their companions. People seemed to forget that this was the general practice because most jonin teachers tried to form a sense of comradery among their students. In general, Leaf ninja were supposed to focus on their missions over their friends.

Tayuya was aware of the kind of state that the Leaf village was like. She knew that the hokage always tried to paint this rosy picture of the village and she was shocked to hear this from a genin's mouth.

"If I told you," She began, "I'm here to kill you and your teammates right now. What would you do about it? Would you be as apathetic as you are now?"

"Well," he began with no thought spared, "If you had asked me 36 hours ago, I'd try and get on your good side and avoid getting killed with the rest of them."

"But?"

"But," He continued, "in recent events, I've learnt that I actually care about these people. I would try to stop you if you told me that."

"I'm fucking stronger than you," She said.

"And I'm fucking smarter."

Again, there was silence. It took a moment, but Tayuya let that sink in. Ordinarily, she would argue and curse the life out of anyone who said that, but she knew it was true.

"I care about them."

"I don't."

"What?"

"My team. I don't care about them."

"You're in a team."

"Yeah."

"I bet they hate you."

"And the feeling is mutual."

"Tell me about them."

Tayuya stopped and turned her masked face to him. The reluctance to tell him about anything was evident on her face. She wouldn't mind telling him. He'd just have to stop being alive after he was told everything.

"You can be as vague as possible. I told you, I don't care."

"Okay…," she drawled, still lenient. "We're drawn together by the respect and fear we have of our leader. We don't actually care for one another, it's our master that holds us."

"That's like my case. We have our disputes, but our teacher brings us together. Maybe your master should do that as well."

"That's rich. My master thinks that my "don't want to lose attitude will" make our team fumble." She stood up and walked to the pond staring at her reflection in the water.

Tanaka stood from the bench and walked towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder. He could see the original Tanaka through the reflection, but ignored his rants about turning her in.

"If it makes you feel any better, my teacher thinks the same thing."

"Why the fuck would that make me feel better?"

Tanaka simply chuckled

When a conversation between two people gets deeper and more personal, time loses its meaning, space outside the medium of communication turns to void and the two get lost in each other.

As one of Orochimaru's loyal guards, Tayuya never got the chance to leave her master's side except during rare occasions. The reason she was here was because he did not trust anyone else to succeed. It seemed to work in her favour because she had the chance to meet him. With Tanaka, she was able to say it all.

Tayuya was always angry not because of that bitch, Kin. She was always angry not because of the shitty caves her master insisted on having every time. She was always angry not because of the smart ass, Kabuto, that was always next to her master. Tayuya was always angry because she was forced to go through everything in her life alone with no one beside her and no one to talk to. It was always one struggle after another with no support emotionally.

Emotional manipulation was a way ninja got information out of people. Tayuya, on a normal day, would be suspicious, but given how they both used each other as an emotional outlet, it was balanced between them. She didn't trust him, and he didn't trust her either, that's why they kept their masks on for so long. For anonymity. Besides, Tanaka was cursed to never trust again after his father tried to kill him.

As she spoke about how she was most likely going to die in her line of work, how, although her faith in her master was unwavering, she wanted to live by his side and not die protecting it, how her family never existing in her life and how her master found and protected her at the cost of her freedom, Tanaka listened.

As he spoke about how he wanted to go home, how his mother needed a better life away from where she was living right now, how he lies compulsively as defense on his own path, how he had another piece of him that he could see through reflections and how he needed to get to a higher spot in life for the sake of his family, Tayuya listened.

Their exchange of stories was so vulnerable, yet so secret.

Minutes turned to hours and they spoke continuously, until an hour after midnight. They didn't realize this. They did not realize that the festival ended with very little light on the street and even less noise at that. Tanaka did not realize that his team had already gone to the motel without him, expecting him to arrive later. Tayuya did not realize that Jirobo began the capture of Kuzan without her and succeeded at that.

"I can't believe this shit," Tayuya said groaning.

"What?" Tanaka questioned.

"The festival is fucking over. We sat here for way too long."

"Well, I guess we did. I bet my team is waiting for me right now, worried."

"Me too. I need to go finish what we came here for then get the fuck out."

As they both stood up, Tanaka thought hard and deep about something before saying it out.

"You know, maybe you shouldn't be like me and forget about your team entirely, but try prioritizing keeping yourself alive sometimes instead of full sending into danger for the sake of your master. I'm trying to say you should work smarter and not harder."

"I suppose that means that you'll also work harder instead of overthinking things. Anyone would be lucky to have a team as caring as yours, don't screw it in the ass." Tayuya placed something in his hands; it was a chain with a mirror pendant. "You need to talk to that shit inside you once in a while. Don't worry I swiped in from someone, I didn't buy it."

Before Tanaka could accept or refuse the chain, Tayuya placed it on his neck, catching the glimpse of a blood drop tattoo on his palm.

"How sweet of you." He drawled out sarcastically. "Maybe you'll tell me your name then."

"Fat chance," She said as she stepped away from him. She was leaving. "Later, fucker."

As she stepped into the shadow, Tanaka saw her figure slowly vanish, her scarred skin and long red hair vanished into the shadows as he sat on the bench. He stood and began walking away.

He pulled a book out of his pouch and opened it.

Long, red hair and fair, scarred skin. Not from any main village, a village close to the Leaf and Hot water. Part of a team with no family background. Loud and rash.

"It's amazing how much info you can get from a bingo book," he muttered to himself as he found it all. All except for a face. Ironic "Tayuya, sound ninja. Double S ranked nin. I've found you, Tayuya."

Someone just corrected me, saying that it wasn't possible for Tayuya to be double s-ranked, the akatsuki are just s-ranked an they are obviously more dangerous. So, thanks to the person for helping; I've changed it. So yeah, thank you for the review Cinder. Plus sorry for not making it clear that her face wasn't shown, just a description.