Minor spoilers for manga #10 and #11.

Honor and Loyalty
Chapter 4: Acquaintances

Saizo walked through the darkened town watching the tree line ahead of him. He felt like as if someone was watching him and the feeling was irritating him to no end.

Kamanosuke and Jinpachi should have been here by now, but the two had not shown up even as the sky darkened to black.

Saizo looked up and marveled at the crescent moon that loomed eerie in the star speckled sky. It looked like it would be a clear night tonight, the perfect night for someone to attack.

He shifted on his feet again looking back at the dark alleys of the town and watched for any movement, but there was nothing. No sound, no movement, probably no one there.

"I'm getting paranoid," he muttered under his breath, quietly.

He had put in too many hours watching the town entrances to make sure no one attacked and that was probably the reason why he was so jumpy. There was that and the fact that Kamanosuke and Jinpachi were supposed to show up tonight to report. The two of them had probably gotten caught up along the way and Saizo decided that it wasn't worth worrying about them as he walked back towards the town.

"Are you remembering to smile?"

He stopped in his tracks at the familiar words and turned back to see Shindara standing under the trees of the overgrown forest. The tall ninja stepped out of the shadows, expressionlessly.

Saizo narrowed his eyes, realizing that his senses hadn't been off at all in warning him of an enemy nearby.

"I was hoping that maybe you had gotten a little bit stronger since last we met," Shindara commented, "How are you going to protect Yukimura, if you can't even sense my presence?"

Saizo bristled at the insult, taking an unconscious step back. "I didn't expect you to show up so soon, Shindara," Saizo spat back defensively.

"I'm not looking to pick a fight. I merely thought I'd give up information to Yukimura," Shindara replied shrugging his shoulders. " Surely you're not planning to interfere in your masters plans?"

Saizo was taken aback by the familiar words and the anger he had felt at Shindara upon his initial arrival rose into a rage. "You were there watching when I treated Yukimura-sama's wounds?"

"It wasn't too difficult at the time, though I think Yukimura might have noted my presence at some point," Shindara replied moving to stand near one of the dark alleys as if he was drawn to the darkness. "But I must admit I didn't expect you and him to have started a relationship."

Saizo felt the blood rush to his face and his shoulders tensed. "You misinterpreted what you saw."

"You think it's impossible for him to love again after what happened to Mizuki?" Shindara asked calmly. "Then you're the one misinterpreting. Yukimura is throwing you the bait, but you're the one hesitating."

Saizo clenched his teeth at the carefully aimed words and took a few steps forward contemplating whether to fight Shindara or let him reach Yukimura-sama.

Shindara made the decision for him by swiftly turning into the alley leaving Saizo to watch as the former Juyushi disappeared into the darkness. He stood there motionless narrowing his eyes as he pushed Shindara's words away.

They are meaningless.

Before he himself began walking around the building following the general direction Shindara was going in to find Yukimura.

Saizo shook his head at the words that still rang in his mind and instead moved to join his lord to listen to the rest of what Shindara had to say.

No to listen to what the former Juyushi had to say, because no matter how many years went by after his initial betrayal Saizo would always remember Shindara as-

Sarutobi Sasuke...

-------------------------

Saizo was on watched a few nights later after meeting Shindara, looking over the area of the forest that the group was residing in. He had a pen and paper in hand, and was carefully jotting down notes from one of the trees overlooking the camp.

Sasuke sat a ways below him in a different tree annoying him with the toy Kendama he swung in his hands.

Benitora, Kyo, and Yukimura were busy drinking sake and Yuya and Okuni were bathing at the nearby spring.

Saizo ignored the conversation going on below him as best as he could, writing more words on the white sheet of paper.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Benitora tried to inconspicuously leave the group to head towards the spring to spy on Yuya and Okuni and sighed at the childish antic with little more than annoyance. He did however turn his head to watch when Sasuke moved to follow him, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

And here he had thought that Yukimura-sama was the bad influence on the kid.

"Hey Saizo, how's the weather up there?"

Saizo looked over the edge of the branch he sat on to see Yukimura saluting him with the sake bottle in his hands and smiling in a rather drunken way. Kyo looked up only once to see Saizo before turning back to the fire.

"It's fine," Saizo replied absently and tried to busy himself with writing again.

"Why don't you come down and join us? There's plenty of sake, Kyo- sans been hiding the stuff for himself," Yukimura continued hiccupping to prove his point.

"No, thank you, Yukimura-sama," Saizo replied calmly.

Saizo didn't care much for sake and he had long decided that it would be a good idea to keep a few yards between himself and Demon Eyes Kyo after their initial meeting. Saizo could still remember the blade coming at him to kill and the threat that had been thrown at him- ' Any fool who would raise a sword to me is a dead fool.'

He was grateful that Yukimura-sama showed up when he did to save him, but since then he had gained a deeply rooted fear of Demon Eyes Kyo.

But it was different from the fear he felt of Yukimura. With Kyo he merely felt more cautious and wary, but Yukimura was unpredictable. He was a wild card that constantly changed its form.

"Are ya writing a letter to your girlfriend?" Yukimura asked giggling insanely below him.

Saizo shook his head; Yukimura knew he didn't have a girlfriend.

"No, I'm writing the report that you were supposed to have written several days ago, Yukimura-sama," he said finishing the last of the report at that same moment.

He folded the paper carefully and shoved it in his pocket reminding himself to send it to Kosuke later.

"Ah, well I forgot all about that," Yukimura said just as cheerfully as before. "Guess I'm having too much fun, hahaha."

It was at that moment that Yuya and Okuni returned from their bath, with Yuya fuming. "Damn idiots."

"Hmm? What's up Yuya-san?" Yukimura asked, obviously flirting.

"Tora and some other big guy decided to spy on us," Yuya said in an outraged voice.

"Some other big guy?" Kyo asked looking up.

Saizo watched the exchange silently from the trees and looked up in the direction of the spring wondering what was going on. He had sensed another presence earlier and hadn't thought much of it.

There was a town nearby so he had guessed that perhaps one of its residences was at the spring.

"Well let's go check it out," Yukimura said in a singsong voice.

Saizo cringed knowing that only trouble could await them at the spring...