The bath of Princess Hayashi Fumiyo's chambers was as small as the rest of her rooms. Large enough for Fumiyo to bathe alone, with precisely one attendant. There were no windows, and a moment with Hinata's Byakugan showed that they were facing the interior of the palace with thick, wooden walls. The interior was paneled with bamboo, so that it would be resistant to the damp, and included flush mounted cabinets to store towels, stools, and toiletries.
Hinata and Sayaka waited outside, Hinata kneeling on a cushion with her eyes closed but Byakugan active. Sayaka practiced her chakra sensing, eyes closed as she leaned against the wall. Hinata was next to her, a bright light in the darkness, while the princess flickered like a flame in its sconce. Beyond that, Sayaka's senses could make out the tightly-controlled balls of fire that were the guards, stationed around the mansion, as well as a few ashigaru, their chakra dim and poorly trained.
Sayaka opened her eyes and returned to herself. At best, her senses could encompass the mansion, but, now that she wasn't concentrating, her range dropped to just beyond the door to Fumiyo's chambers. Sayaka smoothed the front of her skirt with a small sigh. She needed more time to train.
The door to the bath slid open, allowing a waft of aromatic steam and warm air to roll out over the two ninja. "Will the ladies be making use of the bath?" asked the attendant.
"No," said Sayaka, standing properly. Hinata's Byakugan faded as she stood as well.
"Very well," said the attendant, bowing briefly before stepping out and to the side. Fumiyo emerged a moment later with her hair damp, body wrapped in a yukata. Her makeup had been scrubbed off, leaving her face bare, and her bangs drooped around it to block her vision.
Sayaka looked down as Fumiyo paused and asked her attendant for a hairband. It was a small thing, but it was still an unvarnished glimpse of a girl who spent her days behind masks, both literal and metaphorical. It felt somehow inappropriate to be here, as an outsider, invading the private life of such a person.
"There, how do I look?" Fumiyo asked, and Sayaka glanced up to see the princess looking at her. "The hairband must make my forehead look pretty big."
"It's not so bad," Sayaka said. It did make her forehead look bigger, but that just meant that she didn't look like a princess so much as a normal girl. Maybe another genin from Konoha, or one of the girls their age who helped out at the family shops. "It's cute."
Fumiyo smiled at her and turned to Hinata. "What do you think, Hyuuga-san, do I look cute?"
Hinata nodded. "Y-yes."
"Ah, if only I could dress like this normally," said Fumiyo. She fluffed her long black hair with a sigh. "It's much less trouble, but doing up your hair is important for appearances. I envy you ninja and your allowances for practical hair."
Sayaka considered her own hair, which she had been growing out since she was ten and was tied back in a thin, dark ponytail. It stood in contrast to Hinata's, which was cut short but retained long traces next to her ears. Both were a compromise between form and function - it was pointless to make your hair beautiful if it could be used against you.
"It is a small thing," said Sayaka, bowing slightly.
Fumiyo sighed, but nodded in agreement. "You are of course correct. Now, I believe your sensei mentioned that you need some books to read. Come, let me show you my collection."
The princess strode off, clearly expecting to be followed. Sayaka looked over at Hinata, and they both looked over at the attendant. The attendant was another girl, their age, though thankfully just a regular commoner. The attendant shrugged minutely at them.
"You seem very used to having guards, miss," Sayaka said as they moved over to the bookshelf.
"Yes, but usually they are not my age," said Fumiyo. She hummed thoughtfully as she browsed the titles on the spines of the books lining the shelves. "It is refreshing. Perhaps we could have a sleepover? It might be fun."
"Er," said Sayaka, glancing at Hinata. "It would be a breach of mission protocol, miss, so I must decline, but I thank you for your generosity."
Fumiyo sighed. "Of course. Well, here is a series I enjoy."
Sayaka took the book and looked down at its cover. It was a slim volume, no more than one hundred and fifty pages, clothed in red silk with its title in a column at the edge of the cover.
"A Certain Scroll of Secrets?" read Sayaka. She flipped it open and thumbed through the pages. "This is a light novel."
"One of the more respectable ones, at least," said Fumiyo. She pulled another one out and turned it over in her hands. "A Certain Scroll of Secrets is about a samurai who always has terrible luck and gets embroiled in many conspiracies in the high courts of a fantasy world. Secret ninjutsu, sword techniques from ancient times, those sorts of things. It's a lot of fun."
"Have y-you read The Tales of the Dragon Tears?" asked Hinata. She ran a finger down the spine of a book bound in blue silk. "It is a p-popular book among s-shinobi."
"I did," said Fumiyo. She placed the book in her hands back on the shelf to pick up the tome that Hinata had pointed out. "It is very dark. A sad ending, for the Divine Heir, don't you think?"
"A little," said Hinata. "B-but, if he hadn't, then the c-conflict would never end. That kind of s-sacrifice is to be admired, don't you think?"
Fumiyo sighed. "Perhaps. I cannot help but feel like the one being sacrificed, so perhaps I view it more darkly than you do."
"Ah, w-well," said Hinata. She stopped and looked down at the ground, clasping her fingers together in front of her. "It is a daughter's duty, after all."
They were silent for a moment, thinking that one over.
"At least Prince Eiichi is supposed to be nice," said Fumiyo. She slid the book back onto the shelf. "I'm told that he is an excellent swordsman, for his age, and has been doing well in his studies. If I am to be his wife, I think I will at least be able to have an intelligent conversation with him."
"You seem to have wide-ranging interests, so I'm sure that you will find something to talk about," said Sayaka politely.
Fumiyo huffed a disparaging laugh. "His poetry is vacuous and sentimental, so I will not count my blessings yet."
"Perhaps he s-simply did not realize y-your tastes," said Hinata. "It w-would not be the first t-time a boy was entirely o-oblivious."
Fumiyo laughed more full-heartedly this time. "Ah, perhaps. You are correct that boys are entirely terrible about these things, and it would be just like the Aoyagi to have terrible advisors for matters of a maiden's heart."
"You don't like them?" asked Sayaka.
"Tch, they are beneath my father's notice," said Fumiyo. She flicked her sleeves irritably. "The Aoyagi family made its name as sailors attached to no lord. They are merely pirates dressed in silks, and their control over the port will simply divert the flow of corrupt coins from the pockets of Gato into the coffers of the Aoyagi. The tax revenue the Aoyagi were to collect will be mysteriously lost and I, woman that I am, will not be able to effect any meaningful changes within my father's lifetime. One can only hope that, when my brother inherits the title, I will be able to provide some assistance. Alas that we are so young. Maybe if the current clan leader was a widower…"
Sayaka and Hinata glanced at each other in alarm. She didn't mean—?
"The walls have ears, m'lady," said the attendant quietly. "Though we feel your anger, it is unwise to say such things aloud."
Fumiyo frowned and flicked her sleeves again. "Come, Hana, please fetch my koto. I may as well get some practice in before sleeping."
The attendant girl bowed, then retreated. A small squad of servants appeared to briefly rearrange the room for Fumiyo, vanishing again before Hana returned with the long instrument and its playing stand. It was made in the traditional fashion, from paulownia wood, inlaid with mother of pearl and gold with strings of silk and bridges of ivory.
"M'lady," said Hana, bowing as she laid the instrument down upon a small rug of felt left behind by one of the prior servants. Sayaka and Hinata seated themselves in seiza next to it, arranged so they could see the window and door.
"Thank you," said Fumiyo, before kneeling gracefully in front of the koto. "Do either of you practice, shinobi?"
"I d-dabble a little," said Hinata, eyes cast downwards politely. "Sayaka does not."
"I see," said Fumiyo. She rang a finger across the strings, making the koto hum. "Hana, do you have my tsume— ah, thank you."
Hana took Fumiyo's hand into hers and fitted the small ivory picks onto Fumiyo's right hand thumb, index, and middle fingers. Fumiyo took a moment to adjust them very slightly, but of course Hana had been helping Fumiyo with the koto for years now, and knew how Fumiyo wore her tsume. Fumiyo gave Hana a small smile of thanks, then looked down to the koto before her. She placed her hands upon the strings, then began to play.
It was a song of deep, deep sadness. Given the circumstances, it was perhaps natural. Nobody liked being used as Fumiyo was, and while there was something to be said about being part of a greater purpose, it was no great comfort when looking to the future and what it held for you.
Sayaka held back a sigh as Fumiyo's fingers called out to the heavens and received no reply. She thought of those days just after her family had died—how the world had been cold and the days had spun on and on, never ending, never ceasing, a pointless grind as she trained and trained and nothing worked, until the night had come like a thief, snatching away the daylight and forcing her to bed where she had despaired of hope ever returning to her.
Fumiyo finished the song and laid her fingers on the strings to still them. They trembled.
"Will Hana be going with you to the Aoyagi?" Sayaka asked.
Fumiyo shook her head. "She has family in my father's household. I… I would not take her away from them."
"I see," said Sayaka, and she looked down at her hands. She was forced to wonder what would have happened if she had not been placed under Hiroyo's care. Without that kind of support, someone to tell her feelings to, who could understand and speak to her as only women could speak to other women…
"I— I would be willing, my lady," Hana said quietly, bowing very low. "If you would have my unworthy presence, I would gladly serve you all the days of my life."
Fumiyo turned in surprise, recoiling in shock as Hana pressed herself to the floor in ultimate supplication.
"Hana-chan," Fumiyo sighed, discarding her tsume to pull Hana up from her dogeza. "Oh Hana, why would you say such things? Think of your parents, your siblings."
Hana wiped her eyes but looked back at Fumiyo firmly. "I have. We have already made preparations, and— and— if you did not ask, I would have beseeched Lord Hayashi for permission anyway. Please, my lady, won't you let me come with you?"
Sayaka and Hinata politely let themselves out of the room as Fumiyo pulled Hana into a hug. It was not something the guards should be seeing. Besides, they could monitor things easily enough from outside.
The next day was consumed by clothes fitting. Kakashi and Naruto had a relatively easy time of it, since they only needed to look presentable during the first few days of the celebration. When the procession started, they would be ranging along the periphery and relatively hidden from view. Sayaka and Hinata, on the other hand, were an intimate part of the procession to the Aoyagi mansion, and needed to look the part.
The tailors Lord Hayashi had brought in were very good at their jobs. This unfortunately meant that none of the clothing they came up with was suitable for ninja. It had been the subject of a small argument which, in the end, was only resolved by Fumiyo personally arriving to declare that since it was her betrothal, she was the final arbiter of what clothes her attendants were allowed to wear.
"As they are there to protect me, it would be pointless for Lady Hyuuga and Lady Uchiha to wear clothing they are unable to move freely in," said Fumiyo. "It is no insult if their skirts are a little shorter than is appropriate for a civilian."
In the defense of the tailor, they had taken Fumiyo's pronouncement very well, and had even warmed up to the idea.
"It is a novel approach," they said, looping their tape measure around Sayaka's waist and humming thoughtfully. "The pattern needn't change too much, and of course it would take too long to re-design from scratch, but you will need leggings. I suppose we already have ones for the pages we could co-opt… yes, it would look cute…"
Sayaka blinked, nonplussed, but didn't say anything. Kobakama leggings were entirely functional, and she didn't have any problems wearing things most people thought were for boys. She wondered if it would be odd to wear greaves too.
By the end of the day, a rough outline of what they would be wearing had been completed, and by the end of the week the outfits had been finalized. The furisode sleeves had been shortened and their interiors lined with pockets for weapons and tools of all sorts. The skirts had been shortened as well, taken up just past the knees then let out to allow them to ride up for the deeper taijutsu stances. Sayaka's was a dark, navy blue, embroidered with brightly-colored cherry blossoms and a crimson obi. Meanwhile, Hinata's took the opposite tack, starting white and fading to pink towards the hems, without any embroidery. Her obi was a darker lavender that matched her eyes, with gold along its edges. Both Sayaka and Hinata would be wearing the black silk formal kobakama that were being given to the pages escorting the palanquin, though modified somewhat to be a little more effeminate. Sayaka wasn't sure, exactly, how the tailor had managed to make combat wear look attractive, but she had to admit that she didn't mind the way it made her look. It made her feel very adult and powerful, and she wondered how boys back home might react to her new outfit.
However, she knew how boys would react to Hinata's outfit, especially if she were wearing makeup and a little jewelry. Kakashi and Naruto had been standing around waiting when Hinata had emerged from the dressing room, finished faster with getting dressed than Sayaka.
"W-wow," Sayaka heard Naruto stammer while she was waiting for the attendant to finish dabbing on her lipstick. "H-hinata-chan, is that you?"
"Do you like it?" Hinata asked, almost inaudible to Sayaka through the curtain dividing the dressing room from the waiting area.
"You look really beautiful," said Naruto earnestly. "I— wow. You're so pretty!"
"T-t-thank you, Naruto-kun…"
"There you are, Lady Uchiha," said Sayaka's attendant, stepping back. "That should be good. Please give it a few seconds to dry."
"Thank you," said Sayaka. She got to her feet and pulled back the curtain, stepping through to see how the rest of the team was.
"I never noticed how pretty your eyes are, Hinata-chan," Naruto said as Sayaka emerged, completely ignoring her in favor of taking Hinata's hand for no particular reason. "That sounds really bad, now that I say that out loud, heh…"
"I-it's okay," said Hinata, going bright red but smiling at him shyly from behind her eyelashes. "I— I usually don't wear this much m-makeup."
"Ah, right right, because your, um—"
"Eyeliner," Sayaka offered.
"Right that. It makes your eyes more noticeable, Hinata-chan, it's really cute."
"T-t-thank you!"
"Alright, Naruto, let's get back to the mission," said Kakashi. He tapped Naruto on the head gently with a book. "You look good, Sayaka."
Sayaka bobbed her head demurely. "Thank you sensei."
"It looks like there should be no problems for the procession," Kakashi continued, looking the team over and finding nothing amiss. The vast quantity of weapons Sayaka had secreted into her clothes was invisible to anyone not trained to find them. "Do you have anything to report, Naruto?"
"No sensei," said Naruto. He cleared his throat, but seemed unwilling to let go of Hinata's hand at the moment. "I already updated the carrier guys on the new route, the boltholes are all fine, and nothing's really happened with the princess. We're all good for tomorrow."
"Hinata?"
"No sensei, n-nothing new to report."
"Sayaka?"
"No sensei."
"Alright, well, then in that case, enjoy the rest of the day," said Kakashi. "Remember that we're still on mission, and that we still don't know if there are any ninja in Gato's employ. Konoha is getting back to me on that backup, but the mission is still staying at B-rank for now."
Sayaka sighed. They'd officially concluded that the risk was too great to ignore on the evening they had first had their clothes fitted, and sent a messenger bird back to Konoha. The response had been noncommittal, which Team Minami, Minami herself excepted, had been surprised by.
"But— but Hatake-san is a respected jounin," Naga had said in disbelief. "Why wouldn't they believe him?"
"Konoha has a habit of ignoring its field ninja," Minami said bitterly. "It wants 'confirmation of the threat' so that it doesn't waste its resources."
"But the threat is right here!" said Naga, scandalized. "We have evidence!"
"What you have is circumstantial evidence," said Kakashi, "and despite how suspicious it looks, if Konoha had gone haring off after every suspicious lead we wouldn't be as powerful as we are now. Waiting for more evidence isn't a bad thing when you need to avoid being stretched thin."
"This isn't a war, Hatake," said Minami. "We're not holding back reserves to counter an offensive from Iwagakure. We're talking about having more than one jounin, one chunin, and six genin around to guard a princess of an important family in a major economic center. Even a team of three chunin would be enough to be useful."
Kakashi sighed. "I will not speculate on Konoha's manpower. We should be patient. It may just be a case of waiting for a team to finish a mission before they head over."
Minami scoffed. "Fine. In that case, we're done here."
That had been last night, after they had conducted a sweep of the castle and found nothing amiss. It had also been the last time they had talked to Team Minami as ninja. They had retreated into their role as servants to honored guests, and Sayaka could only presume they were conducting their own surveillance sweeps and simply hadn't found anything.
"Well, let's get changed," said Naruto. He grinned. "The city's actually real cool even if some of the officials suck. I found a great ramen joint out in the city when I was scouting earlier!"
"Of course you did," said Sayaka. She flicked a kunai out of her sleeve experimentally, and was pleased to find that it slid neatly into her hand.
"U-um, it is nearly lunchtime," said Hinata, squeezing Naruto's hand with her own. "M-maybe we could go v-visit?"
"I'll stay here," said Sayaka. "I want to do a few forms in these clothes."
"Jeez, Sayaka, you're always training," said Naruto, frowning at her. "We're allowed to have fun, you know."
Sayaka sniffed at him. "Still."
"Bah, whatever, have it your way," said Naruto. He grinned at Hinata. "C'mon, Hinata-chan, I'll meet you at the gate?"
"Y-yes, of course!"
"Then I'm going to change in the rooms," said Naruto, finally letting go of Hinata's hand and heading for the door. "See you there!"
He ran off, leaving Hinata behind with a broad smile across her face.
"Right, you two have fun," said Sayaka. She flicked the kunai in her hand back into its place in her sleeve.
"Remember," Kakashi said gravely, "Naruto's oblivious, so you'll have to kiss him first."
Hinata went bright red.
"S-s-s-sensei!"
Breathe in. Two. Three. Four.
Out. Two. Three. Four.
Sayaka exploded into motion, snapping her arms out and dropping into a classic academy guard. Step block punch kick, then switch stances and turn, then—
—duck the blade of a wooden sword, slicing cleanly at neck level, spinning her ninja wire out of her sleeves as she snapped up into her guard and faced Princess Fumiyo, both girls with their weapons at the ready.
"Fight me," Fumiyo commanded, before charging.
Sayaka flicked her wire back, coiling it into her sleeves and dodging another cut aimed at her midriff. Fumiyo did not have the skill of Daisuke nor the reckless courage of Naruto, and keeping her at a distance wasn't difficult for Sayaka to do. This didn't faze the princess, who returned her sword to an imaginary sheath, then pushed forward with a burst of chakra.
Sayaka blocked the cut with her kunai.
"A good cut," said Sayaka. Her off hand hovered just in front of Fumiyo's nose. "You have some skill with a blade, miss."
"I told you that I trained," said Fumiyo.
They disengaged, and Sayaka flicked her kunai back into her sleeve.
"These are your clothes for the procession?" asked Fumiyo, sword lowered down next to her knees. "You look good in them."
"Thank you," said Sayaka, bowing slightly. "What brings you to the practice field, miss?"
"I am restless," said Fumiyo. She flicked her blade as if she was going to return it to its sheath, but remembered that she wasn't wearing one because it was a practice sword only. "It has been… a trying morning."
Sayaka considered. This sounded like a conversation she would normally avoid, or push onto Hinata before running away.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" asked Sayaka awkwardly. "Perhaps after another spar?"
She immediately regretted the suggestion—Naruto must have been rubbing off on her somehow—but Fumiyo was already nodding in agreement and Sayaka couldn't back out now. Maybe it would be fine, since technically Sayaka was also something like a princess?
"That would be nice, yes," said Fumiyo. She flicked her practice sword again. "Though, I am not your equal."
Sayaka bowed demurely. "Perhaps I can wield a sword, like you? My guardian has trained me in a little of the samurai styles, but those skills are not suited to a ninja's role."
Fumiyo returned the bow. "If you wish."
Sayaka looked off to the side of the practice field, where a small array of practice swords stood in a stand. She walked over and picked one out, swinging it experimentally twice, then returning to where Fumiyo was waiting.
"We will see the difference between a samurai and a ninja then," said Fumiyo as she raised her sword. Sayaka mirrored the motion and deepened her stance into the foundational form that Hiroyo had taught her.
"Perhaps," said Sayaka.
There was a pause.
Fumiyo struck first, sword blurring in a cut towards Sayaka's left side. Sayaka blocked, stepping forward and inside Fumiyo's guard to aim an elbow at Fumiyo's face. The noble daughter twisted, sweeping her blade around towards Sayaka's opposite side. This forced Sayaka to turn and block it with a frown, while Fumiyo grinned fiercely.
They looked at each other across their crossed blades, pausing again, and considering their opponent, before Fumiyo stepped back to disengage. Sayaka followed, keeping the blades locked and twisting to try and disarm her client. Instead, Fumiyo came to a halt and aimed a kick at Sayaka's gut.
Sayaka was forced to twist aside, allowing the blades to come undone and giving Fumiyo the chance to swing her blade upwards. Their swords came together again, but Sayaka was unbalanced, at least as a samurai, and Fumiyo knew how to press her advantage. Her hand snapped out, grasping Sayaka by the lapel, and pulling her forward until the point of Fumiyo's sword rested in the hollow of Sayaka's neck.
They froze.
Fumiyo was breathing hard. Sayaka, only very slightly. They looked each other in the eye, holding their stances, words not yet said hovering in the air.
"I yield," said Sayaka, allowing the point of her sword to drop.
"Do you really?" asked Fumiyo, grin turning into a frown. "Or are you humoring me, like my father's retainers?"
Sayaka considered. It was true, she normally would have abandoned the samurai forms to regain her momentum, then moved in at speed to try and kill Fumiyo with a kunai to the neck, chest, or abdomen. But now that she was in this position…
"I do," said Sayaka. "Once you broke my guard, I was finished. If it had been a real fight, I would be dead."
"If you were a samurai."
There was a pause. Then, Sayaka conceded the point with a nod.
Fumiyo snarled and turned to hurl her sword point first into the ground. Her chakra lent it power, and despite being wood it bit into the dirt and stayed fast. For a moment, Fumiyo seethed, chakra boiling off in visible waves from her shoulders, before it snapped back into her body with a force of will.
"You are lucky, as a ninja," Fumiyo said as calmly as she could. Her voice wavered with anger. "The things you are allowed to do… I dream of them, sometimes."
Sayaka didn't respond. She wasn't sure what to say, exactly, to such a pronouncement, but hoped that her silence would not be taken as an insult.
"Do you know, I have spent the morning being retaught my duties as a wife?" Fumiyo said. "As if I am unaware of such things. Just because I am the bastard child of my father and a whore does not mean that I am inattentive to my studies. One's blood does not define one's ability to read."
Sayaka grimaced. It was true that such prejudices were possible, but she also suspected that Lord Hayashi's retainers were only doing their due diligence.
"I have spent the last several days indoors, longing to use my sword against one of my father's samurai, but did you know that this is unladylike behavior? Prince Eiichi would be shocked if he knew that I trained regularly! What if I developed callouses! How scandalous!"
Sayaka silently noted that she had specifically reeled back her ninja wire in case it cut Fumiyo's face. She rather suspected that Fumiyo knew this.
"As if my ability to bear children would be impacted by how rough my hands are!" said Fumiyo, and Sayaka was impressed by the way the princess turned what normally would have been a shout into a thin hiss that wouldn't carry far but conveyed all the rage that had been building up for the last three days. "As if a man's dick wouldn't get hard if I grabbed him by the balls and tugged!"
"Wait, is that how it works?" Sayaka asked, blinking. "I thought that— wait."
Sayaka felt herself flush in embarrassment as Fumiyo came up short, turning on the spot to stare at Sayaka. What was Sayaka thinking?
"S-sorry," she muttered, looking down at the ground and hoping to melt into the dirt. Kami above, why did she say that?
Fumiyo was silent for a moment longer, then burst into laughter. Sayaka was relieved at first, but to her alarm, the laughter quickly turned into tears. What was Sayaka supposed to do now? Where was Hinata when she needed her? She cast about for what Hinata might do.
"Er, do you… want a hug?" Sayaka asked.
Fumiyo nodded. Sayaka walked over and tentatively pulled Fumiyo into her arms. The princess muffled her crying into Sayaka's shoulder as Sayaka glanced around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. Thankfully, they weren't being watched, and Sayaka carefully guided Fumiyo over to a bench before sitting them down.
Eventually, the tears began to slow. "I don't want to get married, Sayaka," Fumiyo said eventually. "I don't."
Sayaka rubbed circles into Fumiyo's back. "You are not getting married tomorrow, miss. It is only a betrothal ceremony. There is still the chance that things will change."
Fumiyo laughed morosely. "Not unless my father raises taxes, and he will not do so."
"Why not ask him?"
"As if he would listen," said Fumiyo. Her voice was bitter. "I am his beloved daughter but I am too young and too inexperienced to understand such matters. Or so he would say."
"He cares for you deeply, though," said Sayaka. "I'm sure, if you phrased it—"
"I have tried," said Fumiyo. Fresh tears sprung from her eyes. "I have tried and he does not listen. Once he has decided on something, only calamity will deter him. That is how I was born, after all."
Sayaka was now in dangerous waters. "I see. I am sure that, um, he is wiser now."
"Only about women," said Fumiyo scathingly. "His heart guides him, and the same is true with my brother. Men of great compassion, but also great foolishness. Perhaps more whore's daughters are needed after all — I seem to have inherited my mother's willingness to do what is necessary for survival."
"Please stop calling yourself that, miss," said Sayaka. "Even if you do not mind, it puts me in an awkward position."
Fumiyo huffed. "Alright."
They sat quietly for a moment, Fumiyo wiping her tears against Sayaka's kimono. The tailor had asked Sayaka to return it after her training for laundering, and Sayaka was sure that they would be scandalized by the makeup that was now rubbed across it.
Ah well.
"I envy you so, Sayaka," Fumiyo said after a moment. "Can't you take me away from here?"
"I cannot," said Sayaka.
Fumiyo sighed. "I know."
"I am sorry."
"Do not apologize."
Fumiyo sat up and eyed Sayaka's kimono critically. "I have gotten makeup all over your clothes. I apologize for my outburst."
"It seems that you needed the time," said Sayaka, bowing her head slightly. "I… I am honored that you confided in me."
"It's just— I had wanted to prove to myself that I could be more than a wife and a bearer of children," said Fumiyo, turning away to look down at the ground. "There have been so many lessons about those things, and I know that I can be more than that. But then…"
Sayaka bit her lip and remained silent.
"Ah, well, it is only natural," said Fumiyo. "You train more than I do, and so of course you are my better in combat."
"I could—" Sayaka began, before stopping. "Well, there is not much to teach in only a day."
"True enough," said Fumiyo.
They fell silent. Sayaka wondered what she should say. Despite her reputation among her classmates, Sayaka was not made of ice and fire. She did not like seeing others hurt the way Fumiyo was hurting. But what could she say? It would have been one thing if Fumiyo was another ninja, like Sakura or Ino, but the difference between a kunoichi and a princess was tremendous, and Sayaka didn't know what advice or words of comfort she could give.
As the silence continued, Sayaka's thoughts turned to Kiba. She wondered if he was back from his mission yet. It seemed likely, and he would probably leave a time and place to meet in the bamboo container in the tree. She wondered how things were supposed to work if they got married. Typically, the man was the head of household, but there was no chance that Sayaka would let herself become an Inuzuka. That would mean having Kiba marry into her family, but then would that make Sayaka head of house? She had to be clan head, right? Unless, since she was a girl…
She frowned, and then tried to hide her expression. No, Sayaka had privileges beyond Fumiyo's in that regard, and it was silly to think otherwise. The truth was, if they had met as part of their clans rather than as client and protector, Sayaka would outrank Fumiyo. Sayaka was the scion of a clan of great renown, known even outside of shinobi circles. Fumiyo was…
Well, she was not the same.
It begged the question though, what would happen to Fumiyo? No marriage was possible until she was much older, but even so, the position she was in would not change significantly. In some ways, Fumiyo was right to be upset — her power was limited and her privileges few. It was a hard life to live, especially for someone like Fumiyo, who wished to do what she felt was right to keep her family safe and her realm powerful.
With a cold rush, Sayaka realized that, strictly, it would have been her life too. If her brother hadn't… done what he had, she would not have been the heir. She would have been the second child, the daughter, eventually married to a third or fourth cousin with good prospects and a strong bloodline. She would have been subordinate to her husband, bowing to his wishes and influencing him in what ways she could.
Sayaka wondered, in that different story, if she would have been content. She couldn't remember anything about that time, at least not much. She remembered enjoying the time she spent with her mother, learning about the different things that an Uchiha woman needed to learn. She remembered being proud when she did something correctly and was praised by her father for learning so well how to be a proper lady.
Perhaps, then, she would not have realized what she did not have. But perhaps, also, Sayaka would have been bothered by her husband, been upset by things she thought were wrong, and tried to correct them. Her husband would have been prominent in the clan, and she would have wanted him to take a stand for things that she believed were right.
"I think, miss," Sayaka began slowly, untangling her thoughts as she went, "that it would be wrong to give up hope. To be a wife is no small thing."
"Why do you say that?" asked Fumiyo quietly.
"Because… because, we girls still have influence over the boys we marry," said Sayaka. She looked down at her hands and carefully formed her words. "Of course, it is not the same as doing it yourself, but it is also natural for a wife to want her husband to do the right thing, and it is her duty to keep him from foolishness."
Sayaka looked up at Fumiyo, who looked back at her with red-rimmed eyes. " I think the things you worry about may be fought against," Sayaka continued. "They are things which are not set in stone unless you allow them to be. So do not give up hope."
Fumiyo closed her eyes and breathed slowly. For a long while, there was no sound except the distant bustle of the castle and the breeze rustling the leaves of distant trees. Then Fumiyo walked over to her sword and pulled it out of the ground.
"You are right," she said, and wiped the dirt off of the wood onto the hem of her dress. "It is no time to despair. I am the daughter of a samurai, after all."
She turned to look Sayaka in the eyes.
"So I will fight to the end like one."
Team Eight had returned sometime around nine in the evening, ragged and barely holding together. Their mission had fallen apart, and having made it back to Konoha at all felt like a small miracle. The gate teams had whisked them to the hospital immediately, with one group taking custody of their client for questioning while another took down Team Eight's preliminary report and left to deliver it to the Hokage.
The contents of the preliminary report had been alarming, to say the least. Team Eight had found itself attacked by a four man team led by Momochi Zabuza, one of the most dangerous ninja ever produced by the Village Hidden in the Mist. Even a sighting would have been enough to send Hiruzen hurrying from his office to the reporting team's hospital room — an attack sent quiet orders to ANBU headquarters to begin preparations for rapid deployment. By the time the Hokage had arrived in Team Eight's hospital room, multiple ANBU teams were awake, equipped, and reading briefing documents while waiting on orders from their Hokage.
Kiba and Akamaru were in the best shape, paradoxically because they were the least useful in the team's desperate retreat. Kiba had spent most of the time carrying their client, which was necessary but hadn't been what had saved them. It had been Shino's bugs and their early warning network that kept them one step ahead of their pursuers, and genjutsu from both Sakura and Kurenai-sensei that had kept them hidden when they couldn't evade.
"We will try to keep this debrief short," said Hiruzen, pulling his pipe out habitually as he sat down in the visitor's chair in the hospital room Sakura and Shino had been placed in to recover. Danzo eased himself into a chair brought in by a nurse, hands clasped on top of his walking stick. A single iris was the only piece of color in the otherwise starkly white room, slid into a thin vase that stood next to a pot of tea with two cups atop the side table that divided Shino and Sakura's beds.
"Thank you, sir," said Kurenai. "May I ask why the urgency?"
"Well, there are a few reasons involving our strategic posture and how the area you were attacked impacts it," said Hiruzen. He took a drag on his pipe despite nothing being in it. "There are also implications for operations in the area, and we need to update our intelligence. Unfortunately, I cannot go into further detail for security reasons."
"I understand, sir."
"Now, we can guess at many of the details about your mission," said Hiruzen, "so let's start with when things went wrong."
Kurenai nodded. "The mission progressed smoothly up until the crossing into Wave Country. We were engaged roughly one hour's walk into the territory by Momochi Zabuza."
The Third Hokage flicked his fingers and an ANBU appeared, holding a map up for Hiruzen to read. "Let's see… one hour's walk at civilian pace… I see, yes. And you were not engaged prior to this?"
"No sir."
"One would think that an attack on the main road would be worthwhile," said Hiruzen.
"If they know the client has gone to Konoha—" pointed out Danzo.
"—ah yes, of course," said Hiruzen, nodding. "Better to attack where it is harder for the target to retreat. And they were after the bridge builder, is that correct Kurenai?"
"Yes sir," said Kurenai. "The client…"
"Don't worry about that, Ibiki is handling it," said Hiruzen. He looked up at Kurenai. "Please, continue."
"Kiba, Sakura, and Shino retreated with the client while I led Zabuza off with genjutsu," said Kurenai. "As my strengths did not lie in taijutsu, I created a scenario that Zabuza would believe before retreating southwards. Kiba was able to find me and lead me back to the team, and we moved in standard formation for the coast. At this time, we realized we were being tracked by the Demon Brothers, thanks to Shino's kikaichu network. We were unable to move fast enough, and they outflanked us. Sakura and I created a combination genjutsu, and this allowed us to hide and then retreat."
Hiruzen nodded. "This pattern continues, and you are herded away from the coast. Impressive work, Sakura, Shino."
Shino bowed as deeply as he could, and Sakura smiled weakly. Both genin were propped up against pillows for the debriefing, sitting as best they could through the exhaustion.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sakura said. "It was thanks to sensei's training that we pulled it off."
"Alas that I cannot promote you further, Kurenai," said Hiruzen, smiling a little before sighing heavily. "All things considered, though, we would not have expected you to survive. How did you escape?"
"Three days ago, Zabuza called off the search," said Kurenai.
Hiruzen blinked. "Why?"
"Zabuza said that they had another mission," said Kiba. "Er, sir."
Both Hiruzen and Danzo looked at each other, their body language stiffening with alarm. "How did you hear this?"
Kiba looked at Shino. "We had just made camp when my insects detected movement," said Shino. He coughed dryly, and poured himself a cup of tea. He sipped it before continuing: "The team hid its presence as best it could, then took cover in the forest. Sakura—"
He broke off into another coughing fit. A week of hiding in damp forest undergrowth, kept wet by unending drizzle, had not been kind to his lungs. Sakura continued the retelling.
"The enemy team already knew where our camp was and was converging to our location from multiple directions," she said, doing her best to seem professional. "We did not have enough advance notice to slip through a gap in their formation, so we decided to shelter in place."
She paused to pour herself a cup of tea, but her hands were still shaking and she couldn't hold the teapot steady. Shino wordlessly reached over to pour tea for her, and Sakura gave him a brief grateful smile.
"We knew that sensei and I could make a strong genjutsu to mask our presence," Sakura continued. "So we retreated to a cluster of bushes and hid in them. The enemy team came within five meters of our position, but they did not find us."
"Akamaru was able to hear their conversation when Zabuza showed up," said Kiba with a fond smile, scratching the ears of the dozing pup in his lap. "He told me, I told sensei, and then sensei told you, sir."
Danzo breathed in very slowly. "Hiruzen."
"Yes," said Hiruzen. He closed his eyes. "If he had a mission, then he had to leave early to prepare. An old jounin like him will only need a day or two, which means that his destination needs to be within one day's run. There are only three locations, but two of them are fishing villages of little interest. That leaves—"
"—Senfuku," finished Danzo. He clenched his hands on top of his staff.
Hiruzen waved a hand, and the map was taken away. He seemed desperately in need of a smoke. "Damn you, Gato. You are a fool, but could you not have picked a better time to be foolish?"
"Team Eagle and Team Ox are our fastest," said Danzo, "they can get there in eighteen hours, but even then it will be clean-up only, at this point."
"We will find out when it happens," said Hiruzen, looking over at Danzo sharply. "Captain Eagle."
"Sir," said another ANBU, appearing at a crouch in front of Hiruzen.
"Take your team and Team Ox and prepare to advance to Senfuku at maximum speed. Team Ox will be tasked with the neutralization of Momochi Zabuza. His status is unknown, but he leads a four man team. Team Eagle is tasked with recovery and extraction, with objectives to be determined at your discretion at the mission site. Report back to me before your departure for additional details — we will need a little time to compile them."
"Sir," said Eagle, bowing his head sharply before vanishing.
"What's the matter, Hokage-sama?" asked Kurenai. "What's happening in Senfuku?"
Danzo and Hiruzen glanced at each other.
"Do not concern yourself at this time," said Danzo simply. He got to his feet, leaning heavily on his walking stick. "For now, your team must recover from its mission. We will inform you if anything of interest comes from the bridge builder."
"But sir—"
"Kurenai, focus on your team," said Hiruzen kindly as he got up to follow his advisor to the door. "You have all done very well. This mission will be re-rated as an A-class mission and marked as complete on your team's record."
Kiba looked over at his teammates, grinning. Shino was as emotionless as usual, but his head was tilted in the way that meant he was pleased by the result. Sakura managed a tired smile back at Kiba, and picked up her teacup to take a sip.
"Of course, we will not be assigning you A-rank missions regularly," said Hiruzen. He slid open the door to the hospital room, "but your achievements ought to be acknowledged. The village is grateful for your service."
The Hokage took a moment to turn and bow to the room, then straightened and closed the door with a quiet thunk.
"Well, that'll be cool to have on my record," said Kiba, stretching in place with a sigh.
"Let's not do it again for a while," said Sakura, slouching in her bed and sliding herself down to pull the covers up. "I'm so tired…"
Shino coughed again, and took another sip of tea. "I am glad that we are all safe."
"Yeah, that's— yeah," said Kiba quietly. "We'll get stronger though, and it'll be better next time."
Kurenai smiled fondly at her genin team, but glanced at the door that the Hokage had just left through. The reactions from him and Danzo…
What could be happening in Senfuku?
