New genin did D-rank missions.

This was a statement of fact, not opinion. Knowing this, however, did not prepare Sayaka for being asked to help at the fish market the next day.

"Alright, welcome to Konoha Central Fish Market!" Foreman Ono shouted over the noise of fish being carted in at five in the morning from his small platform overlooking the proceedings at the edge of the market. "We got a hell of a day ahead of us! First things first, you'll want these!"

He passed out small, genin-sized waders and rubber gloves. Kakashi received his own adult-sized set.

"Go ahead and put those on! Now, April is a pretty good month, there's lots of good fish coming down the river! Your big task today is to get fish from the dock to the vendors without losing any of it. We want to get everything in before the market opens at ten. You'll be working with Takayama— OI TAKAYAMA!"

A bald man with a bandanna tied around his head and chomping a cigar looked up. "WHADDYA WANT, ONO?"

"SAY HI TO THE GREENHORNS."

"GOOD FUCKING MORNING GREENHORNS!" Takayama shouted before turning, yelling something at a passing worker, and returning his attention to Foreman Ono. "THEY WORKING WITH ME TODAY ONO?"

"AYE."

"WELL FUCK ME WITH A CUTTLEFISH. SEND 'EM DOWN THEN."

"Right, Takayama's a specialty retailer for a lot of the high-end restaurants," said Foreman Ono, turning back to Team Seven, who had managed to get dressed with minimal drama. Kakashi had managed it without being seen doing it, somehow. "Y'all head out now."

Navigating to where Takayama was working was a surprising challenge. The ground was wet and slippery, making running nearly impossible.

"Ach, fresh outta the Academy eh?" Takayama grunted as he looked them over. "Right, Jounin-san, you head out to the boat and we'll get you sorted."

Kakashi glanced at his genin. "Be good."

"Yes sensei."

Kakashi vanished.

"You're a Hyuuga, yeah?" Takayama said, nodding at Hinata. "We'll put you on fish inspection and retail with Haruhi over there."

Hinata glanced over at the grumpy looking old lady and nodded. "Y-yes sir."

"You two… we'll have you work with Yoko hauling and lifting boxes," Takayama finished, looking to Naruto and Sayaka and pointing them towards a chunin with a jar of ink on a sling and a brush. He waved.

"Yes sir," said Sayaka and Naruto together.

Naruto turned and slapped Hinata encouragingly on the shoulder. "Good luck, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata flushed and smiled at him from under her bangs. "T-thank you Naruto-kun. Y-you too!"

Sayaka glanced at Takayama. They agreed: Hinata really needed to just ask Naruto out, sooner rather than later.

"Let's get going," Sayaka said, nodding at Hinata once before setting out towards the chunin.

Kumada Yoko was apparently a common fixture in Konoha Central Fish Market. She was a seal specialist, mostly with demolitions, but worked at the fish market placing refrigeration seals on the boxes of fish when she wasn't in demand for blowing something up.

Since neither Sayaka nor Naruto had any experience writing seals, they were sent to the crating area next to the docks to haul boxes of fish and shellfish to Yoko. The fish arrived in Konoha on river barges in holds full of water, kept alive with special seals on the hull. Each barge held about 100 kilograms worth of fish. Fish were offloaded using large nets or, when a jounin like Kakashi was around, using a carefully controlled water jutsu. Naruto and Sayaka would be hauling small crates on wheelbarrows, carrying five boxes each load, totaling about ten kilograms. Just over one hundred and thirty barrow-loads of fish would be offloaded that morning, sorted, and packaged for retail.

Yoko called it a "light day" when they took a break at seven for breakfast.

"The markets in the south of Fire Country are much larger," Yoko said as they made their way through bowls of rice topped with slices of sashimi. "They got a lot more to do. With Hatake-san's help, we've got most of our loading and sealing done, so it's mostly just sorting and clean up now."

Sayaka and Naruto were passed to Hinata when they finished eating, supervised under Haruhi-san's watchful eye as she explained how to pick out the best fish of the day, which ones were no good, and which ones they would trade with other fish sellers for favors or other product.

"T-takayama-san wants me to h-help him pick out fish from other v-vendors," Hinata said as they got started sorting the fish. "S-so Haruhi-san will s-supervise you."

Haruhi-san was much less grumpy than she appeared, delivering sharp but clear instructions as Sayaka and Naruto got used to the pace. Somehow, it was already eight-thirty, with little time left before they would need to clean up the stall and get it ready for the market. Yoko stopped by to say goodbye around nine, having finished the last of the boxes that Hinata and Takayama had brought back. Naruto was sent off to haul the boxes of fish that Takayama had negotiated in return for what he had received while Hinata and Haruhi finished sorting and Sayaka was placed on clean up duty.

"Ah, always good to get a team with more girls than boys," Takayama remarked with satisfaction as he looked over the shopfront. It had been wiped down and the boxes of fish labeled with Sayaka's neat calligraphy. "Good work, Uchiha-san. Us menfolk are always at a disadvantage at making the shop look good for business."

Sayaka bowed. "Thank you sir. I'm sure you would do better, if you had the time."

Takayama laughed. "Ah, maybe when I am old and my children are old enough to run the rest of the shop for me. My boy Takashi's just turned 10, so it'll be a while. Maybe I can get you to stay on permanently eh?"

Sayaka bowed again. "I am afraid I must decline, but thank you for the offer, sir."

Naruto's return concluded the team's mission, and Takayama sent them off with a katsuo fish that had gotten somewhat squashed, but was entirely edible. Team Seven decided to use it for an early lunch and headed to one of the many restaurants that lined the market which would cook your fish for you.

"Well, team, cheers," said Kakashi as he raised his cup of tea. "D-rank, complete."

Team Seven sent up a ragged, muted cheer.

"That was, like, the opposite of a cool mission," Naruto mumbled, laying his head on his arms tiredly. "So early!"

"Well, you know, ninja have lots of early days and late nights," said Kakashi, settling in with his book that had appeared like magic. His teacup mysteriously had lost some liquid when nobody was looking.

"At least it was just carrying boxes," said Sayaka. Her lips thinned. "Though I wish I didn't smell like fish."

"Yeah, but fightin's cooler," Naruto said, turning his head to look at Sayaka. "I wish we coulda got some bandits or something. That'd have been cool!"

"For a D-rank? In a manga, maybe."

"It could happen!"

"U-um, well, K-Konoha is very secure," said Hinata, smiling softly from behind her teacup. "So I t-think it would be hard for that to h-happen."

"The barges are actually escorted in," said Kakashi, turning a page. "It's a pretty common C-rank mission for new chunin these days. In times of war, the barges are guarded by jounin, since they're a key supply line and can be exploited."

"Why not just go by roads then?" asked Naruto. "Cause, like, they'd be easier to guard, right?"

"Not really," said Kakashi. "The roads are slower and you can't carry as much, so you end up with more convoys and more chances to get hit. Each cart is smaller, of course, so you can defend it more easily than a barge, but the barge only needs one trip and can finish it faster. Unless you're convinced that none of your barges will survive, it's almost always better to use a barge for large-scale logistics."

Naruto squinted at him and tilted his head over to the other side. There was a moment as he attempted to process Kakashi's statements.

"Nope, fuck that," Naruto groaned, burying his head in his arms all over again. "Too tired. Try again later."

Sayaka rolled her eyes as Hinata giggled and Kakashi sighed. It wasn't that hard a concept, was it?

Naruto did actually fall asleep for a few minutes before their fish arrived. Sayaka had to poke him awake to let the server set their food down. Their katsuo was not salvageable for sashimi, its flesh crushed a bit too much, but it was perfectly serviceable for being grilled whole. Lunch was thus spent picking apart the carcass over seemingly-endless bowls of rice. Naruto surprised everyone by being remarkably good at peeling open the head and scooping out the meat inside.

"The eyes are really good too," Naruto commented around a wad of rice. "They're super fatty, it's like eating a piece of chashu pork. Not as good as ramen, obviously, but…"

Hinata giggled, Sayaka rolled her eyes, and Kakashi flipped a page in his book.

It was interesting watching Kakashi eat. Bits of fish would periodically end up in his rice bowl, then disappear. The servers seemed to be used to this, and bowls of rice would occasionally appear as if they were casually in the area and happened to be distracted by a passing bird, only to be summarily demolished by Kakashi between the turn of a page.

"Ne, Kaka-sensei, what's with the mask?" Naruto asked eventually as he used a chopstick to crack open the fish's skull. "Why do you wear it?"

"Why not wear a mask?" Kakashi asked without looking up from his book. "It's a pretty good mask. Nice, breathable fabric."

"Yeah, but like, it's also weird as fuck, yanno?"

Hinata reached over to poke Naruto. "Y-you shouldn't call our sensei w-weird, Naruto-kun."

"The mask also helps cover up my skin on assassination missions," said Kakashi. "Along with my forehead protector and some long gloves, it ends up working very well."

"You're not doing them now though," said Naruto. "So you should take the mask off, right?"

Kakashi shrugged and turned the page of his novel. "It's a habit, I guess."

"You must have done a lot of assassinations," Sayaka said. She took a sip of tea.

"I've done a few," said Kakashi. He looked up at Sayaka with his one exposed eye over the top of his book, apparently waiting to see what she would say.

Sayaka returned the look, setting her teacup down and steepling her fingers. Naruto seemed entirely oblivious to the sudden change of mood, while Hinata glanced between Sayaka and Kakashi nervously. "A few" was probably an understatement, Sayaka thought, and she wondered for a moment if she should ask more about them. What they were like, how they worked, and most importantly, what it was like killing someone. But…

"What other missions have you done?" asked Sayaka, breaking her gaze by picking up her chopsticks to get more fish. "A jounin's duties must span a wide variety of situations."

"They do," said Kakashi, returning to his novel as if nothing had happened. "Sabotage, intel gathering, you know. The sort of thing that Naruto thinks is cool."

"It is!" Naruto said with his mouth full. He swallowed noisily. "Blowing stuff up is the coolest! You just put some seals on the thing and run away and it goes KABOOM."

"It also requires a lot of paperwork," Kakashi continued dryly. "Mission reports for demolition missions can span over fifty pages between you and your teammates."

Naruto made a face of utter horror. "N-no way. Something that lame can't be true…"

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," said Kakashi. He turned the page of his novel. "This is true for kunai and for missions. The cooler the mission, the worse the paperwork."

"Then, if you're Hokage…?" Sayaka asked.

"Oh, the Third spends most of his day doing paperwork," said Kakashi blithely, apparently unaware of Naruto's paling expression. "The Hokage's most important weapon, the one tool he relies on above all others, even his elite jounin…"

Kakashi paused, looking up and making eye contact with a sweating Naruto.

"…is the pen he signs documents with."

Naruto fell to his knees, hands trembling, and raised his head to the sky.

"Nooooooooooooooo!"


After getting scolded for making a scene, Team Seven finished their meal and headed out.

"Team training tomorrow," Kakashi said as he tucked his book away. "We got an early start today so the rest of the day is yours. Get an early night, maybe."

Kakashi vanished between blinks of an eye, leaving the three genin outside the fish market.

"Well, I'm going to go take a bath," said Sayaka, sniffing at her clothes with distaste. "And do laundry."

"Wanna head to a bathhouse then?" Naruto asked, glancing around at the landmarks. "I think there's one that way."

"There's a closer one over here though," Sayaka asked, nodding at a sign down the street.

"I… may have pranked that one once," said Naruto, wincing. "It wasn't anything too bad but…"

Sayaka sighed. "Why, Naruto."

"I stopped!"

Sayaka grumbled some more but dropped the subject. Naruto's past antics had been swiftly kiboshed between Sayaka's liberal use of ninja wire and Hinata's quiet disapproval, both of which wrapped him up like ramen around a chopstick and left him in a sack under the bed. This didn't ameliorate old grudges, however.

"L-let's get going," said Hinata. "N-Naruto-kun, do you know the way?"

"Yeah, here, I'll show you," said Naruto, leading them towards the un-pranked bathhouse. "Besides, this one is pretty good. The tub's nice and wide so you got space to spread out, or I guess it is on the men's side at least, and they have this really nice yogurt drink you can get afterwards in the cafe out back."

"What does it taste like?" Sayaka asked.

"Eh, it's hard to describe?" Naruto said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "It's tangy, I guess, and a little fizzy and a little sweet? I get the one with oranges, but they do it with strawberries and stuff, or you can mix them together."

"U-um, it sounds very good."

"Yeah, it is! It comes in this really tall glass with a tiny paper umbrella too, which is weird, but kind of fun."

The rest of the walk remained uneventful until they reached the bathhouse and ran into Team Eight. The team was missing its third member and looked scuffed up in all the worst ways, with Sakura bearing the worst of it in bright red welts that went up and down her arms. Akamaru, Kiba's ever-present nin-dog companion, was missing too—which was so out of character that, if they weren't in Konoha, Sayaka would have been seriously concerned.

Instead, she felt only horror. Sayaka and Kiba made eye contact at the same time, each realizing that they were heading towards the same location in the same instant that Naruto raised a hand and shouted a greeting at Sakura. The only girl on Team Eight froze, then glanced at Kiba, who glanced back at Sayaka, who opened her mouth to say something but was too slow.

"Hey, hey, you guys headed to the bathhouse?" Naruto asked, bouncing up with all his usual energy and obliviousness to any social awkwardness. "You just finish a mission too?"

"Er, yes," said Sakura, edging away from Naruto towards Kiba. "We had to catch the daimyo's wife's cat."

"You smell like you just came from the fish market," said Kiba, wrinkling his nose. He glanced at Sayaka again, and went slightly pale.

"Yeah, they made us haul fish for them," said Naruto, shoving his hands into his pockets grouchily. "We had to get up super early too! So we were going to go get a bath and get the bathhouse to wash our clothes, since, you know, we kinda smell."

"I can, uh, see that," said Sakura. "You should get that taken care of, soon."

There was an intensely awkward pause. Etiquette demanded that someone invite the others to bathe together, but Sakura very much did not share Naruto's crush and neither Sayaka nor Kiba were very keen to spend much time together at this exact moment.

They made eye contact again. Neither could come up with any sort of sensible excuse, and both teams were tired and dirty enough that a little social awkwardness was worth it.

"Ah, well, do you want to…" Kiba began, scratching the back of his neck and gesturing vaguely at the entrance.

"I suppose we will," Sayaka said very carefully with a small bow. "After you?"

Naruto fell to the back of the group as they entered, hiding behind the clan names of the group. Sakura and Kiba carefully stayed out of range of the lingering odor of fish that hung over Team Seven while Sayaka handled the purchase of a laundry token and a bath set for each of them. Then everyone exchanged their shoes for the bathhouse's slippers and headed for the changing rooms.

Sayaka glanced over Sakura as they walked. Up close, the red welts that traveled up and down Sakura's arms were clearly claw marks.

"What's the daimyo's wife's cat like?" asked Sayaka casually. "It sounds like a pretty straightforward mission."

Kiba snorted and Sakura attempted a kind of winning smile.

"It was… fine," said Sakura after a moment. "It wasn't… fun, but it was fine. You can't really expect a cat to like being picked up that way, right?"

"The thing's a menace to society," said Kiba flatly. "Akamaru almost lost an eye and he's covered in scratches. We dropped him off at home so that onee-chan can heal him up. That damn cat's lucky it was a mission, or else I'd…"

Well. That certainly explained why the otherwise-inseparable puppy wasn't here.

"U-um, I have some s-salve in my hip-pouch, S-sakura-san," Hinata said. "A-a-afterwards, would you l-like some?"

"That'd be great," Sakura said gratefully. "Though, if you have anything that numbs scratches…"

"I do!"

"Then, if it's not too much trouble…"

"Of course," said Hinata, smiling. "I'm h-happy to help."

"Hinata-chan's the best at that sorta thing," said Naruto. "She can make, like, fifty different salves, or something, it's super cool. This one time, we were training, and Sayaka cut herself real bad with some ninja wire, and Hinata-chan totally just made a salve on the spot with some weeds! It stopped the bleeding really fast, though we had to stop and go to the hospital so that Sayaka could get her hand fixed, but the nurse said that Hinata-chan did a really good job!"

Hinata flushed very red at the praise. "U-um, I r-read a l-lot about plants, is a-all."

"I'm just glad that Uchiha-sama can screw up," said Kiba. He glanced at Sayaka with a grin. "Kami knows I can't touch her in sparring."

Sayaka sniffed and felt herself smile involuntarily.

"That's cause you suck, Kiba," said Naruto, grinning mischievously. "At least, without Akamaru helping you."

Kiba gave Naruto an unamused stare. "Says the deadlast."

"Hey! I can hit Sayaka sometimes!"

"Where's Shino?" Sayaka asked.

"Oh, he went home instead," said Sakura as the hallway branched off to the men's and women's sections. She stretched, pulling her wounds awkwardly and making her wince. "Ow. But yeah, he said something about how his colony didn't like bathhouses?"

"I wonder how he gets clean," said Naruto. He sniffed his sandals experimentally and gagged. "Ugh, we have, like, tokens for the washing machines right?"

"Yes, here," said Sayaka, passing over some of the coins. "For Kiba, too."

"Thanks," said Naruto, pocketing them. "But anyway, so like, does Shino just take sponge baths or something? That's gotta suck."

"Who knows," said Kiba, taking his portion of the tokens. "It's weird enough imagining him naked. You know the Aburame keep the kikai inside their bodies? Do they have like holes for the things to crawl out of or something?"

Sakura grimaced. "Please don't. We can just ask him later."

"If you want to bring it up…"

Sakura turned faintly green.

"I figured," said Kiba blandly. He gestured vaguely. "Anyway, Naruto, let's go find some open washing machines."

The boys left for their dressing room, leaving Sakura, Sayaka, and Hinata alone.

"S-Sakura-san, we should m-make sure your scratches are c-clean before applying any salve," said Hinata as they entered the women's dressing room. A row of washing machines was off to one side, and they quickly found open machines. "I-if you'd like, I can wash your b-back beforehand?"

"That would be great, thanks," said Sakura with a sigh. She leaned backwards and cracked her back. "Urgh. What a day. I'll get your back for you then, Hinata."

"T-thank you. U-um, Sayaka-san, would you like me to wash your back t-too?"

Sayaka shrugged. "Sure."

After starting the machines, the three girls put their non-washables away in lockers opposite the laundry area and headed into the shower room to scrub down before soaking in the baths. The keys to their lockers were on little straps that they wound around their wrists.

The shower room was largely empty, it being the middle of the day. Hinata carefully helped Sakura wash her arms and apply the salve. It was a smooth, cooling gel that would be washed off later.

"So what's up with you and Kiba?" Sakura asked as Hinata and Sayaka applied the salve.

Sayaka raised an eyebrow at her.

"There's definitely something," said Sakura, raising her eyebrows back. "I normally wouldn't pry, but you know…"

"It's nothing important," said Sayaka. She looked down and dabbed a little gel on Sakura's arm. "Just a… meeting."

Sakura's eyebrows went further up. "A meeting huh. A marriage kind of meeting?"

Sayaka didn't say anything.

"It's just a date, you know," said Sakura with a sigh. "You're lucky. I keep trying to find a nice guy but all the boys our age are annoying."

"Doesn't that make me unlucky?" Sayaka asked. "Since Kiba is a boy our age."

"Eh, he's better than others," said Sakura with a shrug, "and besides, it's not like he can ditch you or anything. It's one of those formal dinner things right?"

"The I-inuzuka are unlikely to be t-too formal," Hinata said as she finished dabbing on the salve. "Please wait a little, S-Sakura-san, for the salve to take effect. I will help scrub Sayaka's back in the m-meantime."

"Sure."

Sayaka sighed and turned around on her stool while Hinata came over and began to rub between her shoulder blades with a wet, soapy towel. Talking about this sort of thing was tiresome at best and, today, after the morning's mission, was more unwelcome than usual.

"It is just a d-date though," Hinata said. Sayaka groaned. "It r-really is, Sayaka. You should try to h-have fun."

"Yes, of course," said Sayaka, restraining the urge to roll her eyes.

"I mean, it's political, sure, but it's just… window shopping," said Sakura. She leaned on her knees to look over at Sayaka. "You know, like for clothes. It's not like you have to choose anyone right now, right?"

Sayaka made a displeased noise. "No."

"So it's not so bad," said Sakura. She hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder what Kiba's like when he's not being an ass?"

Sayaka turned broodily to scrub Hinata's back as the three of them fell silent. In some ways, Sakura wasn't wrong. Hiroyo had said as much about when Sayaka had visited Hinata for the first time. In fact, Sayaka had pretty much played completely into Hiashi's hands, seeing as she and Hinata were friends and on the same team together.

Of course, it worked both ways, and as the future Uchiha head, Sayaka benefited from being friends with as many clans as possible. The painful reality was that whenever Sayaka finally did have children, she would be the only family in the entire clan. The Inuzuka had dozens.

Sayaka frowned at Sakura as the other girl began rinsing off her arms. Stupid Sakura, wouldn't let her be resentful in peace. It really was like going window shopping. Sayaka was just picking out which of the clothes on offer had the best value. Sort of, at least.


Once everyone was clean, and Sakura's cuts were numbed, the group retired to the hot tub for a good, long soak. Naruto had been right about how wide the tubs were, especially with nobody being around, and the girls were able to let themselves float and let their worries waft away on the steam. Naruto even fell asleep, falling in with a splash and a spluttered shout that could be heard over the wooden divider between the sides.

A long time later, clad in the bathhouse's yukata and sipping at the yogurt drinks that were, in fact, delicious, Sayaka found herself sitting next to Sakura.

"Hinata really is good with that salve," Sakura remarked, examining her bandaged arms.

Sayaka hnned.

"What's it like being on a team with Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Sayaka shrugged. "It's fine. I'm used to him."

Sakura sighed. "That's good, I guess."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Does he bother you?"

"…a little," Sakura said, looking sheepish. "I know he's your teammate, so I feel bad, but…"

Sayaka shrugged again. "He has that effect."

"It's just, he's really loud every time I see him," said Sakura, looking down at her drink. "He means well, but…"

"He has a crush on you."

"I mean, duh."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow again. "Really?"

"It's pretty obvious," Sakura said. She glanced up at where Naruto and Kiba were throwing sticks at a cup to see who could make the most in. Hinata watched them, but only had eyes for Naruto. "About as obvious as Hinata is."

Sayaka hummed. "We should set them up on a date."

"We should?" asked Sakura, looking at Sayaka in surprise. She squinted suspiciously. "You're not Ino in disguise, are you?"

Sayaka shrugged. "No. Probably."

Sakura rolled her eyes, but considered. "If Hinata still has a crush on him after knowing him for a year, she's probably in it for the long haul, but she's the Hyuuga heir."

"Technically," Sayaka said, "we clan heirs can have concubines."

Sakura turned back to Sayaka and gave her a look of complete disbelief. "…Who are you and what have you done to Uchiha Sayaka?"

Sayaka rolled her eyes. "I'm not that bad at romance."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Sayaka, half the boys in our class followed you around like Akamaru follows Kiba," Sakura said flatly. "You're strong, you're pretty, and you're the 'last Uchiha'. A boy would have to be gay to be completely uninterested. You could have picked up any one of them easily and you didn't, which is plenty of proof that you are terrible at romance."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you could have. We clan heirs have expectations."

Sakura snorted and propped her feet up on a cushion. "Says the girl who just told me about so-called concubines."

Sayaka sniffed imperiously. "Who says I won't?"

Sakura gave her a look of deepest disquiet. "…Fine. So then your master plan is for Hinata to marry one of her third cousins and for Naruto to be her concubine? And then what, she pops out babies and nobody mentions how some of them have blue eyes?"

"Pretty much."

"That's never going to work."

Sayaka shrugged.

Sakura stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Ugh, fine. They're cute together. I'll ask Ino if she can help, and we'll figure something out."

Sayaka smiled. "Thank you."

"You owe me so much, Uchiha Sayaka."


Sayaka didn't hear from Sakura for several days. Between D-ranks and training, Team Seven rapidly began to find end-of-the-day soaks in the bathhouse to be a must-have part of their daily routine. Kakashi-sensei drove them at a punishing pace, despite easing them into it at first. It became typical for the team to run a D-rank in the morning and run team exercises in the afternoons, after which Kakashi would give them an evaluation of their performance and leave them to their own devices. Team Seven inevitably decamped to a nearby bathhouse that didn't eject Naruto at first sight, and they became such frequent customers that Naruto, with the help of a small word to the owner from Sayaka, started keeping his bathing-things in a permanent locker. It was a pleasant enough routine, and Sayaka was too tired at the end of the day to complain very much about the number of D-ranks.

After all, they were getting paid, and she was making money faster than she could spend it.

The date of Sayaka's dinner with Kiba ended up being shuffled around a bit before landing on the day of a minor festival celebrating one of the dozens of kami that protected Konoha. The dinner was not held in the Inuzuka clan's compound, but instead at a restaurant in the compound's vicinity. Attire was semiformal, which Sayaka took to mean "pretend you have to guard minor samurai nobility". She had picked out a dress that looked like a furisode kimono, but was cut off just above the knee and had plenty of space in the sleeves to tuck a roll of ninja wire and a couple of kunai.

Dinner was very casual, compared to the Hyuuga. The Inuzuka were not a clan that stood much upon ceremony and the meal was restricted to just the immediate family members of both parties. Sayaka and Kiba were seated across from each other, with Kiba's mother, Inuzuka Tsume, across from Hiroyo. The absence of Kiba's father was conspicuous, but it would have been incredibly rude to bring it up.

"Ah, it's nice to be here," Tsume said, pouring out glasses of sake for everyone and passing one to Hiroyo first, then Sayaka and Kiba. "The last time we were here was for Kiba's sister, so it's been a while. Cheers!"

They clinked glasses and downed their drinks.

"A fine choice of wine, Inuzuka-sama," complimented Hiroyo. "And establishment. I'm very impressed."

"Heh, well Tsuya's Izakaya is popular with the clan," said Tsume, pouring Hiroyo another drink before serving herself again. "Their food's great and the atmosphere's nice. Do you two have any favorite places?"

"Sayaka and I typically eat at home," said Hiroyo, sipping at her sake. "I have been teaching her some recipes, lately."

Kiba smothered a surprised expression as Tsume made noises about how nice that was. Sayaka glowered at him. She was learning how to cook under duress, yes, but it wasn't that surprising.

"Maybe one day we can sample some of Sayaka's cooking," said Tsume casually, tipping back another drink.

"I would be honored," said Sayaka, bowing slightly as a tray of grilled chicken skewers slid onto the table, along with a fresh flask of sake.

"For now, let's eat!" said Tsume. "Itadakimasu!"

The meal went well. Sayaka and Kiba let the adults do most of the talking, though it was hard not to look at the other when a particularly obscure, and usually quite embarrassing, factoid emerged as the evening wore on.

Annoyingly, Sayaka found that it slowly endeared Kiba to her. Apparently the plan of attack was to embarrass both children badly enough that they'd grow closer. Tsume was choosing deliberately cute things about Kiba's childhood to expound on, while Hiroyo was doing quite a lot of work talking up Sayaka's feminine qualities, like her ability to cook a steak, which apparently Kiba found profoundly interesting due to it being his favorite food, and Sayaka found profoundly irritating due to her dislike of cooking in general.

Manipulative bastards.

"Ah, but look at us going on," said Hiroyo after they'd shared several plates of food. "There's a festival going on, isn't there? I'm sure the children would like to visit it."

"Of course," said Tsume. She yawned as she stood up, looking for all like some large wolf that had finished consuming a kill. "Eh, sorry about that. Dunno what came over me, yawning like that."

"Not at all," said Hiroyo who, for all her practice at being unruffled, looked unsettled at the Inuzuka matriarch's display of her teeth. "Why don't we visit a tea shop while the children visit the festival?"

"Sounds good," said Tsume. She flicked a small packet of money at Kiba, who caught it with raised eyebrows. "You kids head off, we'll probably be sitting around at Daigo-san's."

Sayaka and Kiba looked at each other.

"Thanks Mom," said Kiba as Sayaka bowed. "We'll see you later."


"Mom never gives me this much money," Kiba said as he peeked inside the envelope with wide eyes. "Jeez, she must really like you or something."

Sayaka snorted as the two of them wandered into the festival. "Or something?"

Kiba pulled out half the bills and slapped them into Sayaka's hand, pointedly looking away. "Or something."

"She isn't thinking about potential grandchildren?"

Sayaka smirked as Kiba's ears turned red. "Just take the damn money, Uchiha."

Amused, Sayaka tucked the bills into the sleeves of her pseudo-furisode. "Such a gentleman, Inuzuka. Who knew."

"Just 'cause I skip class doesn't mean I'm a blockhead like Naruto," Kiba snorted. "I know how to treat a girl right."

Sayaka snorted. "Naruto's got better manners than you, Inuzuka."

Kiba gave her a disbelieving eyebrow. "I don't believe you."

"Last D-rank he didn't even yell at the client," said Sayaka breezily. "Kept his temper and everything."

"That's… that's not really a high bar."

"It was if you were there," said Sayaka, lips thinning at the memory. "He deserved a fire jutsu."

Kiba gave her a second disbelieving eyebrow, then barked a laugh. "Wow, Uchiha, who knew you had it in you."

Sayaka sniffed imperiously. "Of course I did."

They settled into an easy silence, coming to a stop under the awning of a taiyaki stand to buy two of the little fish-shaped pastries and look over what they wanted to visit that evening.

"Goldfish catching is pretty typical," said Kiba as he bit the head off his taiyaki. "You wanna try it?"

Sayaka hnned. "Not really. Too romantic."

Kiba snorted. "Hate to break it to you, Uchiha, but we are on a date."

"We could also pretend we're not."

"We could, sure, but if you don't show up at Daigo's Teashop with a souvenir then Mom'll eat my head."

Sayaka sighed. "Fine. Goldfish die too easily, we'll circle back for it. We should do the kunai game first."

Kiba shrugged. "Fair enough."

The kunai game stall owner was admittedly not enthused by two ninja showing up and preparing to clean him out. He brightened up when he realized Sayaka was the Last Uchiha.

"Ah, it's an honor, Uchiha-hime," the stall owner said, making a show of bowing and waving his hands. "Welcome to my humble stall. Would you like to play?"

Sayaka nodded and went to pull out her money, but Kiba beat her to it.

"Two sets of kunai," said Kiba, giving her a sidelong look. Sayaka scowled at him.

"Ah, of course, of course!" said the stall owner, beginning to sweat a little. "I'll just get the game set up…"

"Still a date," Kiba said blithely as the stall owner puttered around the back.

"If you get me anything I'll gut you," said Sayaka.

"Here you are," said the stall owner, reappearing with three blunted kunai for each of them. "Rule is: as long as you can knock over the target, you'll win points. Large targets are five points, medium are worth ten, and small are worth twenty. You want to get as many points as possible."

Sayaka narrowed her eyes as she picked up her kunai. The grand prize was a very large, cute, fluffy teddy bear, and while she wasn't particularly fond of cute things, it was high time she demonstrated what kind of a ninja she was before Kiba forgot.

"I'll go first," Kiba said casually. "If that's cool, Uchiha?"

Sayaka hnned. "Fine."

"Thanks, hime."

Sayaka scowled at him as Kiba squinted at the targets and flicked his hand out. The first two kunai plonked against small targets and knocked them down with a bang while the third glanced off the edge of a small target. Two kills and a serious injury, then.

"Forty points!" said the stall owner, looking pleased. "And now, Uchiha-hime?"

Sayaka took a deep breath. It wouldn't do for Kiba to do better than her.

The first kunai hit a small target, knocked it down, and bounced back up into the air. Sayaka pulled her arm back, waited, and then whipped it forward to send her second kunai clanging off the first, so that they both hit a small target and knocked them over. The final kunai easily knocked down her last target, giving her…

"E-eighty points," said the stall owner, flabbergasted. "A-ah well, as expected of Uchiha-hime! The grand prize, then, and your choice for how to spend the last twenty points."

"How the fuck did you do that?" Kiba asked as Sayaka collected her teddy bear and began looking over the prizes.

"Training," said Sayaka blithely.

"Some training."

"Hnn."

"You should get the hairpin," said Kiba, tucking his hands into his pockets as he picked up another stuffed animal. "I'll give this to Akamaru later, probably, unless you want it?"

Sayaka snorted. "No."

"Then, erm, the hairpin, Uchiha-hime?" asked the stall owner. A line was starting to form behind them.

"Sure," said Sayaka, shrugging one shoulder. The hairpin was nothing special, a length of steel that looked more like a chopstick than anything else. At least it had been dipped in some paint to make it look like it had been lacquered and inlaid with gold.

"Thank you," Sayaka said, bowing to the stall owner before she and Kiba departed.

"How much training do you do?" Kiba asked as they walked away. "That kunai trick was nuts."

Sayaka shrugged as she tucked the hairpin into her hair. "A lot, I guess."

Kiba whistled. "Must be some training… your sensei teach you?"

Sayaka shook her head as they passed an alley.

"Jeez. Well what do you want to do next?"


In the end, Sayaka had to admit that she had fun. Kiba was a bit of a slob, a little lazy, and she'd definitely broken his nose for being an ass, but he'd apparently learned his lesson and could also be polite and courteous and he cleaned up well. Sayaka could tolerate being friends with him, she thought, and that was… at least a start.

They watched the fireworks at the end of the festival from a rooftop garden someone had made with a nice awning that hid them from view. It was the sort of garden that was really very suited to watching fireworks at the end of the festival, and presumably the owners would normally be using it, but today it seemed that wasn't the case.

"You gonna keep the goldfish?" Kiba asked.

"Yes," said Sayaka.

"That's good. How's your ice cream?"

"Good."

"Do you talk in more than one syllable words?"

Sayaka licked her popsicle and smiled slightly. "No."

Kiba rolled his eyes and leaned back, sticking his popsicle in his mouth and watching the flashes of the fireworks in silence. Sayaka stole a look at him as they sat quietly together.

"What would you do if I left to kill my brother?" Sayaka asked.

Kiba choked on his popsicle. "What?"

"You know what happened to my clan," Sayaka said. "You know what I need to do."

"I mean," said Kiba hurriedly, juggling his popsicle for a moment and licking up a drip that was running down his hand. "I uh, I mean, if you're set on it, it's, I dunno, I guess it's cool? I've never thought about it."

Sayaka gave him a very unimpressed look. "'Cool'? That's it?"

"I mean, I guess I get it, right?" said Kiba, looking away. "If, like, someone killed Mom and Hana I'd be down for revenge too, you know? It's just, like, I've never thought about being part of, you know, some kind of vendetta with someone."

Sayaka hummed and licked her ice cream. "…I suppose that's fair."

"Why're you asking anyway?" asked Kiba. "I thought… well…"

"I need to get stronger as quickly as I can," said Sayaka before licking her ice cream again. "There are limits on my time, of course, but my brother must die."

Kiba gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. "…right."

"If you marry me," Sayaka continued, "you'll need to deal with it."

"You can't leave the village though, so—"

"That's not the point," said Sayaka sharply. "The point is if I did—"

"I'd stop you," said Kiba, turning to look her in the eyes. Sayaka glared back, but Kiba held his ground. "I— I'm sorry, but I'd stop you. You're not allowed to leave. If— if I married you, I'd fight beside you, but I wouldn't let you go alone."

"Itachi has to die," said Sayaka. "If I have to leave to make that happen—"

"You don't," Kiba snarled at her. "Idiot! If you left without telling anyone you'd lose the support of your pack and then what would you do? Everybody is always stronger with their team."

Sayaka and Kiba glared at each other for a moment. Kiba blinked first.

"Sorry," he said, looking away and frowning at his melting popsicle. "I— Inuzuka care a lot about family, I guess. If we got married you'd be my wife and have my kids, so I'd— I'd care a lot about keeping you safe and supporting you. You know? So you're not allowed to leave."

Sayaka looked out at the fireworks. A bright starshell exploded above them, casting a bright orange glow across the garden and its awning and the two genin sitting on the bench within it. It was, for a moment, like sitting in the light of a bright flame, before it slowly faded into darkness.

"…what time is good for you, for a second date?" Sayaka asked quietly.

Kiba blinked at her, then looked away. This time, he was blushing. "I uh, I'd have to check my mission schedule. I can get back to you?"

"Alright," said Sayaka. "…Thanks, Kiba."

Kiba grinned back at her.

"No problem."