Sayaka blinked and saw a green haze filling her vision. It buzzed slightly, and felt like it was making her hair stand on end, except inside her skull and not outside. The sensation was entirely surreal.

"Oh, you're awake," said a voice, and a cat mask leaned over her to peer at her eyes.

What. Was— was this the afterlife? No, wait, had she turned into a yokai? Yokai wore masks like that, right? It… it made some sense. Uchiha were supposed to be affiliated with cats. She wasn't sure how she felt about being turned into a cat spirit, but…

"Yare yare, Uchiha-san, that's some crazy luck you have," the mask said, before going back and prodding at her skull. "Most people would have died, but not you. You hung on just enough for Kaka-senpai to restart your heart. Rare shit, that."

Sayaka blinked again.

"I'm alive?"

"Hell yeah, girl, you're alive," said the mask, and the green haze went away. "No lasting brain damage either, jeez, though I helped with that."

"What happened?"

"Well, basically, you were about a minute from death when Kaka-senpai managed to stitch you together like a shitty ass pinata," said the mask. It pulled a small slip of paper out and pasted it to Sayaka's forehead. She tried to reach for it, but found herself paralyzed.

It itched.

"But, shitty his job though it was, it was enough that he could use the emergency resuscitation procedure and get your heart going again," the mask continued, rolling away on a chair to fuss with something outside of Sayaka's vision. "From there, the hospital could treat you like a typical trauma victim. They warmed you up, got some saline into you, and the blood pills he shoved down your throat took care of the rest."

The mask rolled back into Sayaka's view and peered at her. "Good shit, all in all, and I even fixed your lung for you. You should be able to breathe properly, and your mind will sharpen up in a day or two. Lucky, lucky, little kitten. That's one of nine."

Sayaka scowled at it. "I'm not a kitten, yokai-san."

The mask cackled and rolled away again. "Yokai-san! I love it, I'm taking that forever! But anyway, we'll want you to stay still for a few days, so I'm going to put something into your IV."

Sayaka's scowl deepened. "Can you not?"

"I can not not," said the cat mask, and Sayaka began to feel drowsy. "Your lung and blood vessels may be shut, but they're tender and you're a silly little kitty who might go train. We don't want to have to put you back together again, so now that we know you're basically fine we'll have you stay asleep for a while."

Sayaka's eyes slipped shut, and she drifted away.


"I have a new C-rank mission for you."

Kiba fidgeted as the Hokage shut the door of the closed briefing room Team Eight had been directed to that morning. It had been three days since the Senfuku Attack, and everyone had heard something about what had happened. Rumors flew, and the story got wilder with each retelling. Kurenai and Kiba weren't sure they had heard anything resembling the truth from Kurenai's contacts, but they were probably more reputable than Kotetsu's latest from the gatehouse.

By now, they had confirmed that Sayaka was safe. In the hospital, apparently almost killed, but safe. The ANBU had brought a medic nin with them, who had given her a once over and declared her stable and on the path for a full recovery. So that was good.

Nothing else they had heard made any sort of sense. Depending on who you asked, Sayaka had either summoned a demon from the Uchiha Clan's secret techniques with her Sharingan, or Naruto had turned out to be an Uchiha all along, or Hinata had both the Byakugan and the Sharingan somehow, or…

By far, the most reputable rumor was that Naruto had some kind of freaky bloodline from the Land of Whirlpools, a country that had been thoroughly destroyed in the last war. Kurenai had pulled out her old war notes, and noted that the country had been a close ally of Konoha, with its own hidden village, before it had been crushed by Cloud and Rock in a combined assault. Characteristically, it had been a surprise attack, and characteristically it had been a pyrrhic victory that granted the Kumo and Iwa forces a strategic advantage they had not been able to capitalize on. In the end, Fire and Wave countries had taken in most of the survivors, one way or another, and a good number had joined Konoha. It wasn't at all unbelievable that a lost bloodline had re-manifested itself in an orphan. Many records had been destroyed in the Kyuubi's attack, after all.

They had discussed this with Shino and Sakura, and Team Eight collectively agreed that it was the only thing that made sense. How else could Naruto be the person who had managed to kill Momochi Zabuza?

That had been a shocker, and half of Konoha was convinced it was a mistake. He'd probably just been unexpectedly helpful. Or that bloodline of his, if it was real, had helped him pin down the missing nin while the real killing blow came from Kakashi. Hell, even Sayaka or Hinata might have done the actual deed. But Naruto?

The other half of Konoha whispered a story about a bloody corpse that had been torn to shreds, and a demon huddled in its ribcage quietly consuming its heart. It was a story that made Kiba shudder.

"I'd like you to pull bodyguarding duty for Team Seven," said the Hokage, sitting down at the head of the conference table with a sigh. "They're already being guarded, of course, but ANBU can't interact with them the way we'd like. Your mission will be to protect them as they recover from their ordeal, of course, but they could use some friendly faces."

Team Eight collectively looked at each other. That was a strangely ominous statement.

"Of course, sir," said Kurenai. "We accept the mission. When do we depart?"

"This afternoon," said the Hokage. "You'll be heading straight to Senfuku and will be garrisoned there for the time being. You will be departing with other forces we're deploying to the region, so expect some degree of support when packing your mission packs. Details are in this scroll, of course—" the Hokage rolled a scroll across the table to Kurenai "—and your convoy leader will be Shiranui Genma. Contact him directly if you need additional details."

Kurenai picked up the scroll and the team stood and bowed.

"Sir."


"So, that's the cover story," said Kakashi. "Everyone have it memorized?"

Sayaka nodded from her hospital bed, and gave Naruto a considering look as the blonde very deliberately refused to meet anyone's gaze. Hinata was holding his hand comfortingly, but he still had something on his mind.

Well, no prizes for guessing. If it wasn't that it'd been his kunai in her chest a few days ago, it was the latest revelation about his… tenant.

Honestly it was probably both. The stabbing was Zabuza's trick, but the three of them shouldn't have hesitated. It wasn't Naruto's fault, but he was sure to be wracked with guilt anyway, the idiot. His worry about how Sayaka would take the news about the Kyuubi was more sensible, and in fairness Sayaka didn't know what to make of it, but that wasn't important right now.

"Hey, dumbass," Sayaka said. Naruto looked up at her and scowled.

"Why're you calling me a dumbass?" he asked.

"You're a dumbass for blaming yourself over me," said Sayaka bluntly. She shrugged her left shoulder, the right one immobilized to keep her from pulling the muscles in her chest. "We should have just killed him when we had the chance. Not your fault. It was a rookie mistake."

She looked over at Kakashi, who despite all the fabric covering his face was pale and drawn with worry. He hesitated, then nodded.

"Zabuza could take on Kage-level ninja and make it out alive, possibly kill them. We're lucky he hit his stride after the war, or else things could have been very different," said Kakashi. "Someone like that, unless you have orders to capture him, you can't afford to hesitate."

"Even you, s-sensei?" asked Hinata.

Kakashi nodded. "There's always a mission objective that's more important. If you left him alive, he'd prevent you from completing your mission. An old jounin has tricks to get out of chains unless you have specialized equipment for live retrieval, and trusting him to honor a ceasefire is stupid. So yes, you kill him, without hesitation. He knows that, and he'll do the same to you. It's part of being a shinobi."

There was a moment of grim silence.

"So there, dumbass, you're being stupid," said Sayaka. "It wasn't your fault, we all screwed up."

"We'll be better n-next time," said Hinata firmly, and squeezed his hand.

Naruto managed a pained smile. "Let's not have a next time, maybe?"

"Yes, let's not," said Kakashi with a sigh.

Sayaka looked down at her hands. It was surreal, thinking about what had happened. It really was amazing that she'd made it.

"Um, so, Naruto-kun's a-ability is… need-to-know, r-right?" asked Hinata. "Our f-friends will ask questions. W-what should we say?"

"Just say that you don't know what happened, and Naruto doesn't want to talk about it," said Kakashi, shrugging. "It's the truth. You only saw what happened afterwards, Hinata, and Sayaka wasn't there. Naruto's not comfortable talking about it, and good friends should respect that."

Sayaka and Hinata nodded at each other. They'd help keep that secret, at least.

"I guess it's a pretty useful ability," said Sayaka. She twirled a bit of her hair idly. "You going to train on it at all, Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head furiously. "Are you kidding? I'm not— it's super dangerous. I'm not going to use it around you guys, so you can forget about me poking at it!"

"It's really powerful though," said Sayaka. She pursed her lips. "It'd be useful, if we run into serious danger again, to have a trump card like that."

"S-Sayaka-chan isn't wrong," Hinata added. "We're not worried about y-you hurting us, so if you can get better at using it, it c-can only be helpful."

Naruto blinked tearfully at them and sniffed. "Y-You guys… you're— don't say stuff like that so sudden, you two."

Sayaka looked nonplussed. "What's gotten into you?"

Naruto sniffled and rubbed his eyes, then grinned brightly. "I was so worried, I thought you'd be scared of me. I didn't want—" he paused to sniff again, and Hinata handed him a tissue "—I'm just so glad you're okay with— with me. You know?"

Sayaka rolled her eyes, looking away to hide sympathetic tears. When he put it that way, it made her want to cry too.

"Dumbass, now who's saying weird stuff?" she said.

"Hehe, sorry Sayaka-chan."

They all took a moment to deal with their emotions. The clock on the wall ticked in the silence of the room. A pair of nurses passed by outside, chattering about a patient. It sounded like the patient was doing well.

Then Kakashi pulled out a book.

"Well, given how things are going, I think Gato's going to have some bad days soon," said Kakashi. He thumbed through his novel, looking for where he'd left off, then sighed. "It's a bit troublesome, but we'll probably end up being on call for any whack-a-mole jobs. The team will probably cycle out for training and recuperation for a month or two, then cycle back in time for operations against Gato's empire to kick off."

"Konoha's going to really do something about him?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi nodded. "When your crime bosses start hiring A-rank ninja, you deal with them promptly," he said. "You'd be stupid to do otherwise. Besides, this sort of thing—" he gestured broadly at the team "—can't be allowed to slide. We're going to make an example of Gato."

Naruto looked down uncertainly for a moment, but then looked back up with a determined expression. "Good. He deserves it, especially if what they say about Wave is true."

Kakashi looked up at him over the top of the book. There was a moment where they made eye contact, and Sayaka sensed that Kakashi was making a judgment call. Then Kakashi's exposed eye crinkled into a smile. "I'm glad you're fired up for it."

"W-will we be going back to Konoha soon?" asked Hinata.

"That's the rumor," said Kakashi. His gaze turned back down and he flipped the page of his book. "Given Sayaka's condition, and the state of affairs, a team of jounin will be taking over the rest of our contracted time to Lord Hayashi."

Sayaka nodded to herself. That made sense. "Are we leaving the castle?"

Kakashi shook his head. "On the contrary, Lord Hayashi is insisting that we stay. He appears to be interested in making friends. Team Eight will be joining us, which will be fun, eh Sayaka?"

Sayaka blinked at him, then felt herself flush. "Kiba's got nothing to do with anything!"

"Oh? I meant Haruno Sakura—you two had mentioned wanting to catch up before Team Eight had to leave for their mission."

Sayaka went darker red and ignored Naruto and Hinata giggling at her. "A-anyway, why're they coming? Is there a mission they're part of?"

"Officially, they're on guard duty while you recover," said Kakashi, flipping another page. "We're expecting some kind of retaliation, after all. Unofficially, this kind of mission structure is common among rookie genin teams. When he can, Hokage-sama likes to give genin a chance to catch up with each other. It's a good way to foster exchange of techniques and helps strengthen our personnel base."

He looked up, eye crinkling with another smile. "Put another way, the Hokage thinks making friends is good for you, and tries to align schedules when he can."

Sayaka snorted. "What a long-winded explanation just to say that."

"U-um, well, it's good t-that the Hokage tries," said Hinata. "It will be g-good to catch up with Team Eight."

Naruto nodded. "Hey, you think Kiba would be good for help with my, uh, with my bloodline?"

Sayaka frowned thoughtfully. "…maybe?"

"Let's not worry about that outside the village," said Kakashi firmly. "We want to have more people on hand when we start messing with it. Unknown bloodlines can go out of control very quickly, after all."

Team Seven collectively grimaced.

"Alright, then can you teach us some kind of jutsu?" Naruto asked. "We'll be sitting around for like a week!"

Sayaka leaned back as the conversation drifted off to mundane topics, fatigue pulling at her eyelids. She really wasn't back up to strength if she was starting to get sleepy after such a short conversation. She expected to be thoroughly out of shape by now, and wondered how long it would take to get back to her previous level.

Further musings were cut short as she dozed off.


Naruto snapped awake with a gasp and rolled out of his futon.

The rooms provided by Lord Hayashi were small but offered a certain amount of privacy. It was important because Naruto snored, and nobody wanted to listen to him all night. It also saved Naruto from waking anyone else up as he shuffled back into a corner and hugged his knees tightly to his chest.

The nightmare echoed in his head. There had been so much blood. Everything had been red and sticky-slick with gore. He could smell it.

"Deep breath, Naruto," Kakashi whispered from the doorway. Naruto flinched, looking up at his sensei with wild eyes. "It's okay, it's just me."

Naruto stifled a whimper and pressed his head into his knees. "Go 'way."

"No, I think I'll stay," Kakashi replied. He shut the door silently and ghosted over to Naruto on bare feet. He paused for a moment, looking at Naruto, then slowly sat down next to him and pulled out a book.

They stayed that way for half an hour. Kakashi read quietly while Naruto slowly, slowly began to dispel the remnants of his dreams.

"Does it ever stop?" Naruto asked.

"Not really," said Kakashi. He flipped a page. "They come and go. It's part of something we call battle stress. It's the result of traumatic events. A lot of shinobi get them, and if you're lucky the symptoms go away eventually. I'm not so lucky—mine have been bad too these days."

"Really?"

Kakashi nodded. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto looking at him in shock. "Mine aren't that much better than yours, I suspect."

"W-what… what do you dream about?"

"I'd like not to say," said Kakashi. He sighed. "It's not a competition anyway. It hurts regardless."

Naruto nodded, and turned away, letting his head fall onto his knees. "How do you deal with it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I read," said Kakashi. He flipped his page again. "When I first started, I was about six. My father had… just died, and my grief counselor wasn't exactly awake at that time of night. So I read books to take my mind off the nightmares and get back to sleep. After a while, it was just another hobby."

"Heh. What's your favorite?"

Kakashi made a thoughtful noise. "That's a surprisingly hard question. There's a smut series called Icha Icha that's a lot of fun."

Naruto wrinkled his nose at him. "Ew, sensei. That's so gross."

"Says the inventor of the Sexy Jutsu."

"That's different!" Naruto huffed. "When you do it as an attack instead of a hobby, it's fine."

"Uh huh."

"It's true! It's uh, it's a kind of deception!"

"It'd be a whole lot more convincing if you were better at using it in a fight," said Kakashi. "Show me some proper battlefield application and we'll talk."

"Ehh? Fine then, I'll figure something out, just you wait!"

Kakashi huffed a laugh at Naruto and turned his page. "You do that."

There was another moment of silence.

"…It doesn't stop then."

"It gets better, but it won't ever really stop," said Kakashi. "Some days it'll be good, other days it'll be bad. Maybe someone will do something that sets you off."

"The smell is what gets me," said Naruto. He looked down at his hands with a grimace. "It was in my dream. Just, the smell of iron, everywhere. Even when I pinched my nose shut, it was in my mouth and— and— it was awful."

"Well, let's hope you don't get too many nosebleeds," said Kakashi. He looked Naruto over. "Do you want a book? For next time."

Naruto considered, then nodded. "No smut."

"Relax, I have plenty of wholesome stuff too," said Kakashi. He reached into his vest and pulled out another book. "Here, The Water Margin, volume one of ten. Let me know when you finish it, and I'll lend you the next one. Or maybe you can just buy it when we get back to Konoha?"

Naruto nodded. It might be a bit of an adventure to actually get the books, but he'd see if he liked the story first. "Thanks sensei."

"We'll also need to get you to a counselor when we get back," said Kakashi.

Naruto grimaced. "Do I… do I have to?"

"Yes," said Kakashi. "They're not great, I'll admit, but they do help."

"What do you do at the counselor anyway?" asked Naruto. "Isn't it just talking about your feelings and stuff?"

"Sure, but like I said, it helps," said Kakashi. "Sometimes you really just needed someone to vent at, and your friends are sometimes hard to talk to about that sort of thing."

Naruto made a face but nodded. "Okay, I guess."

Kakashi patted him on the head. "It'll be good for you. Why don't you get started on that book? Do you want me to stay a while?"

Naruto shook his head. "I think I'm okay. I'll read a little then go back to sleep."

Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair, then got up. "Alright. See you around, Naruto."

"Night, sensei," said Naruto, before the door closed and he was alone again. He looked down at the book in his hands and turned it over, lost in thought. This was his life now, huh?

It sucked.

Silently, Naruto opened the book to its first page.


The gardens in Hayashi Castle were beautiful, as befit a lord ruling over a city like Senfuku and the towns and hamlets which surrounded it. The paths meandered between mounds built up like mountains, with mosses and blossoms growing across the cliffs of granite that jutted out over the valleys that Kiba and Akamaru walked through. The air was damp and thick with the smell of soil and slowly rotting wood, and water pooled in the stone tiles that Kiba's sandals trod across.

He felt his heart racing in his chest and frowned, trying to calm his nerves. He had been trying for the last three days on the road to Senfuku, but had been unsuccessful.

He rubbed his thumb over the slip of paper in his pocket, that he'd written on after getting word that they were shipping out to Senfuku. He hadn't known what to say, still didn't really, especially after his babbling at Kurenai-sensei back—gods, had it been a week ago now?

Kiba sighed and came to a stop to rub at the bridge of his nose. Gods, he was such a mess. Saying those kinds of things was so embarrassing, but what made it all worse was that he wasn't sure how much he meant it. It was true, everybody crushed on the Uchiha-hime, and it was also true that he'd been surprised and flattered that Sayaka had asked him for a second date, but he hadn't expected—well, his feelings hadn't been that crazy before he left for Wave. Which was to say, he'd expected to schedule the second date sometime sooner rather than later, he expected them to maybe try a few more times, and he expected Sayaka to lose interest. Nothing personal, just, you know, it didn't really work out.

Maybe it was because he knew just how big a deal Zabuza was, and the shock of it all had triggered something in him? That didn't really make any sense—you liked who you liked, danger and threats shouldn't really change that right?

But then, well, he was an Inuzuka, and he knew his family had some… interesting issues, when it came to forming bonds. For all their famed loyalty, Inuzuka had always had problems falling too hard and too fast for others. That was why Kiba's dad wasn't really in the picture these days, after all, and maybe that was why Kiba had, well, kind of lost it.

Akamaru whined and tugged at Kiba's sleeve.

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba sighed. "I know, but still, I don't want to, you know, creep her out."

Akamaru made a noise at him.

"Sure, but… I dunno, doesn't it seem kind of needy?"

Akamaru scoffed. How could it be needy? They weren't even a couple yet!

"Heh, that's true. I'm putting the cart before the horse, I guess."

Exactly, you can figure it out as you go. You two have good compatibility. I can smell it!

"Can you?"

Yeah, both of your hormones go all funny, it's hilarious!

"Ugh, asshole, don't tease me like that!"

Akamaru snickered, at least as best a dog could snicker, and flicked an ear, gesturing down the path.

"Yeah, yeah."

They continued around the corner into a clearing, where the tiles turned off to the side and emptied into a pool of sand and rock, carefully manicured moss adorning the peaks to capture a facsimile of the mountains an hour's walk from Senfuku.

Next to it was Sayaka, sitting quietly with her legs crossed and fifteen handkerchiefs spinning around her. Each piece of fabric spun flat at a right angle to the ground, orbiting slowly around the girl in broader and broader layers. Kiba watched one of the handkerchiefs slowly migrate outwards, swirling into line with others in the outermost circle. The rings wobbled as the handkerchief moved, seemed to hold for a moment when it reached the outermost ring, then failed entirely.

Sayaka sighed and opened her eyes. She fixed her gaze on the fallen handkerchief in front of her, silently mulling over her performance.

"Hey" Kiba said quietly, and Sayaka waved back idly, before blinking and looking up.

"When did you get here?" she asked, and pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear.

"An hour ago, roughly," said Kiba. He pushed his hands into his pockets, trying to look casual. "I uh, I dipped after we got our stuff dropped off. Heard you were in here meditating, so figured I'd come say hi."

Sayaka smiled slightly and picked up a handkerchief with her chakra to pull it towards her. "Is that so."

Kiba blushed slightly. "I guess."

"Well you found me," said Sayaka. She twirled the handkerchief in a circle, making it fan out. "Come and sit?"

"Sure."

Kiba and Akamaru padded over through the grass and sat down with a thump next to Sayaka. Akamaru wagged his tail and whined plaintively at Sayaka until she gave up her handkerchief to give him chin scratches.

"You okay?" asked Kiba.

"Yeah. I'm not supposed to train for a few weeks, but I'm okay."

Kiba huffed and grinned. "That'll be hard for you."

Sayaka smiled a little. "It is."

There was a moment of silence.

"I was worried for you," said Kiba.

"You were?"

"Yeah."

"…thanks."

Kiba looked over at her. She had an expression on her face like she had been handed an unexpected gift and didn't know what to make of it. Did she accept it, or was it more polite to try and refuse, or…?

After a moment, she settled on pleased, and looked over at Kiba with a smile that made Kiba's stomach do funny flips. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

"I had seven yakidango over you," said Kiba. He plucked a few blades of grass idly. "I had to do like a million extra laps to work them off."

Sayaka's expression turned nonplussed, then amused. "You stress eat?"

"Well, Kurenai-sensei does," said Kiba. "Apparently she usually gets this lady named Anko to eat with her, but she was out of town on a mission and I was pretty worried too. So it worked out."

"I didn't think Kurenai-sensei was that kind of person," said Sayaka. She considered this new information. "…how does she stay so thin?"

"Sensei's workouts are brutal," said Kiba. "Like, holy shit."

"Can't be worse than Kakashi's teamwork obstacle courses. I had to drag Naruto up a cliff."

Kiba snickered. "Wish I could have seen that."

"Sensei has photos."

"I'll ask Kakashi-sensei then."

"Please don't."

Kiba and Sayaka looked at each other, grinning, and broke into laughter. It was a good feeling.

"So uh, are you still interested in that second date?" Kiba asked. It didn't seem necessary, but he thought he may as well ask.

"Yeah," said Sayaka, looking down at her hands with a smile and pushing a lock of hair back behind her ear again. She was quiet for a moment, before her face fell. "I… you should know that I still have a date with Shikamaru later, when I get back to Konoha."

"Yeah, I figured," said Kiba with a small sigh. "It's how that stuff goes. I guess we can't really be dating either, yeah?"

Sayaka considered, then frowned. "…probably not."

"Eh, it's fine," said Kiba. He looked over at her and leaned back casually. "I know I'm the favorite right now, so I'm good. You do what you need to do."

Sayaka looked down at where he was lounging, still frowning. "Awfully sure of yourself, Inuzuka."

"Course I am," said Kiba. He grinned at her. "I'm not wrong, right? Shikamaru's cool, but he's not really your type, and besides nobody's really sure that the Nara bloodline will mix well with the Sharingan. Shino's cool too, but you and me both are weirded out by the bugs, and I'm his teammate. Chouji's fine, but he's also really not your type, and his clan's techniques are all opposite what Uchiha are supposed to be good at. That's all the eligible boys in our year, and you can't marry the girls, so there."

Sayaka turned away, rolling her eyes, and scoffed. "You've put way too much thought into it."

"Like you haven't done the same."

"Shut up."

Kiba laughed and scooted closer. "There's also my winning personality and rugged good looks, like a guy out of a shoujo manga," he said teasingly. "I'm the ideal boyfriend for you."

"You're way too short to be a shoujo manga love interest," said Sayaka flatly, and flicked him on the forehead. Kiba made a pained noise but laughed anyway. "How do you know what's in shoujo manga anyway?"

"Hand-me-downs," said Kiba as he rubbed his forehead. "Seriously, when it's shoujo manga or homework, there's only one real option."

Sayaka scowled. "If we have kids you better not give them your bad habits."

She paused, then both of them turned red and looked away from each other. Jeez, of all the things for her to say!

A moment passed.

"Sorry. I made it weird."

Akamaru barked, and Kiba went darker red.

"Stop making it worse, Akamaru!" he scolded, grabbing the puppy by the scruff of the neck to wave a finger at him. "No buts!"

Akamaru pouted, but whined, which apparently was acquiescence. Sayaka coughed as the moment passed.

"So since Team Eight's here for a mission, I guess we can't actually go on a date in Senfuku," said Kiba. He lay back on the ground and tucked his hands behind his head. "This is nice though."

Sayaka hummed, glancing over as he moved before looking away quickly, then nodding in agreement. "It is."

They fell silent, staring off into the distance quietly.

"How does the Inuzuka clan handle inheritance?" Sayaka asked.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Eldest-first. Why?"

"I was just thinking about the Hayashi clan," said Sayaka. She folded the handkerchief in her hand reflexively, making it take the shape of a flower. "They only succeed through the male line."

"Sounds about right."

"I think the Uchiha were like that too."

"…Uh huh."

"I'll have to change it," said Sayaka. She unfolded the handkerchief, pulling out one petal at a time. "I mean, it doesn't make sense for me to do it through the male line, right?"

"I guess not," said Kiba. He propped himself up on his elbows. "I don't think anybody cares right now though. It's not like you can have kids."

"No," said Sayaka. The handkerchief was fully open in her lap. "It's just been on my mind. Betrothal contracts too. There's… a lot of ways for those to go badly for me. And the Uchiha clan."

"I guess I never thought of it that way," said Kiba cautiously.

Sayaka shook her head. "You wouldn't. It's not your problem, but the Inuzuka are also pretty strong as clans go. Not as much as the Hyuuga, but strong. You're not like… me."

Kiba licked his lips. "Well I mean, you're better than me at being a ninja, so…"

"Not like that," said Sayaka, but she smiled anyway and only gently flicked him on the nose. "It'd be great if everyone was looking out for me, but I know that nobody will do that. I have to worry about the terms of the contract, don't I? Even if they sound reasonable, they might have problems in the long term."

"What are you worried about?" asked Kiba. "It can't be that crazy can it?"

"If you and I got married and had kids, whose family do they belong to?" asked Sayaka.

Kiba opened his mouth, instinctively about to say "the Inuzuka". He stopped himself, and thought about what that would mean. There was a pause while he looked down and thought about it, then looked back up again.

"Both?" he asked.

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. But what happens when one of them screws up? Whose clan law do they fall under?"

Kiba looked down again, then looked back up with a perplexed expression. "I don't know."

"I don't either," said Sayaka. She sighed. "I have to go learn about it."

"Yeah. That sucks."

Sayaka shrugged. It was what it was. It was horrifyingly complex, but it was part of her life now, and she had to deal with it. The mission, and talking to Fumiyo, had reminded her of that. Of course, it wasn't like she had Fumiyo's problems, and Sayaka's position was a lot more tractable. But she had a lot of other problems that Fumiyo didn't have, because Fumiyo wasn't also the clan head for her family.

"Do you think I should buy a house?" asked Sayaka.

"…why would you buy a house?"

"It might make it seem like I have a better negotiating position."

"I doubt it," said Kiba. "You can always just say that you'll buy one after we get married."

"That's true. But then why wouldn't your mom buy the house?"

"I mean she'd offer, but it's obviously a bad idea for you, right?"

"Yeah."

Kiba paused, then sat up with a shiver. "This is a weird conversation. Can we change topics?"

Sayaka sniffed and smiled. "Don't like planning your future, Kiba?"

"No! It's— it's weird! I have to like, imagine you all swollen like a watermelon—"

Sayaka whapped him over the head. "I'd look just fine pregnant, thank you."

"That's not what I meant!" said Kiba, holding his head where she'd hit him. "It's just weird to imagine you that way!"

Sayaka considered, then subsided. "Fair enough. It's weird for me too."

"You know a lot of other kids our age would just be doing whatever," said Kiba with a scowl. "Clan stuff is super annoying. Can we just, like, pretend we're not members of clans for a moment and go do something fun?"

Sayaka sighed and got to her feet. It was a fair point, and besides she wasn't going to be able to concentrate for her chakra exercise with Kiba around. "We'll have to meet up with everyone else first."

"Sure, but like, let's just not worry about clan stuff for now," said Kiba. He stretched where he was sitting, popping a joint in his back with a grunt. "You know? You gotta do all those dumb first dates with everyone first anyway."

"Fair," said Sayaka. She held out a hand for Kiba to take. He looked at it for a moment, then grabbed it and pulled himself up. It occurred to Sayaka that, in shoujo manga, this was usually the part where the boy gave the heroine a kiss.

"So like, what sort of things can you do in Senfuku?" asked Kiba as he let go of her hand and began to brush himself off.

"No idea," said Sayaka. She checked herself for stray bits of grass and viciously squashed the sense of disappointment that had suddenly washed over her. "Naruto and Hinata went on a date though—don't tell anyone—so we can ask them."

"Yo, really? Did Hinata finally ask him out properly?"

"No, Naruto did."

"Gods, did he finally notice that she's had a crush on him for years?"

"No, he's still oblivious. The way it happened was…"

Eiichi and Fumiyo had been taken back to Hayashi Castle when Zabuza had attacked, but in the wake of the momentous events it became necessary to complete the ritual. After all, the two were still getting married in a few years, and tradition still needed to be followed. The transit was much swifter and much more discreet this time, escorted by a team of four jounin. It was tremendous overkill, but Lord Hayashi was an important customer, and frankly the jounin were probably in Senfuku for a number of ulterior motives.

Teams Seven and Eight accompanied them as guests, just for the day. Fumiyo had wanted her friends to come with her, and Team Eight was assigned to guard them. By some unspoken agreement, the ninja had decided that Team Eight would keep a perimeter presence while Team Seven stayed closer to the principal. The jounin team that was Fumiyo's actual guard worked an even further perimeter, though one of them acted as Fumiyo's "chaperone".

Even though Team Seven wasn't actually on-mission, it seemed impossible not to fall into mission habits. For one thing, D-ranks had eliminated "just hanging out" as a context where turning off mission-mode was possible. For another thing, there was no way that Team Seven was going to relax after Zabuza's attack. It was just stupid not to be paranoid.

Besides, Team Eight wasn't good friends with Fumiyo the way that Team Seven was. It would be a little hard for her to relax if she was surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and she was going to have enough of that at Aoyagi Mansion.

Aoyagi Mansion was really the Eastern Coast Fort. They had occupied the fortification, at first as pirates, and then as privateers for the Hayashi Clan. It made for a… complicated relationship with the rest of Senfuku, which had several families whose ships had been raided by the Aoyagi back before they had entered the service of the Hayashi.

In their defense, the internal politics were just as complicated and Eiichi's father had been the son of the Aoyagi clansman who had usurped the original pirate lord who controlled the family. There had been a coup, several heads had rolled, and said heads had been presented to the Hayashi clan head of the time as part of their change of status from pirate to privateer. This still left them with a questionable reputation among many of the noble families, but they didn't really seem to care.

The day started late, with a small snack after waking late in the morning before leaving, under guard, for the Aoyagi Mansion for lunch. The planned meal had involved luxuriously fatty grilled beef, even for the guards, a gesture that everyone appreciated deeply, Kiba in particular.

Except that, when Naruto saw what was being served, his face had done a funny thing and he had very quietly asked for seafood. It was a violation of guest protocol, and besides Sayaka had never known Naruto to actually prefer seafood over beef, but Naruto had been politely insistent, despite the obvious discomfiture of the servers. He did his best to smooth things over, and in the end they'd eventually just had to give him some soba noodles with fresh clams. Fortunately, nobody was offended, and if anything the Aoyagi staff was embarrassed that this was all they could do. Naruto insisted it was fine and thanked the servers profusely.

It struck Sayaka as odd, and she'd exchanged a look with Hinata. They'd thought Naruto had gotten over the whole thing with Zabuza, but it seemed that he hadn't. It was true that beef smelled very metallic, so maybe…

They would have to talk to him about it later. It wasn't impeding him from enjoying the day though, and they let it slide for now.

"So it's said that girls aren't supposed to use a sword," said Eiichi as the group headed for the mansion's central courtyard and sparring ring. "Despite that, the Aoyagi clan has had a long history of making sure its women can handle themselves in a fight."

Sayaka glanced over at Fumiyo, who had changed out of her dress after lunch and was currently dressed similarly to Eiichi in a set of hakama and jacket in Hayashi-family powder blue. It was apparently one of her brother's old sets, from when he was younger, and Hana had privately mentioned to Sayaka that it'd been snuck out of his bedroom last night during dinner.

"I mention this because I suspect we'll have an audience," said Eiichi as they approached the last corner.

Fumiyo stopped, suddenly looking unsure. The hubbub of people was clearly audible.

"If you don't want them around, I can have a word with them," said Eiichi, coming to a stop as well. "Word's gotten around is all."

Fumiyo took a breath, held it, and blew it out again. "…It's fine. It's just a spar, after all."

Naruto whacked her on the back companionably, making her stumble and cough. "You'll do fine! We'll be here for a while, right? You got lots of chances to show off!"

Sayaka reached over and whacked Naruto on the head. "Don't. Hit. The client."

"It's fine," Fumiyo wheezed, hands braced on her knees as Hana rubbed her on the back and glared at Naruto.

"…anyway, let's head in," said Eiichi, eyebrow raised. "Fumiyo-chan?"

He held out a hand. Fumiyo stood up straight and sighed, then took Eiichi's hand and let him pull her forward. Sayaka watched as they turned the corner together into a wall of noise, the many retainers of the Aoyagi clan cheering and hollering like the sailors they were.

"Reminds me of the Inuzuka compound," said Kiba as Team Eight dropped down from the rooftops. "Same amount of drinking, same amount of noise."

A chant started up, apparently with half the crowd supporting Fumiyo and the other half supporting Eiichi.

"…yeah, same amount of noise," said Kiba. He laughed sheepishly. "Man, I guess it takes seeing it from the outside sometimes, doesn't it?"

"Remind me if we ever meet your clan," Sakura said with a look of moderate distaste. "I think I'll need to prepare myself."

"Is there quite as much drinking at Inuzuka gatherings?" asked Shino. He pushed his sunglasses up his nose with a finger. "I ask because the kikaichu respond poorly to alcohol."

"Do they really?" asked Kiba, nonplussed.

"Yes."

"But don't you use them to draw out poisons?"

"It is not the same," said Shino.

"Well, uh, kids our age aren't expected to drink with the adults," said Kiba, "so it'll probably be fine? My cousins might hit on you though."

"You mean on me," said Sakura.

"No, well, both of you," said Kiba. He seemed to wilt a little. "Look man, Inuzuka are pretty open to hitting on anything that moves, alright? It's not a big deal but, you know, some guys act weird about it."

Sayaka, Naruto, and Hinata all looked at each other.

"That's wild, man," said Naruto to Kiba. "You into guys at all then?"

"Kind of— well— hold on," spluttered Kiba. "Hold on, stop, I'm not talking about that here."

Sayaka tilted her head at him. "You're blushing."

"Anybody would over this crap!" Kiba protested, flushing further. "Gods, don't you have a sparring match to go watch? Leave off will ya?"

Naruto snickered but acquiesced, turning on his heel and casually looping his fingers behind his head. "Just teasing, Kiba, don't worry about it alright? I'm sure Sayaka thinks you're cute either way."

He dodged the kick Sayaka sent at his cranium with a cackle.


The matches had been delayed briefly while Fumiyo had meeted and greeted the assemblage of clansmen and been widely complimented as an excellent match for Eiichi. The fights had proceeded as expected, which was to say that Fumiyo and Eiichi were both relatively novice sword fighters. Eiichi probably could have put up a good fight against an average genin, mostly because he had regular conditioning from seafaring and regular practice. Fumiyo could keep up for a bout or three, but she couldn't keep her sword tip from drooping after several rounds. It was fine if she was just fending off an attacker, but wouldn't save her unless someone arrived to finish the assassin off.

"Hah, wow, I'm tired," Fumiyo sighed as she sat down on the bench next to Sayaka. She was dripping sweat, her hair sticking to her forehead and neck. Hana hurried over with a pitcher of cold barley tea. "Thank you Hana."

"More training," said Sayaka with a shrug, and poured the tea into Fumiyo's waiting cup.

"Cheers," said Fumiyo, raising her glass briefly, before swallowing the tea in three gulps. Hana began to comb back Fumiyo's hair as Sayaka poured a second cup for the noble girl. "You're right, of course, Sayaka. I'm not there yet."

Sayaka shrugged again. "It will come with time and practice."

"Yes," said Fumiyo, and this time she sipped at her tea. Hana carefully pulled Fumiyo's hair back into a ponytail, holding the strands up off the back of her neck. In the ring, Eiichi was facing off against one of the older boys.

"Do your best Eiichi-kun!" Fumiyo called, waving at her fiancé. Eiichi nodded back with a small smile, then pulled his facemask down to get ready for the spar.

"You are having fun though?" asked Sayaka.

"I am," said Fumiyo with a smile. "It is a great improvement to be allowed to stretch my limits."

In the practice ring, wood crashed against wood. Fumiyo cheered as Eiichi slid past his opponent, twisting around to block a strike to his side before returning to guard and staring the taller boy down.

"You think you will enjoy yourself here?"

"I do," said Fumiyo. Hana finished tying back Fumiyo's hair, and Fumiyo thanked her. "It is not everything, of course, to be allowed to practice my swordplay without restriction, and I will try not to become too enthusiastic. But it is a good change."

"You may find that the Aoyagi are less courteous than you expect in the ring," said Sayaka. She poured herself a cup of tea. "They seem similar to ninja that way."

Fumiyo hummed thoughtfully. "Practice like it is war, and then war will seem like practice?"

"Precisely."

"You are right, I am not sure I can keep up with such training," Fumiyo admitted. She paused to cheer again as Eiichi scored an excellent hit on his opponent, sending the older boy reeling backwards. But the follow-up blow didn't land, the older boy blocking it with some flailing, causing Eiichi to retreat.

"Practice," said Sayaka simply, and Fumiyo nodded again.

"I think that it will be a case of showing I am willing to put in the effort," said Fumiyo. "The rest will come with time—we have years."

"Yes," said Sayaka. "Do you worry still, about the other things we talked about?"

Fumiyo paused, face falling briefly, and nodded. "I am sure that today I am only seeing the best of the Aoyagi. There is always another side."

Sayaka nodded as well. Just because things looked good didn't mean they didn't come with a price.

"But… I think, again, that I have many years to learn and understand those things," said Fumiyo thoughtfully. "By the time that Eiichi and I are married properly, they will be something I can work with, not just barriers."

Sayaka nodded again, and the two of them paused to watch as Eiichi found himself thrown to the ground after attempting to close inside of the taller boy's reach. Fumiyo winced, and set her tea aside to clap as Eiichi pulled himself upright, acknowledging his loss.

"Shinobi, since you are here, do any of you wish a bout?" Eiichi asked. He looked over to Sayaka, then to Naruto. "Uzumaki-san, you expressed interest earlier."

"Hell yeah!" said Naruto, popping out of his seat. The group laughed, and Naruto laughed a little sheepishly. "Ah, I mean, if you're offering, I'd be happy to spar."

Eiichi looked amused but gestured at his opponent. "Why not try a bout with Kenshi here?"

"Getting tired, Princeling?" called out one of the clansmen.

"Only a little," Eiichi called back, "but Fumiyo-chan looks lonely."

"Hah!" another clansman laughed. "Such are the dangers of a pretty face!"

"Don't let her make you soft, Princeling!" another clansman shouted. "Too much time in the bedroom'll make you unfit to serve on deck!"

The group laughed, and Fumiyo blushed, and Eiichi waved his sword in annoyance.

"Hey now, don't go making fun of my girl!" Eiichi shouted. "Show some courtesy!"

"Yeah, yeah," said the offending sailor, waving an arm to take responsibility for the comment. "Apologies, Hayashi-san."

Fumiyo pressed her lips together nervously, then stood up and faced the person waving at her.

"Y-you're wrong!" she shouted. "Eiichi-kun would get p-p-plenty of exercise in the bedroom, s-so he'd be just fine to go back on a ship!"

There was a moment of deeply stunned silence.

Then the group broke out into an uproar, cheering and shouting and stamping their feet as Fumiyo went utterly scarlet and pressed her hands to her mouth in shock at herself. For that matter, Sayaka found herself blushing just from hearing Fumiyo's words. What a thing to say!

"That's you put in your place Mahiro!" someone yelled. "Going soft, hah! More like getting even harder, eh Princess?"

Fumiyo's mortification deepened, but she managed to say "E-exactly!" and got an even louder cheer for it.

It was amazingly scandalous, Sayaka thought, and looked over at Hinata and Naruto. Hinata was hiding behind her hands in sympathetic horror, and even Naruto—inventor of lewd transformation techniques—was looking shocked. Sayaka wondered if this was what it was like at Kiba's family gatherings.

She looked back at Fumiyo, whose blush hadn't gone down at all, but who was holding her position firmly as Eiichi tried to calm everyone down and get the fights going again. There was only so much Fumiyo could take, after all, even if she was returning fire impressively. It took a moment, but Naruto eventually got called out onto the practice field and Fumiyo sat down again, looking resolutely away from Sayaka, face still scorchingly red.

Well. At least she was making herself popular?