Chouji was proud that he had eventually managed to take the paper from Kiba. But he still wasn't all that sure if stealing truly was a ninja art he should be learning. No matter how good the old man's logic may have been, there was a little voice in the back of his mind telling him that this wasn't the kind of skill his parents would want him focusing on. This time the little voice took the tone his mother's would have whenever she would find him with his clothes dirtied and Kiba and Sakura right beside him with an even bigger mess on their clothes after one of their more savory adventures.
"The clerk is blind in her left eye. So that's the side that's favorable- it'll be harder for her to see you if you're on that side. There's a kid that works the door, though, and his eyesight is as good as a civilian's could get. He's the one you have to watch out for." Kuzu told them as he pointed at a teenager that stood at the front of the small weapons store.
He was much bigger than Chouji and his friends, but much smaller when compared to Kuzu's large frame. His hair was a dark blue, his eyes black and pretty angry looking, and his lips were set in a deep frown. He was looking inside of the store at the moment, but he would look into the street every time someone passed by it within a rather small distance. Chouji guessed it was because he was supposed to be the bodyguard or something… Like his dad would sometimes be when he was out on missions.
"The small weapons are outside on the racks. So kunai, shuriken, daggers, smoke bombs, and the like are there. The more complex and bigger weapons, though, are either locked up on the walls or hidden in the back."
After he'd said this, the man slipped one kunai, a pack of shuriken, and a pack of smoke bombs from his sleeve. "These are what're the easiest to grab for you; the shelves are at about your heights. But if you find something more to your liking, grab that."
Chouji couldn't believe that they were actually about to go into a store and steal from a half blind woman. And he couldn't believe Kiba looked so eager to do such a thing.
"Make a plan, find what you want, and take it. I'm not going to step in if you get caught, so you have to be prepared to pay for your mistakes." The man told them gruffly, only to slide the objects he'd pulled out back into his sleeve.
Had he stolen those things from the store? In that small amount of time?!
Chouji gaped at the man with eyes wide in shock. But Kuzu merely grunted and glared down at him before he barked out a short, "Now go."
Kiba jumped into action immediately. He ran out of the alley and entered the shop with way too much energy, immediately calling the teenager's attention. Kuzu groaned and shook his head softly, then looked down at the two kids that were still there.
Chouji really didn't want to steal anything. It didn't feel right. And, even though he wasn't sure, he could guess that Sakura felt the same way.
"What're you two still doing here?"
"That lady's blind…" Sakura muttered, "It doesn't feel right to steal from her… What if she's a kind old lady that's just trying to make an honest living? Aren't we taking away her business by stealing from her? Won't she go bankrupt and lose her home if she loses her business?!"
Kuzu stared at her with an unimpressed look inside of his oddly cool eyes, "That doesn't matter. You were given a mission. You have to complete it."
"But stealing is wrong, Kuzu. Especially if you're stealing from someone that's good."
"Kid, other people don't matter." Kuzu grunted at Chouji as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You know who's supposed to matter to you? Those you deem important. Not some stranger on the street that doesn't even live in your Village."
Chouji frowned at the harsh words, "But-"
"Just go and steal something, kid."
Kuzu moved so that Chouji and Sakura both had a clear view of the shop Kiba was already browsing. But Chouji didn't want to go… It didn't feel right.
Noticing that neither of them would move on their own, Kuzu groaned and pushed them both harshly in the direction of the shop. "If you come back empty handed or get caught, I'm never going to come back to Konoha."
Now that was terrifying to Chouji. Even more so than stealing from someone he didn't know.
Quickly, both he and Sakura scurried towards the weapons shop. And when they crossed the doorway, the Akimichi did everything possible to avoid having to meet the teenage watcher's eyes, completely sure that he would be able to read his intentions if he looked into his eyes.
The shop was a normal one, although a little bit small. There were two large displays that created three halls through which they could pass. And there was a counter in the very back of the shop, where there was a cash register. The woman Chouji assumed must have been the owner sat behind the counter, her right eye a similar black to the teenager's own, although the left one was milky and glossy.
She was frowning softly, right eye watching Kiba attentively.
When he saw his friend, Chouji could understand why it was that the woman was looking at him. He was staring up at a large sword that was locked up behind a large display case at the very back of the shop. And his eyes were wide and his smile mischievous.
If he was going to try and steal it, he'd get caught immediately.
"Come on, Chouji." Sakura muttered softly, and Chouji felt a hand tugging at his shirt.
Without much thought, he followed after her. And once he saw where she was taking him, he couldn't help but be grateful.
Stealing this wouldn't hurt the old woman that much. So they'd be able to keep somewhat clean consciences.
"You're awesome, Sakura."
"I know."
Her heart pounded harshly against her chest as she and Chouji both stared at the packs of smoke bombs and individual kunai that were displayed side by side.
She couldn't believe they were actually about to steal something… She couldn't believe that the old man had actually put them up to doing such a thing!
But it was part of their ninja training. It was necessary, really. Especially if the Academy would never teach them how they were supposed to steal important documents from their enemies.
Kuzu had yet to teach them anything they would not use in the future. They had to trust and believe in him. They were all a pack, after all.
"Okay, I'm going to put my jacket on. We should be able to hide some of this inside of my pockets without it being obvious." Sakura whispered to Chouji, eyes on the weapons in front of her. "I want you to stand right there to make sure that the guy can't see me putting these things inside. And keep watch; tell me when he's not looking so I can put these things inside."
It was straightforward and somewhat rushed, but it was the only plan she could come up with at the moment. She didn't have Kiba around; he was much too busy gawking at that sword; so she couldn't count on him as a distraction. So she would just have to hope that Chouji would keep a good look out.
"A-alright." She heard Chouji mutter.
Then she heard the soft squeaking of his feet against the floor, alerting her as to the fact that he turned his back on her to look at the watcher.
Immediately, she wanted to scold him. But if she did that, then she'd really draw attention to them. She had to hope that the teenager at the door just considered Chouji to be a harmless weirdo and didn't consider him being watched by the Akimichi a strange thing.
As she waited for the all-clear from Chouji, Sakura's wide eyes skimmed over the objects set before her. While she did this, she put on her jacket seeing how it was rather big on her because of it having been bought by a far away cousin that didn't truly know her size. Because of the size, it had large pockets- perfect for fitting countless items inside.
The smoke bombs would be useful in case they were caught… They might be able to cover their escape if it was really necessary. But she really shouldn't be thinking that, she couldn't think about that- they couldn't get caught. Kuzu had sounded as if he had meant business when he'd said he'd never come back if they were caught. So she shouldn't be thinking about that. Failure was not an option on this mission.
The kunai might be a good choice, too. She needed actual ninja weapons now; she was tired of having to ask Chouji and Kiba for theirs whenever they were practicing by themselves. But her parents refused to buy her any yet, saying she was still much too young for such dangerous items.
It was pretty stupid, especially after they had heard from Iruka Sensei just how well she was doing in school with various kinds of fighting styles. But they were so overprotective they didn't want to risk her hurting herself…
With a small sigh, Sakura reminded herself that she had a very important task at hand.
Lucky for them, the kunai's tips were all covered by a pouch that ensured they couldn't hurt anyone. Which would mean that the kunai wouldn't cut through her jacket's pockets once placed inside.
Aside from that, the gloves that were kept inside bins on the floor looked pretty interesting…
Leaning down to grab three pairs, which were black and looked just a tiny bit too big for her hands, Sakura couldn't help but feel extremely anxious.
What was taking Chouji so long?
"Hey!"
The spike of panic that ran right through her forced her to freeze. Her blood ran cold and her whole body seemed to become suspended in time as her heart froze along with it.
That didn't sound like a woman's shout… It must have been the teenager at the door! Why? Was she not supposed to touch anything? She hadn't done anything yet, she'd just grabbed a pair of gloves!
A couple of seconds of pure, terrifying, silence passed. Sakura closed her eyes, prepared for the scolding she would receive.
It never came.
"Now, Sakura."
As soon as she heard Chouji's hurried whisper, the girl opened her eyes and glanced at him in shock. But that was when she saw the teenager rushing over to the other side of the shop; where Kiba was.
She didn't know just what in the world was happening. But she quickly moved her hands, pocketed the gloves, and grabbed the most smoke bombs and kunai she could. Once that was done, she shoved them into the jacket, kept her hands inside to make sure that the things didn't move too much while she ran, and rushed past Chouji.
"Let's go!" She whisper-shouted, heart pounding in her ears as she forced her legs to move as quickly as they could.
It was when she crossed through the threshold of the shop that she noticed just why it was that the teenager had shouted. But, even though she wanted to stop, she couldn't. She was much too scared of being caught to stop. She just scurried out of the shop and into the alley, seeking safety.
Chouji and Sakura needed a diversion. Kiba knew that. They would be much too nervous; call too much attention to themselves with all of their staring and shaking. So he'd decided to be as obvious as possible about his own intentions as he'd run into the shop.
By running so eagerly into the shop, the Inuzuka knew he would call attention to himself. Just like he knew this was a great tactic because it would allow Sakura and Chouji to take what they wanted if they were smart enough to act.
He knew that his friends were smart. And he knew that they would be smart enough to know that he was the perfect distraction for them to act. So he would allow himself to be the sacrificial lamb to make sure that those two could get a stash for them.
(Talking to them about his plan had never crossed his mind. Because why would he need to talk to them when they already were the best team up around? They would know what he was planning as soon as they saw him leave. He was sure of it! They were pack- of course they would know what he was doing!)
He had walked around the shop for a while, waiting for his friends to act. As he had walked, he had found a small scent he knew extremely well coming from the bottom of one of the shelves. So he discreetly looked down at the floor and caught a glint of metal.
The devious smirk that fought its way onto his lips was hard to keep suppressed. But he managed to keep how happy he was over what Kuzu had left for him to find (most probably, it wasn't like the man to leave his scent all over something- he was usually much more discreet about everything).
It was weird, though… How had he even managed to get that item out of its display? Furthermore, had he left it out for Kiba to find? Or had he merely left it out to see which one of them was able to find it?
Shaking his head, Kiba forced his eyes away from the concealed weapon to begin to look over the paper bombs in front of him and waited for the perfect time to bend down and take what Kuzu had left behind.
He found his opening when Chouji and Sakura finally meandered the way into the shop.
When the teenager's eyes looked down at his friends, Kiba took his chance. As fast as lightning, he snatched the knuckle dusters that had been left out of their proper placeand lowered his arm back to his side to not seem suspicious.
After that, he'd begun to gawk at the display case that held a pretty nice looking sword within it. It was nice craftsmanship, although a bit too flashy and big for his tastes. He liked smaller, much more inconspicuous weapons at the moment. Maybe in the future he'd want to use such a sword. But right now he was in love with speed rather than strength in his fighting style.
He was still pretty small, unfortunately. But eventually he'd hit a growth spurt and would be able to wield battle axes and long swords to crush the skulls of his enemies! Just like his cousin told him their grandfather had once done.
The shop owner was glaring at him. The teenager's eyes were on him. Everything was set up perfectly for his friends to take what they wanted.
Waiting patiently, Kiba tried to smell surety coming from Sakura. Once she had decided on something to steal, he would smell it. And he'd be able to spring his trap. But, until then, he'd have to wait.
Minutes of silence passed. He stared at the sword like a complete idiot. He made sure to look as obvious as possible to capture the attention of both the shopkeeper and the teenager. The woman glared at him, distrust and anger wafting off of her.
Once the scent of surety hit his nose, he acted. Like a novice, he began to thumb at the padlock on the corner of the display case. And that immediately caught the shop keeper's and teenager's attention.
"Hey!" The teenager shouted, immediately running up to him.
Kiba allowed his hand to get grabbed by the kid, eyes going wide as his mouth opened with faked surprise.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"N-nothing!"
"He was trying to steal that sword!" The owner limped out of her little corner and hobbled over to them, glaring down at Kiba, "You little thief!"
"Hey, I didn't take nothing!" He argued, which made them both scoff.
"Just because we stopped you." The teenager scowled, shook him harshly, and pointed outside, "Get the hell out of here before I call the authorities."
From the corner of his eyes, Kiba saw a shock of pink hair running out of the shop. A blur of green followed quickly after. And, admittedly, he found himself having to suppress his smirk yet again.
He knew his friends would know what to do.
"Alright, alright!" He huffed as he yanked his wrist out of the kid's grip, "I'm leaving. I didn't want to buy nothin' here anyways. It's all cheap and fake."
"Why you little-"
The kick to his ass was unnecessary. The beginnings of a growl bubbled their way up to his mouth but he managed to make himself ignore the need to beat the shit out of the teenage snot. He couldn't get in a fight. Not when his plan had worked so well.
He stormed out with a heavy scowl on his face, all the while the two shop workers grumbled and judged.
Once he was in the middle of the street, he allowed the smirk that had wanted to come out since he'd seen his friends running away to finally make its way onto his lips. And once he reached the alley that his pack was waiting in, he gave them all thumbs up.
"Good job, guys!"
Sakura huffed, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets. Chouji just stared at him, eyes wide.
Both of their hearts were pounding as if there was no tomorrow, clearly shaken by their first act of thievery.
Kiba was just proud to know that he'd been able to get them to actually steal something.
Maybe now they would be able to take more stuff back in Konoha… Like that delicious steak ma never bought because it cost too much… Ooh, and they could even steal some of that delicious steak teriyaki that jerk of a kiosk-owner sold for way too much money!
"What're you smiling about?" Kuzu growled from behind his friends, standing up from his crate to loom over them all. "You were caught, Inuzuka."
Smirking at him, Kiba thrust his hand into the large pocket of his jacket and pulled out the knuckle duster Kuzu had left for him. "Yeah. But I still got my loot."
The man's eyes narrowed, devoid of any emotions. But he reached down and grabbed the metallic weapon. Then he brought it up to his eyes so he could inspect it. After a couple of seconds of looking at it intently, the man grunted and tightened his grip.
With an astonishing glow of blue, the faint line design that ran around the weapon's length amazed them all.
"Huh… Not bad, kid." He grunted, only to then slide the weapon inside of his sleeve.
Kiba was not able to suppress the squawk of surprise that left him. "Hey, what's up?! You left that for-"
"You'll hurt yourself with this." Kuzu offered as his only explanation as he cut the Inuzuka off, making the kid snarl and glare. With a much too smug glint in his eyes, the old man then looked down at Sakura and Chouji. "What'd you get?"
Sakura squeaked softly as she began to pull things out of her jacket, handing some over to both Kuzu and Chouji.
It was actually a lot.
Kiba found himself surprised by the vast amount of beautiful smoke bombs that she produced, brain beginning to work on all of the beautiful pranking opportunities that had just opened up.
Kunai and smoke bombs had been her loot. But she'd managed to grab a lot of said items. And, as if the numerous quantity of that had not been enough, she finished by waving three pairs of gloves in front of him and Chouji.
"They looked cool." She offered as her only explanation.
Kiba grabbed a pair as Kuzu sifted over her loot. The Inuzuka sniffed the garment, took in the dark color of it, and shrugged. They looked nice, yeah, and they smelled good enough. But his nails were long and would undoubtedly get caught on the cloth. If he was to wear gloves, he'd need to cut off their tips.
"Hn… Not bad." Kuzu moved the crate he had been sitting on over to them to spread the winnings over it, although his voice was mostly emotionless.
Kiba sneered in slight frustration at the lack of praise from the man. Their loot had been amazing! Sakura and Chouji had gotten managed to grab a lot! Why couldn't he say that out loud? And why couldn't he just say that he had left those knuckle dusters out there for them to find? His scent was all over the weapon!
"There are nine kunai in all- three for each of you if you wish to split it. And there are twelve smoke bombs- four for each." Kuzu informed them, which made them all smile tentatively.
Okay, the old man may not have praised them, but they'd done good-
"Or you could just keep it all, Pinkie."
Kiba's smile fell as soon as he heard the old man say this.
Sakura blinked in unrestrained confusion at the old man. Kiba frowned, though, clearly dismayed by what had been said. Chouji just looked down at the gloves in his hands, wondering if he should put them on. They were nice, after all. And they felt soft. Had Sakura picked them out for them to wear immediately?
"But… Chouji and I worked to get this…" He heard Sakura mumble softly, which made Kuzu grunt and shrug.
"Then split it between you two. It's your loot- you can do whatever you want with it."
Quite frankly, Chouji wasn't surprised to hear this from the old man. But he was kind of hurt. Why would he expect they would leave Kiba out of their little bounty sharing? They were a pack; they didn't just abandon each other… Right?
Chouji decided to pull the gloves on. And when he did so, he swore his hands twinkled softly. They were good gloves.
Once he'd finished marveling at part of their stolen loot, he looked up at the old man and found him looking up at the sky. His eyes were narrowed and looked harsher than usual.
"I'm going to leave now. Go back home."
He left without much flare. He just walked off; he didn't even turn around once to make sure that none of them were following him.
Chouji stared after him, actually confused. Not by his words, no, Kuzu was a man of few words usually. He was confused as to why he'd suddenly sounded so distant, and if he were distracted.
Kuzu was never distracted. He didn't seem capable of ever being caught off guard.
As soon as he was gone, Kiba stomped his feet and huffed.
"Dumb old jerk!" He hissed, glaring at the old man's back. "Our plan went off without a hitch!"
Chouji was surprised by this. What in the world was Kiba talking about?
"What plan, Kiba?"
The Inuzuka huffed as he grabbed one of the kunai and pulled it out of its pouch, inspecting it. "I distracted the store owner and the stupid guy so you two could grab things without getting into any trouble. And I managed to grab those knuckle dusters he left out for us before I got caught."
Was that why he had gone in with so much energy and being so obvious?
Chouji blinked at his friend in astonishment. But then he shook his head and smiled softly. Of course Kiba would have thought things through. He wouldn't have run in without any kind of plan in his mind- as minute and unorganized as it may have been. He was the ring leader, after all. He wasn't as smart as Shikamaru, but he did know how to lead.
"How about you tell us your plan next time, Kiba?" Sakura asked softly, "Chouji and I just went along because we were afraid Kuzu wouldn't come back if we didn't bring something back."
Kiba huffed but nodded, "Still'd be nice for the jerk to not be such a jerk…"
"Don't worry, Kiba. We'll share." Chouji assured him, turning to Sakura. "Right, Sakura?"
As soon as their eyes met, Sakura's right fist tightened and she nodded, green eyes hard with determination, "Right! We're pack, Kiba!"
"Besides, you know Kuzu's always a big jerk. He's quiet and doesn't like speaking much. Remember, he really loves us. He just taught us how to steal!" Chouji reminded him, smiling broadly while Sakura nodded sagely beside him.
For a second, Kiba didn't react. He continued to frown, apparently struck by the old man.
Soon enough, though, that frown melted into a pleased smile and he jumped between them both, hugging them over their shoulders, "That's right, we're a pack! And we just completed our first successful heist, kiddos! We'll hit it big, you'll see."
"Uh…" Chouji stalled for a moment, then sighed and hung his head, "I'm not sure I want to go on any more heists, Kiba."
"Nonsense!" Kiba jumped towards the winnings with a broad smile, "We'll be the bestest thieves all of Konoha has ever seen! Now, let's get going; I'm hungry and we ain't got no money."
He pocketed his three kunai and four smoke bombs, then handed the same amount over to Chouji. Once that was over, he gave the remaining items to Sakura, and finally looked over to the floor.
"Yo, you left your bag on the floor."
Sakura squealed suddenly as she ran over to the spot where he was pointing towards. And when she picked up the bag she had brought with her from her house, she smacked her forehead.
"We could have used this!"
"But you dropped it, Pinkie. So you made shit harder for yourself."
"Ah, I'm such an idiot!"
"Not arguin' there!"
"Kiba, shut up!"
"Nah, this is fun."
Chouji smiled at his friend's banter as they began to walk out of the alley, completely amused.
Okay, yeah, they'd just done something bad. But it had been for a good reason. And now they all had weapons- he knew Sakura had needed some for a while. But they wouldn't be making a habit out of this. Sure, stealing may be a Shinobi skill they would need at some point, but Chouji refused to take anything that wasn't his if it wasn't necessary. Now he knew he could do it if he needed to; that didn't mean he needed to.
After she had beaten herself up over having forgotten about her perfectly useful bag, Sakura wound up thinking about the old man's cold words about Kiba.
Well, they hadn't really been directed at him. But they had excluded him. Which meant that the old man had thought Kiba had not earned his share of what had been taken… No, that couldn't have been it. Maybe he was just trying to teach them about selfishness and how the ninja life was a lonely one?
Kuzu was so infuriatingly confusing!
… … Maybe the old man was trying to make him see that going off on his own hadn't been right?
Konoha was known for its teamwork. Shinobi camaraderie was important to their Village; it was actually one of the reasons they were so successful. At least, that's what Iruka-Sensei said. That their teams were strong because they worked together for the same cause; they weren't selfish and tried to one-up one another.
If Kuzu knew this, then he would know how important it would be for them to work together. And while Kiba's plan had worked, they hadn't communicated it. It could have easily failed because they hadn't coordinated anything before Kiba had run off.
Pursing her lips softly, Sakura jumped over one particularly large root in their route. Then she glanced forward and noticed how happily Kiba was running over the roots. He was rushing around on his hands and feet, an amazing feat she could never wish to mimic.
He looked happy.
If she brought back the issue of the old man, his bad mood would come back… She didn't want that to happen.
Sighing softly, Sakura promised herself that she would eventually talk to him about what Kuzu might have meant.
"It's about lunch time, what should we do?" Chouji asked from a couple of paces behind Sakura, making her turn her head slightly to see him.
Luckily for him, the breakfast bar he'd brought with him, along with the apple she'd brought along, had helped quell his hunger until they reached Konoha. But he must have been starving- the Akimichi actually ate a lot. Even though Sakura still had no idea just where in the world all that food went once it had been consumed by them. It was as if the Akimichi were bottomless pits!
"I'm feeling something meaty." Kiba panted slightly as he stopped in his ceaseless bouncing to talk to them both. "But we've got to buy something… We can't go to any of your houses…"
Sakura frowned softly at this reminder, but soon shrugged. "We can go to my house really quickly. If we're able to get there before one, we can sneak in, get money, and get out. My mom usually goes out to buy groceries during the lunch rush."
Both of her friends stared at her in questioning at this. But she just shrugged again, "My mom's weird."
"Sounds reasonable." Kiba grunted, "Adults are all weird, after all."
Chouji looked over at him, a thoughtful look on his face. "And she's an adult… So it would only be natural if she was weird."
Both boys looked at each other for a second, nodded in synchronization, then looked over at Sakura. Their eyes clearly asked 'do you agree?'.
"I can't argue with that." She agreed, then motioned for them to follow her. "Let's go! I'm hungry!"
And they began to run, their destination clear in mind.
When they reached Sakura's house, she told both him and Chouji to be quiet. Their neighbors were nosy and if they heard any noise inside of her house, they'd tell her mom. And then she'd get all suspicious and they couldn't have that!
Sakura's mom didn't really like any of them going to her house whenever there wasn't an adult around. So she made sure to try and keep them all out by locking doors whenever she wasn't around on the weekends. Which was pretty stupid, they all knew how to get inside through windows... But, yeah, as long as she didn't know they could get in, everything was fine.
Normally their parents wouldn't really care much about what they did on weekends. But they had all left in a huge rush talking about homework and school stuff. They couldn't really get caught doing things around the village that didn't have anything to do with school. They might get questioned about what they were actually doing. And they couldn't say anything now that they had stolen loot with them.
Kiba shifted from one foot onto another as they waited outside of Sakura's kitchen window, fingers grazing the smoke bombs they'd acquired.
He still couldn't believe the old man had actually offered the option of him not getting anything… If it hadn't been for him, neither of his friends would have gotten a single thing! He didn't deserve the harsh judgment!
Growling softly, the Inuzuka pulled his hand away from his pocket and looked over at Chouji.
The boy was twiddling his thumbs- hey, he'd put the gloves on! Huh… They looked kind of out of place on him, though… Kiba wasn't sure why… Eh, most probably because none of them had ever worn gloves before.
They remained in silence for a couple more minutes. Then Sakura jumped out of her window with an Inuzuka-like grace that filled Kiba with nothing but pride and smiled at them both.
"Alright! I've got the cash! Let's go!"
Kiba whooped and quickly began to run, eager to finally get some food into him.
Yeah, the old man's words had left a bad taste in his mouth. But at least his friends were honorable enough to see his awesomeness.
He just needed to show the man that he knew what he was doing. Because he did! Most people just missed his genius, was all... Stupid people.
..~..~..
Please review and tell me what you thought of all this!
Also, for those that enjoy Kakuzu in odd situations, have a stop over at my profile to vote in my newest poll. It's about an AU story dealing with Kakuzu not killing the First Hokage but getting a second chance at life by getting 'adopted' by him. If you wish to vote and tell me if it's worth a write or not, please go on ahead and vote.
