Author's notes: Enkan's circus is a blend of Eastern and Western cultures, with a strong lean toward Western culture. I write what I know, but it's hard to look at the performers of the Eastern cultures (particularly Chinese) when you realize how brutal the trainers are to the children to force them into such flexibility.
Than again, I"m writing about a culture that likes to take small five year old children and turn them into killing machines...
o-o-o
o-o-o-o
o-o-o-o-o
"You were supposed to rescue the hostages." Sarutobi Hiruzen gave the three teenaged girls, all on the brink of womanhood, and their sensei a long, stern look as he crossed his arms and rested them on the surface of his desk.
"We did," Kushina insisted defensively. Her face was set with a stubborn expression – she also had several sticks and leaves tangled in her hair, which was unusual, because Tsume was the one who always looked like she got dragged backwards through a bramble bush. Kushina's arms were also wrapped with several layers of bloody bandages.
Kokoro, to the left of Kushina, kept her face carefully blank of any emotions. She was seated in her wheelchair with a clumsily-knit blanket hiding her legs. Kokoro had recently taught herself knitting while memorizing the protocols in T&I. ("I like to keep my hands busy, since they work better than my legs.") She was the only one of the three girls who looked remotely groomed, although her face was smudged with dirt. Ever the silver-tongued of the trio, she said placidly, "There weren't any casualties or even serious, debilitating injuries to the hostages, our team, or the kidnappers. I would say it was a very successful mission."
To the right of Kushina, Tsume fidgeted and managed to look guilty enough for all her teammates as she scratched a gigantic red welt on her lower right leg – it was just one gigantic red welt amongst many, many others. She looked like she had lost a fight with a patch of poison oak, and her usual dragged backwards through a bramble bush, which included multiple leaves, sticks, and dirt clods stuck to her wild hair.
"I," began Sakumo in an even, reasonable voice, "would like to point out that the hostages are free to make their own decisions upon safe recovery. It may not be the safest or wisest choice, but that is their choice. That's the difference between us, and the people who held them hostage, after all." Sakumo had fewer red welts than Tsume, and some uncovered lacerations on his exposed forearms. He appeared to have gotten into a wrestling match with a wildcat.
"Gosh," added Tsume with a squirm, "how were we supposed to know that the honey badger was going to be that pissed off?"
Sakumo frowned down at her. "Language. We're supposed to be polite with the Hokage, remember? How would you rephrase that more diplomatically?"
Tsume scratched behind her ear, and then she scratched a welt on her elbow. "Yeah, diplomacy, right, no choking anyone with an umbilical cord…" Ah yes, that had been terribly undiplomatic of her. Hiruzen was glad that Sakumo had been working with Tsume on improving her language. "Gosh. How we were supposed to know that the honey badger was going to be really irritated when it landed? I mean, that thing was enraged, and then the wasps started stinging everyone – including poor Mister Honey – and that made matters worse, so the next thing we knew, we were trying to rescue the hostages and kidnappers from Mister Honey and the wasps."
"Ah." Hiruzen studied Tsume for a moment. Tsume scratched her neck. "I was wondering why you looked so… stung." He had also wondered why he had received a permission request for adopting a "cranky honey badger in need of a good home" a few minutes before their arrival. It hadn't been signed, but he had a sneaking suspicion as to who was responsible for submitting the request. It wasn't quite as bad as the formal request he had received a few days ago – in triplicate – from Kirigakure for permission to slay Sakumo's team the next time they crossed paths with Kiri nin.
"She decided to jump right in and help," Sakumo said with pride. He affectionately ruffled her hair. "Tsume was very brave and elected to lead the wasps away from the innocent hostages. The bulk of the wasps wound up chasing her all the way to the creek."
Tsume scratched the inside of her forearm. "I'm all right," she insisted. "And I had help." She looked apologetically at the Hokage. "Aunt Natsumi is currently working on my ninken. She said I can live with the misery and the, uh, what else did she say?"
"Consequences of your actions," Kokoro and Kushina said in unison.
"Yeah, that. She said I could live with the consequences of my actions until our report is over." Tsume's perpetual itch moved from her elbow to her knee.
Ah, that explained the absence of the five large canines. It was unusual to see Kokoro in her wheelchair immediately upon returning from a mission, but she probably switched off of San when they returned for some impromptu medical treatment. "Well, Sakumo is correct – what the hostages choose to do with themselves after we've rescued them is their choice, although we should always strive to make sure that we don't rescue them in such a way that they feel the desperate need to return to the safety of their kidnappers. They already have enough psychological issues from being kidnapped." Hiruzen leveled all three girls as stern a look as he could muster. "And no, you may not keep the honey badger as a pet." Kushina and Tsume's faces fell in disappointment. Good heavens – where would they even put the honey badger? It's not like they could find a home in the Nara forest where a former war horse routinely terrorized anyone who didn't belong in his territory, which so far consisted of everyone who wasn't Tsume or Danzo (who wasn't even normally allowed in the Nara forest). Even the Nara had to sneak through their forest with caution.
"Told you," Kokoro whispered with a snide voice.
Sakumo merely shrugged his shoulders and smiled tiredly.
Hiruzen rubbed his forehead. He already had a headache from dealing with Jiraiya and his team earlier. "Dismissed," he told the girls. "Sakumo, I need you to stay for information on a possible long-term mission."
The kunoichi couldn't hide their curiosity as Sakumo ushered them out of room. When the door was sealed and privacy was ensured, Sakumo faced Hiruzen once more. He rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Sorry, sir. Those three can make anything into a real circus, sometimes."
Ah, the perfect lead-in. "Speaking of circuses, Sakumo, might I interest you in an undercover mission that would require you four joining said circus? It has the potential for your kunoichi to advance in rank. Although before we get into that conversation, there's this request I've received from Kiri that I would like to get some background details on..."
oOoOoOo
Once they were safely outside and standing in the corner of the lot, close to the Academy playground but out of the way of foot traffic, Tsume gave in to basic instincts and chewed on her wrist. Kushina and Kokoro watched silently for a moment, and then exchanged looks.
"Now that we've seen the Hokage, why don't you go to Aunt Natsumi?" Kokoro asked diplomatically.
Tsume sounded like she had a mouthful of food as she gnawed on the welt. "Nuh-uh. I promithed to thee Kakashi firtht."
"You might concern him if he sees you like this," Kushina said quickly. "If not him, then certainly Pakkun and the rest of the summons."
Tsume released her wrist. "Yeah, you're probably right. I guess I should head over to Aunt Natsumi. Gotta face the lecture some time or another." She looked at Kokoro with a worried expression as she scratched the back of one leg with her other foot. "Are you going to be all right for a while without San?"
Kokoro waved her off, her expression placid and her scent calm and resentment-free. "I'm fine. The wheelchair will give me a chance to practice my chakra threads. Besides," she gently rubbed her knees through the blanket, "the stirrups are starting to rubbing my skin raw, so I've got to let it heal before I break out into sores again."
"Oh. Gotcha. Oh – hey! Does anyone want to crash at Sakumo-sensei's for dinner? He did say that he'd make a roast if we got all the hostages without any casualty."
Kushina smiled and dropped a hand on Tsume's shoulder. "Tsume-chan, our dignity died on that hillside. Between the hive of disturbed wasps and the even more disturbed honey badger, I think we can safely assume that the Hokage will never again let us have anything to do with hostage situations." Tsume secretly hoped that Kushina was right; she didn't do well thinking through hostage situations, which usually had to be handled delicately and diplomatically. She was more of a mow-through-the-enemy and sort-the-bodies-afterwards sort of girl. Or threaten to choke people with umbilical cords when forced to assist with unexpected labors.
"I think it's best if you just head back to Aunt Natsumi," Kokoro added. "She looked like she wanted to talk to you about something. Well, besides paying more attention to your ninken so they don't get stung, either. And maybe she'll take pity on your and try to heal the welts that you have."
That all seemed reasonable enough to Tsume. The girls talked a little longer to figure out what plans for tomorrow would be, and it seemed – without a mission – Tsume wouldn't be seeing either of her teammates. Kokoro was due for another round with her brothers in T&I, and Kushina had some lessons on fuuinjutsu. ("There's a lot of reading and memorization involved. You'd be bored out of your mind, Tsume. I even get bored out of my mind, sometimes.")
Tsume could respect Kushina wanting to learn more of her destroyed home village, even if it seemed like it needed to be in secrecy, but she wished that Kushina didn't have to smell of dishonesty whenever she tried to distract or sidetrack Tsume's curiosity. Not when Kushina also smelled of Jiraiya and Minato. It was never okay if Tsume lied to her friends, so why should it be all right if they did the same to her?
Trying not to feel like a bereft piece of driftwood, Tsume parted from her friends and headed for the family compound. She paused several times, making sure that she was out of sight in an alley, to give her welts a satisfying scratch. Scratching didn't make the welts any better, but it felt satisfying. Aunt Natsumi's scent had shifted away from the compound when Tsume arrived, even though her ninken were present in the canine stables.
Oyubi was there with Himewari, still dressing the welts on Kuromaru when Tsume entered the nursing room where all the medical supplies for the ninken were kept. Himewari looked upon the other ninken with amused tolerance. Tsume briefly hoped that Kuromaru wasn't been treated last as a punishment to her. Grandmother's ninken sulked off to the side – they looked like they had been thoroughly scolded by Oyubi to prevent them from licking off the medicated paste or rolling around in the first dung heap they could find.
"There you are." Oyubi's smile was as welcoming as her scent as she tilted her head to the side and regarded Tsume. "Come here." She turned from Kuromaru, who greeted Tsume with a whine and a thump of his tail. "He's stung the least. Seems to me like you got the brunt of the wasps."
That made the welt on Tsume's elbow demand attention. She squirmed as she tried not to scratch it in front of Oyubi. "The wasps followed me; the ninken followed the wasps. I managed to find a pond of water to dive into, but I wasn't very good at holding my breath, but the ninken kinda distracted the wasps. It's, uh, complicated." After a moment, she said, "Oyubi, wasps are mean, evil bugs, and they're even worse than Aunt Natsumi's geese summon!"
Oyubi's eyes lit with amusement as she smiled and ruffled Tsume's hair. "The ninken told me what happened." Yeah, Grandmother's ninken were the worst gossipmongers that Tsume had ever met. "I thought it was actually quite clever given your experience with strategy. It lured out the kidnappers without requiring your team to endanger yourself. I am sad that you had to learn the hard way just how evil an entire nest of wasps can be." She shrugged. "I know that Shikake just started working strategy with you recently in preparation for submitting a request for chuunin rank, so I recommend that you review this with him when you get the chance."
Tsume pouted. "He's making me play go. He said it would be easier for me to learn the rules and regulations because there's only two colors to keep track of, instead of all the different pieces of shogi and the way they all move differently." Aunt Natsumi had also tried to talk Shikake into also teaching Tsume how to play blackjack and poker — ("The First and Second Hokages taught me just fine. If it's good enough for our esteemed leaders, then it's good enough for my niece."
"There are many characteristics that I wouldn't mind my daughter sharing with Senju Tsunade, but gambling isn't one of them.") – but didn't have much success in changing Shikake's mind.
"Something that will improve with age and practice, of that I have no doubt. Here, I want to apply this paste to your welts. Come here." Oyubi sat on an overturned bucket, and patted the boarded floor between her booted feet. "Shuck your clothes and then stand over here."
Tsume obeyed without hesitation, but she kept her underwear on because she hadn't been stung everywhere. The medicated paste that Oyubi smeared on the welts was a slimy clay that stank of calendula and lavender. Tsume wrinkled her nose at the cold texture and the nearly-overwhelming stench, but it took away the immediate need to repeatedly scratch herself, and even eased the throbbing pain. She temporarily distracted herself by glumly staring down at her very modest chest as Oyubi worked on her back, and imagining what sort of pastes or herbs could help her cleavage improve. So far, religiously massaging her chest every night to increase blood flow and cup size hadn't done anything. Cousin Megumi totally lied to her!
Distracting thoughts were for the birds. "Where'd Aunt Natsumi go?"
"She's meeting with Shikake to discuss the next steps in your training."
Tsume didn't know if she should be excited or wary. Whenever Aunt Natsumi consulted Tsume's sire, it involved memorization of some sort – that's how playing go got started in the first place. Shikake's exercises and games were boring and hard to sit still for. Tsume was a doer, not a thinker, and such was foreign to the ways of Nara everywhere. The beginning of her training had mostly consisted on how the clan was run and why it ran the way it did; Tsume was familiar with the workings, so only a little time had been spent on it. Then came the nightmare – how other clans worked, and the necessity of knowing all the details because she was a clan head. Even though the Inuzuka clan wasn't exactly the most well-known of clans, it was almost guaranteed that they were related in some way or another to nearly everyone in the Village.
If Tsume didn't consider the Inuzuka clan hers, she would've abdicated her position as soon as she learned what the word even meant.
At least the lessons with Aunt Natsumi's ax were fun, informative, and a great stress relief – there had been some unfortunate timber incidents, but Aunt Natsumi assured Tsume that the trees would eventually grow back. If only Tsume could say the same for the lessons in building her chakra stamina. Tsume kept telling herself that eventually having her very own summon would make all the work worth her ongoing effort.
Oyubi patted Tsume's shoulder. "You'll need to keep your clothes off, otherwise you'll rub the paste right off."
"Right. But I should still do something productive with my time." Because a clan head was supposed to be productive and involved with her clan when she had the free time. Tsume thought really hard for a moment, sniffed the air, and then smiled. "I should go see how some of the clan girls are doing with their new partners." Tsume didn't care much for spending a lot of time with most of the older clan adults; the memory of Inuzuka Shinzou and her ruling the clan with an iron fist was held as a standard against Tsume's lax leadership (something Aunt Natsumi blamed on "that damn Nara breeding – I knew it would come back and bite us in the ass somehow.") and brain injury. But the younger women and children were more accepting.
"You have fun with that," Oyubi said absent-mindedly as she gathered up the supplies.
As Tsume was leaving the stables, she brushed past Oyubi's mother, who was coming in with a fresh bucket of water to replenish the canine drinking bowls. Tsume froze when she caught the slightest change in scent, brain whirling for a moment. Then she turned and spoke: "Shinchuu-chan, you're pregnant!"
Shinchuu dropped the water in surprise, and Oyubi choked, supplies falling everywhere as her arms flailed.
After a moment, Oyubi finally found her voice, and loudly at that. "WHAT? HOW?"
oOoOoOo
Shinchuu was a true simpleton. She was the only daughter of Inuzuka Bashira, who had been twenty-one years old when the Clan joined Konoha. Bashira had what Grandmother had called "female problems" which made it difficult for her to get pregnant. The only time she ever successfully managed was when she was thirty-three years old. It had been a rough pregnancy, and Bashira was forced on bed rest when she was only four months along. She was determined to keep her child, insisting that it was daughter before Shinchuu was even born. Being Grandmother's favorite niece was probably the only reason why Grandmother didn't drown Bashira's daughter when they realized what she was. (Orochimaru would later say that Shinchuu was very lucky – most people with "extra chromosomes" were born with defective hearts and didn't live long, but Shinchuu's heart was strong and healthy. To which Bashira had declared, "But of course it is! That's why I named her for such!")
Shinchuu was assigned to work in the kennels as soon as she was able, constantly shadowed by Bashira, who retired herself from fieldwork just to make sure that her daughter didn't meet any untimely accidents. Shinchuu's intellectual capabilities were even worse than Tsume's – although that never stopped Grandmother from declaring, many times, that Tsume was even more of an idiot than Shinchuu – but she was no less ambitious than any other Inuzuka woman. Shinchuu made it a lifelong mission to win the hearts of her fellow clanswomen and the ninken, and she was very successful.
Shinchuu was congenial and hardworking, incapable of lying or hurting anyone. She cried when she found a baby bird fallen from its nest; she cooed over clan children's booboos. She even learned how to bake from the Akimichi so she could bring fresh cookies to everyone who got sick or injured, even though she was never able to learn how to read. She was shorter than the average Inuzuka, plump with a face that rarely stopped smiling, hazel eyes, and hair like burnished copper in bright sunlight. She spoke slowly, but listened well. She had always been kind to Tsume, and had made sure that Tsume didn't lack cookies after being found in the Nara Forest.
When she was young, Shinchuu had a sweetheart in Uchiha Hiroaki, who also had an extra chromosome and was a year younger than her. Hiroaki had been unusually overindulged by the Uchiha clan – they reveled in the opportunity and luxury of having a child who would've otherwise been a burden and a liability to the clan in the Warring Era. Hiroaki was allowed to romance Shinchuu when Shinzou was away from the Village on missions. It had been darling, Bashira had said, like two small children going on make-believe dates. It always seemed to Tsume that Bashira had an unusually tolerant fondness for the Uchiha clan. Much more than Grandmother, at any rate.
The fact that Shinchuu's familial scent was a mix of Uchiha and Inuzuka probably explained a lot, but Tsume never said a word of it. Sometimes, Tsume wasn't sure that Grandmoither had hated Shinchuu because of the extras chromosome, or because there was a child with Uchiha blood in the Inuzuka clan.
Despite having minds and spirits of children, Shinchuu and Hiroaki had the normal, randy hormones of teenagers, and so it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that Shinchuu got pregnant. To be fair to Hiroaki and Shinchuu, no one had ever considered the possibility that two child-like people would have very adult cravings and thus would need protection. Nor did it occur to the adults that people with extra chromosomes were, in fact, capable of breeding. ("Rare, but not impossible," Orochimaru had explained. After a Second War, he took a great interest in chromosomes and DNA, and Tsume, at fourteen years of age, had taken a page out of her sire's book and napped through most of Orochimaru's scientific research and presentation last year. Oyubi roughly nudged her awake every time something pertained to Shinchuu.)
The moment she learned of the pregnancy, Shinzou publicly confronted the Uchiha Clan Head with all the paternity paperwork ready to be signed by someone who, legally, could be held accountable if the offspring was a boy. The Uchiha clan head and Fugaku's father, Chimon, refused from the get-go to acknowledge the possibility that Hiroaki could be the sire, even though both clans knew that Hiroaki and Shinchuu adored each other, and were often seen holding hands when they went for picnics at the banks of the Naka River.
Chimon accused Shinzou of stealing sperm from someone who wasn't Uchiha and deliberately fertilizing Shinchuu to force the Uchiha clan into adopting an outsider. Hiroaki was too simple, Chimon had insisted, and too childlike to have sex with anyone, no matter how much the Inuzuka whores liked to prostitute themselves out. Although, he had added with a biting venom, he was hardly surprised that Shinzou would be ruthless enough to breed a simpleton like Shinchuu.
Shinzou had declared, equally loud to the world, that the only reason she wasn't accusing Hiroaki of rape was because her nose told her that the whole fiasco was of mutual poor decision making and Chimon's inability to keep track of a single Uchiha simpleton, and even simpletons knew how to rub their cock until it spilled seed.
The argument-turned-brawl demolished the area that would later become Training Grounds 49, and had required the Third Hokage, Aunt Natsumi, Aunt Bashira, and three shadow-using Nara, to intervene and successfully separate the two. (The Third Hokage decreed that any discussion required between the Uchiha and Inuzuka clan heads had to go through an intermediary, and he assigned Homura, who complained even more than the two people she was forced to play messenger for. He reluctantly removed her from intermediary after two years, when Chimon and Shinzou finally agreed to behave well enough not to need any more adult supervision.)
Needless to say, the end result of an Inuzuka and an Uchiha getting along famously well fueled Grandmother's general animosity towards the Uchiha clan, and caused an even more uncomfortable rift between the two clans. The final driving force between the clan heads would be Uchiha Madara crossing paths with Inuzuka Tsume in the Nara Forest, fifteen years later. Even past Uchiha clan heads and future Inuzuka clan heads didn't get along, it would seem. Such was the way of the world.
Grandmother would've forced an abortion on Shinchuu if the rest of the Inuzuka clan and every single ninken hadn't closed ranks around Shinchuu to protect her from Grandmother's wrath. Shinchuu was just a month shy of her sixteenth year when she gave birth to Oyubi. Aunt Natsumi and Aunt Bashira traded shifts, never leaving Oyubi alone, attaching themselves to the infant in such a way that Grandmother never had the opportunity to squirrel another innocent baby into the woods. It helped that the rest of the clan was horrified with the idea that Grandmother would abandon a baby girl in the woods.
No one stopped Grandmother from cauterizing Shinchuu's fallopian tubes during the C-section, though.
As far as Tsume had been aware, Grandmother had never allowed Shinchuu to leave the clan compound after the birth, without a personal chaperone who was sworn to keep Shinchuu away from Hiroaki. After Shinchuu learned that Grandmother died, she went directly to her mother and demanded to resume seeing Hiroaki, even though they hadn't talked in over twenty years. Aunt Bashira had laughed, ruffled Shinchuu's hair and said, "Ah hell, why not. Life is too short to get in the way of true love. Have at it, kids."
oOoOoOo
It should've been impossible for Shinchuu to become pregnant at thirty-eight years old with cauterized fallopian tubes. But Tsume knew exactly what her nose was telling her, and Oyubi, after increasing her own sensitivity to detect the change of hormones, had reluctantly agreed with Tsume's findings.
Tsume, covered in itchy welts and stinky plaster, naked except for her underwear, didn't expect to find herself seated with Oyubi, Shinchuu, and Aunt Bashira in Bashira's home, which was home to four other adult Inuzuka women and their children, nursing a hot mug of tea and wondering if she couldn't get away with a stiff drink. Sure, Tsume was only fourteen years old, technically underage, but her birthday was three months away, and she was clan head. She deserved a stiff drink. "Can I have some booze?" she asked.
"Never touch the stuff," Aunt Bashira replied with a prim voice. "And neither does the others here."
Well, that wasn't true. Hiji had a box of fine Iwa beer stashed in her closet, and it wasn't like she'd notice if Tsume raided it – Hiji was currently doing a stint at the Capital as one of the Fire Daimyo's Twenty Elite Guardians. (It was actually Twenty-One – but no one wanted to acknowledge Hose's official capacity as a Konoha nin, even if he had four legs. The Fire Guardians were originally Twelve, but when the last War got too close to the Capital, the Fire Daimyo decided to increase the number to Eighteen. After the death of the old Fire Daimyo from poisoning a year after the war, the number was then increased to Twenty.)
Oyubi had her face buried in her folded arms. "I can't believe this," she muttered. Shinchuu hadn't stopped crying; her face was blotchy with tears and snot. Aunt Bashira stroked her daughter's hand with fond comfort. Oyubi raised her face. "Are you sure this isn't cancer? Hachi's cancer kicked off the same level of hormones."
Tsume snorted and tapped a claw against the table's surface. "Yeah, no. I already tracked her scent to implantation and sex with Hiroaki. Well, the sex happened first." When Oyubi's hopeful suspicion for cancer didn't change, she added, "Two and a half weeks ago. A midnight tryst on Training Ground 10. Implantation was four days later, when Shinchuu-chan was making chocolate chip cookies." Oyubi's face fell back into her folded arms with a whine.
Bashira glared at her granddaughter. "You think that the cancer that killed your cousin is somehow better than your mother being pregnant?" This only made Shinchuu cry harder.
Oyubi rubbed her temples. "That's not what I meant! It's just…" Oyubi didn't smell of embarrassment. She had spent her youth earning a reputation for being ruthless, crushing anyone in the Village who publicly mocked her mother. It was one of the reasons Danzo made her one of his direct subordinates in ANBU when she was fifteen years old, a young age that was unusual for any kunoichi to successfully enter ANBU. "I know what others are going to say. Especially at her age – mother has the chance of having a child like herself." It had only been in the last year that Orochimaru's genetic research on people like Shinchuu was causing a cultural shift in acceptance. A very reluctant, slow-as-continental-drift acceptance. And probably only in Konoha. But acceptance was emerging, now that most people realized that having children with an extra chromosome wasn't because someone had cursed their family line.
Tsume didn't really see what the big deal was. Sure, Shinchuu was a little old, but not abnormally so. And, sure, she had her fallopian tubes cauterized – that didn't mean that they couldn't heal over time, right? Tsume knew of several women in Madame Haori's brothel whose birth control failed – that bucket and long hook hadn't exactly been used just on Tsume. "Maybe," Tsume said, "Grandmother wasn't all that good with cauterizing the tubes. I mean, Shinchuu and her sweetheart never had the chance to get together until after Grandmother died, so it's not like we would've known sooner, right?" Then she turned to Shinchuu. "Do you want to keep the baby?"
Shinchuu became silent with her crying, and stared wide-eyed, nose and eyes still dribbling and wet.
"I mean, you might have a miscarriage. It may be too soon yet to know if this is going to be a viable pregnancy. But if you are successful with this, do you want to keep the baby?"
Shinchuu scrubbed at her face and nose. "I can… The baby will be mine?" She spoke very slowly, slurring her words, always struggling to speak clearly. She had spoken like this all of Tsume's life.
Tsume firmly nodded. "Yes."
Shinchuu rubbed her hands, dropped her eyes, and then raised them to meet Tsume's. Words still slow, still slurred, but voice as soft as a whisper, she asked, "Even if it's a boy?" Aunt Bashira's scent swelled of anger for a brief moment. Having been born before Konoha was even a thing, and entering the village as a young adult, Aunt Bashira was old-school enough to not be pleased with Tsume's declaration at the end of the Second War that she was allowing Inuzuka women to claim their sons if they so desired.
Tsume tilted her chin upward and held Aunt Bashira's gaze. After a moment, Aunt Bashira lowered her eyes, shoulders hunching forward in an act of resignation. This gamma, no matter that she was more than half a century Tsume's senior, wasn't going to challenge Tsume. Not openly, at least. Tsume turned and looked at Shinchuu. "Even if it's a boy. I am queen alpha bitch, and no mother will ever be separated from the puppy she wants, so long as I live."
oOoOoOo
It was late afternoon by the time Sakumo and the others had finished talking to Taiken Enkan and outlining the different places everyone may fit in. However, Enkan demanded – with a sweeping, melodramatic flourish that made Danzo's twitching increase – to meet everyone before he could agree to their placements. Since Natsumi was just as demanding with being fed as Enkan was about meeting the team, they all voted to convene at the Inuzuka compound.
oOoOoOo
Tsume lived in the same house that she had grown up in with her sister and great-grandmother. It was a little on the ramshackle side, too square to fit in the rest of the Konoha architecture, and too bizarre to fit in with the traditional Fire Country structures that the Uchiha, Hyuuga, or Aburame clans had modeled their compounds after. The wood was clawed or chewed on in various places, and most of the furniture was high off the ground to keep clumsy pups off. Tsume hadn't been motivated to change much – she had given away most of Grandmother's personal affects, while carefully storing away Hidarime's favorite belongings. Tsume told herself that one day she could be able to fit into most of Hidarime's clothes, so there was no sense in giving anything away what would one day be perfectly serviceable to her. In truth, when stored all together in a tightly sealed trunk, Hidarime's scent would waft out when Tsume opened the trunk every other month or so, and Tsume dreaded the day when the last bit of her sister's presence would fade away. Okay, so Kakashi was a mixture of Hidarime's scent, but it wasn't quite the same.
It was a relatively large house on the compound with multiple bedrooms, a large and open attic, and a well-stocked birthing room that many of the Inuzuka women still used, and Tsume assisted with whenever she wasn't busy with a mission. Except for when an expectant mother and her entourage were present, the only people who stayed for any significant length of time with Tsume was her team or Kakashi. Tsume sometimes felt as empty as the house, even with her ninken always at her side, but the void was becoming like an old friend - not the best of friends, but she didn't want to think of it at an enemy. As time passed and the memory of her time at Madame Haori's House of Pleasure faded, the void seemed to shrink smaller. But it was always there, just as steady and as reliable as the seal on her toe. Tsume also tried to never think of the siren seal as an enemy – it was more like a temperamental aunt.
Tsume had plans to someday fill up her house and void with puppies – two legged and four – but wasn't in too much of a hurry, just yet.
Yamanaka Yuu had provided therapy to Tsume for six months after her return to Konoha; the Third Hokage and everyone else in the know probably thought it was about her experience in Madame Haori's brothel and the rape in the ravine, but Yuu had reviewed the events with Tsume and felt it was more necessary to help her work through the history of abuse and survival with Grandmother, and with Tsume's concept of the void that Orochimaru had warned her about. Tsume's respect for Yuu was as equal to her respect for Sakumo.
It was thus a surprise to Tsume when twenty people, many of whom traveled outside her normal social circles, flooded her empty house, taking up seats when and where they could. She tried to smother the wave of irritation and anger that people would invade her space without letting her know ahead of time, so she could at least put on a shirt - okay, so she could smell them coming, but hadn't expected them to converge at her house! Then she figured that people who invited themselves into her home and helped themselves to the extra-large pot of barbequed beef that she had made to share with the ninken didn't deserve the dignity of Tsume covering up her underwear, barely-there boobs, and plaster-pasted welts.
She was already feeling emotionally wrung out with dealing with Oyubi – now holed up in her own place, clearly sulking with the idea of having a sibling young enough to be her own child, still wrestling with a lifetime of trying to make peace with the idea of what her parents were – Aunt Bashira (quite clearly elated), and Shinchuu (who had left three hours ago and converged across town with Uchiha Hiroaki – by the smell of it, she had shared the news and both had settled into a happy, hopeful little buzz of endorphins). After that, Tsume decreased her olfaction as low as she could just to give them as much privacy as they were owed.
The ninken were left to sulk in their corner, resentfully glowering at their dishes of dry kibble as Jiraiya and Aunt Natsumi helped distribute bowls of barbequed beef and rice. Tsume got several garbled messages from various people about the purpose of their gathering – chuunin and jounin testing, long-term mission, great degree of involvement from multiple parties – before Sakumo finally had her sit between Uchiha Mikoto and Minato, and hold Kakashi in her lap. Mikoto, with great grace, managed to ignore Tsume's nudity, while Minato struggled to keep his embarrassment hidden. Kakashi just pinched his nostrils shut and gave Tsume the stink-eye.
"Yeah, well, just don't ever try to lead away an angry swarm of wasps after you throw them over the fence into the bandits' secret hideout," Tsume warned Kakashi. She always tried to make sure that Kakashi learned from her mistakes, even if Kakashi was probably too smart to make such mistakes in the first place.
Taiken Enkan followed Danzo as the last person to arrive in Tsume's house, and was as brightly colored as he was flamboyant – he wore a water-colored silk scarf in shades of orange and green wrapped around his throat, a green vest embroidered with fire-wrapped phoenixes, billowing white platoons, and elaborately sequined sandals. His waxed mustache was as black as his hair and curled elaborately; he had a tendency to twirl the ends of his mustache around his long fingers. He carried the odors of distant lands and exotic animals in his skin and clothing, the hint of powerful, rippling chakra with every fluid movement. Tsume wanted to bury her face in his vest and just spend the rest of the evening trying to figure out all the many different places the man had been. She had never crossed paths with someone who smelled as well-traveled in such a short amount of time, and that included shinobi from any different Villages.
"Where is your shirt?" Danzo demanded, pulling to a halt once he noticed Tsume.
"I was told not to put anything on while I'm wearing the paste, and I can't rinse it off until tomorrow," Tsume shot back. "Besides, it's my house, and I can wear what I want."
Aunt Natsumi shrugged. "It's just traditional Inuzuka garb," she told Danzo, which made him twitch in irritation.
As soon as Enkan was introduced to Kushina, he immediately began to praise her bright red hair. "The magnificent color! A white hair band – no! I shall insist upon white pearls woven into these gorgeous crimson strands!" Enkan flexed his fingers as he loudly planned Kushina's costume of rhinestone-studded black tights. Kushina sunk further into her spot with every elaborate description, her face and ears growing redder and redder with anger and embarrassment.
Enkan's tone didn't shift when he turned to Mikoto and began to heap florid praise upon her impeccable black hair and flawless alabaster skin, the tips of his fingers sweeping across her cheeks and forehead. "You would be magnificent in rich emerald silk, with a headdress of peacock feathers framing your face!" Mikoto managed to look serene and unbothered by the attention, but she did not smell pleased with the physical intrusion.
When Enkan turned from Mikoto to Tsume, his voice stuttered to a halt. Tsume tried not to squirm as he studied her with flat, dark eyes, taking in her state of undress, the plaster, and the clan markings. Then he carefully reached over, gingerly pinched a lock of her wild hair as if he expected fleas to be present, and said, "Well, I can always use more help cleaning out the tiger cages."
Tsume bitterly wondered how much trouble she'd be in for biting off the man's fingers. She still wanted to leisurely sniff the man's clothes, but she also suddenly wanted to mug him in a back alley and steal him naked at the first opportunity. Then she wrapped her arms around Kakashi and angled her body away when Enkan's eyes fell downward and lit up like a newly-minted genin in a weapons store. "Kakashi isn't going anywhere near any tigers!" she declared firmly, making sure that her fangs flashed as she spoke.
Sakumo's voice was edged with steel. "Tsume is absolutely correct. My son will not be allowed near carnivores."
They both ignored Kakashi's declaration of how much he loved tigers.
Kakashi also adored Juubi.
Kakashi's perception of predators was sometimes as poor as Tsume's, and everyone who knew Tsume and Kakashi was fully aware of this flaw.
"Yes – but think of the potential in the father-son act that I told you of. I'm sure that your throw is quite accurate enough to miss your son completely even if he is strapped to a spinning wheel." Enkan then turned towards Minato. He boldly reached down and squeezed Minato's bicep. Tsume saw a flash of irritation cross Minato's face before he successfully schooled his expression into something that was neutral. "Excellent muscle tone," Enkan declared. "I can see you as a tightrope walker, a daredevil capable of the most death-defying, awe-inspiring stunts." He whipped away from Minato, one hand extending over his head as his fingers bent rigidly. "Behold!" he called, his voice booming through the room, "The Golden Streak of Enkan's World Circus!"
Enkan was as equally dismissive of Hotaru as he had been with Tsume, turning away from the Aburame chuunin with a sniff and a quiet comment of, "Good headliner for another freak show, I suppose. The last one I had quit before we even got started."
Hotaru paused in her eating to stare at her bowl of barbequed beef and rice. Two kikaichu crawled over her exposed wrist. Tsume reached around Minato and lightly placed her hand on Hotaru's knee as Enkan began to praise Osamu's muscle tone. Minato draped an arm around Hotaru's shoulder, and Hotaru gave both of them a half-hearted smile.
Everyone else received glowing descriptions as Enkan loudly fantasized of what amazing acts he could transform them into – Jiraiya preened after being subscribed as the World's Strongest Man, and Aunt Natsumi appeared to be giving serious thought to becoming a soothsaying witch, whatever that meant. The more he praised others, the more Tsume wanted to pry up the floorboards and pull them over her head until everyone was gone. She was sure that Hotaru would join her in misery. While Enkan lavished praise upon Inoichi's long blond locks, Tsume self-consciously touched her hair and wondered how she would look with blond or red hair that was long and sleek.
Thankfully, watching Danzo square off against Enkan was one of the most entertaining things that Tsume witnessed in a long time.
"Ringmaster extraordinaire –"
"Hell no."
"Such dark passion in your face, such dangerous body language—"
"I could kill you…"
"You would be stunning in crimson and black—"
"… but there are too many witnesses."
Tsume squirmed in her seat, and then tugged Minato close, because she felt more comfortable whispering in his ear than in Mikoto's. "Can we hope that Danzo will kill him?" Danzo's scent had been curling tighter and tighter, like he was crouching down as a cat stalked its prey. His face had an irritated expression, and he was giving Enkan that flat lizard-eye look, like he was trying to decide if he should snap the man's neck or garrote him instead. There was something tense about his body, for all that he appeared to be seated and relaxing between Aunt Natsumi and Sakumo, nursing a cup of milked-down tea.
Minato shrugged and smiled, but whispered back. "Probably not. I understand that Enkan-san is important for the mission."
"—and such a glorious voice you have, sir, such texture and such tone… Er." Enkan must've suddenly realized what Danzo's body language meant as a wave of fear seeped from his pores. Danzo's lips twisted into a sadistic smile as he sipped his tea. "Um. Perhaps we'll revisit this another time?"
Danzo stared wordlessly at Enkan until the man shrank back. "May that time never come to pass. Why don't we instead explain why you're even here." Danzo gestured to the others, sitting or kneeling in various positions in Tsume's living room. Jiraiya's team was present; Kokoro was the only person on Tsume's team who was missing (and, per Tsume's nose, all the way across town having dinner with her older brothers); Tsume's brother and his teammates were also present, as well as Mikoto, Fugaku's younger brothers, and a chuunin team that Yamanaka Yuu had inherited during the Second Shinobi War that Tsume knew little about.
"Ah, yes. I haven't yet had the chance to introduce myself yet." Enkan smoothed his vest down, twirled the ends of his mustache around his fingers, and then threw his arms wide. "I am Taiken Enkan, manager and owner of the world-famous Eternity Circus! I have the most extraordinary exotic animals and displays! Beneath my silken top, gathered together in one place, are the world's greatest performers and most spectacular wonders of all corners of this world! People from all over flock to see death-defying feats, to marvel at daredevil stunts, and be stunned by graceful beauty. And tonight, here and now, you all have the chance to become a part of that."
There was an itch at the base of Tsume's spine that Oyubi's paste didn't seem to be working on. She squirmed, trying hard not to give in to the temptation to reach behind and scratch.
Uchiha Daimaru raised his hand. "We're shinobi, not performers. What does this have to do with us?"
Enkan fluttered his hands in protest. "No, no, that is where you are wrong, my fire-breathing act!"
Daimaru twitched in irritation.
"Shinobi are the greatest of all performers, are you not? Can a civilian climb walls? Transform themselves into other people or creatures? Cast illusions that capture and lures the unsuspecting? Summon mystical creatures of ancient wisdom and lore? I think not. Indeed…" Enkan's smile took on an oily edge as he folded his hands and curled his shoulder forward. The shadows seemed to loom around him as his eyes glittered in the dim light, and Tsume heard Minato suck his breath in sharply. "Shinobi constantly put on stage performances when they do undercover work, as if their very life depends on it."
Tsume leaned forward so she could study Shikaku's face just as his scent lurched. Shikaku was folded over, legs half-bent with his arms resting on his knees and his head settled in his hands. His eyes were only half-open, but a wary tension tightened his spine.
Enkan slowly crossed the room with smooth, gliding steps. There was a hungry, dangerous look on his face that made Tsume carefully shift Kakashi behind her. Enkan's gaze flickered from face to face. "You have all been chosen for the Hokage for a long-term mission. You may not know the end game or goal at this point and time – just as there will be other missions in the future that you are given without any reason for their purpose – and it is your solemn duty as shinobi, sworn and true to Konohagakure, to throw your heart and soul into the success of the mission." He stopped before Tsume, looking down at her with a face as still as stone and his body languid. Tsume wanted to sink her claws into his knees and head-butt his testicles so Kakashi had time to flee.
He turned away from her abruptly. "Starting tomorrow, you will attend to my circus, which is stationed on the other side of Konoha's east wall. You will learn about circus performers, you will become circus performers. You will live, eat, and breathe everything about the circus, for your mission dictates such. In your heart of hearts, you will remain shinobi – but the greatest shinobi is the best at anything that their mission requires them to do. If you must go undercover as a cook, you will be the greatest cook to ever cook, so that no one will ever suspect you to be anything but a cook. If you are to be aerial silk dancer, then you will be the greatest aerial silk dancer to spiral through the air, because no one must ever know that you are much more than an aerial silk dancer." He waved his hand as he continued to walk to Tsume's door. "I shall expect to see everyone by 8 AM tomorrow. For now, I must think of where people should be assigned for this coming year's performances."
Enkan's departure seemed to suck all the energy from the room. Kushina and Tsume were the only genin present; the chuunin exchanged looks, unsure of what to say or do after such expressive drama and announcements. Most of the adults seemed resigned – Aunt Natsumi appeared bored, and Danzo just looked irritated – and Tsume's ninken were eying people's leftovers.
Tsume nudged Minato and pointed at his half-eaten bowl of food. "Are you going to finish that?"
Minato shook himself, the whimsical thinking expression on his face disappearing. He looked at the bowl of food, looked at Tsume, looked at Kushina, and then cautiously pushed the bowl of food towards Tsume. "You can have it."
Tsume glanced over at Kushina. Kushina stared hungrily at the food, her own bowl licked clean without a grain of rice or trace of barbeque sauce to be seen. Feeling bad for her ninken, Tsume gave Kushina the food, and Kushina immediately began wolfing it down with a mumbled, Thanks!
Danzo stood after finishing his tea. "Here's the thing," he announced. His voice carried, like Enkan's, but with the low, dark energy of a rolling thunderstorm, and not the tossing, frantic energy of a churning sea. "You and your teams have been selected to join Enkan's traveling circus as a group test for rank advancement. Chuunin will have the chance to prove that they have the skills, abilities, and experience to become jounin, and likewise that the genin may prove that they have what it takes to become chuunin. This mission will last approximately four months, and will take us traveling through multiple nations. It's about field promotions, such the opportunities are becoming more uncommon without a war where our ninjas can prove their skills.
"We have planned several independent solo missions during the traveling circus to evaluate your individual strengths. However, your actions and attitude during this mission, especially with the circus, will count either towards a recommendation, or against such. You will not be wearing your forehead protectors for this mission, but you still represent Konoha and all her values. Here, your sensei will be your judge as much as your teacher, but Orochimaru and I shall have the ultimate say in your advancement." Then Danzo flashed his teeth in what he probably thought was a smile, and seemed to get visceral satisfaction from the way most people flinched. "I have high standards, and Orochimaru doesn't like doing anyone any favors." Then he departed, leaving through the same door that Enkan had used.
Tsume wondered just how many people were going to associate her house with weirdoes who had nothing to do with her clan. Shikake had lectured her at length regarding negative associations, and she just knew that having Enkan and Danzo in her house like this was going to somehow be her responsibility.
Uchiha Ringo raised his hand like he was back at the Academy. "Do we need to have our bags packed and ready to go when we arrive at the circus tomorrow?"
Sakumo sighed. "No. Everyone will receive a week's worth of training with the circus – it's not just the acts that you have to learn. Everyone will be involved the setup and running of day-to-day operations – transport, setup and tear-down, behind-the-scenes functions, equipment, etcetera – so it's all something you're going to have to learn. Even star attractions will need to learn how to clean the tigers' cages," he added wryly.
Aunt Natsumi grinned. "Or how to walk behind the elephant with the shit-bucket. That's one of my favorites."
"What is Enkan?" Shikaku asked.
Sakumo, Aunt Natsumi, and Yuu all exchanged looks as Tsume suddenly realized that this whole circus mission thingamabob was a chuunin test for her and Kushina – but what about Kokoro-chan?
"Enkan is…" Yuu hesitated. "It's difficult to put a singular description on the man, as you can see. He's genuine in everything that he does, but everything that he does is also over the top."
Aunt Natsumi made a rude noise. "He's much more than that. Enkan happens to be head of a nomadic ninja clan that is loosely affiliated with Konoha. In this modern day and age, we like to think that the Hidden Villages are the end-all be-all of shinobi life, but there's still a few independent clans in every country that cling to the old ways, refusing to be assimilated at the loss of their culture and identity."
Sakumo cleared his throat. "Well, in essence, yes. However, Enkan's clan maintains a strong friendship with Konoha, and is loyal to the Country of Fire, so it's not like we're being invited by the enemy to infiltrate their stronghold. The traveling circuses are famous throughout the elemental nations for their shows and performers. They're less known for the fact that some of circus performers also happen to be shinobi. Not all of Enkan's clan is present – most of them, in fact, didn't come. This allowed Enkan's main circus to have several openings, which allows us to do a large group test for those we feel are most qualified for advancement."
Yuu began to help gather up empty bowls. "There was a lot of rapid advancement during the war, but it stagnated in the following peace. Enkan's circus was attacked several times during the war by bandits, which is why there are also more openings than normal. Enkan wants to get the show back on the road – restored to its formal glory, he said," Yuu rolled his eyes, "for the peak traveling season. But for all his loyalty to Fire and allied friendship with Konoha, the man and his clan aren't one of us. Don't let the situation lull you into a sense of false security."
Tsume thought about the wagon train two years ago, with the samurai from Iron Country and all the wounded from other countries. She never felt unsafe within the train… of course, she had also been surrounded by her teammates and ninken and one cranky demi-summon, and it's hard to feel unsafe when you're surrounded by four-legged killing machines that liked you. She raised her hand in the air as another thought occurred to her.
"What is it?" Aunt Natsumi asked.
"Can I bring Juubi?"
Her brother's team immediately raised a protest. Jeez, they got stampeded/chased/bitten one lousy time – it wasn't like Juubi had permanently maimed them or was stalking them through the streets of Konoha for a second attempt at vengeance.
Aunt Natsumi grinned and nudged Sakumo with her elbow. "Hey, can you imagine the look on Danzo's face if we told him that he had to ride Juubi as part of his performance as the Ringmaster?"
Sakumo recoiled from Aunt Natsumi in horrified amusement. "You tell him that. You're more like to survive such a conversation than I would."
Yuu shook his head, and his face was serious as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "Juubi is a warhorse, Tsume, not a performer. It wouldn't be fair to place him in a circus setting and force him to behave, especially when many of the visitors to circuses tend to be young children with little sense of boundaries when it comes to very large, dangerous animals." He pointedly looked at Kakashi.
"Oh." She ignored the palpable relief from Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chouza. "Okay. Fair enough." She didn't want Juubi to be miserable, after all.
The adults fielded several more questions from the genin and chuunin, including Tsume's question of Kokoro.
Sakumo looked as upset as he smelled. "The Hokage decided to have Kokoro tested in another manner. Because of her physical limitations, she wouldn't be able to fulfill all the requirements that the circus will demand, so Kokoro will stay here in Konoha."
Tsume thought that was just horrible – Kokoro, Kushina, and she were a team. They were supposed to do missions together!
Sakumo smiled sadly at her, easily sensing her outrage. "We do like to keep genin teams together, but that's not always going to be appropriate in the future as you advance in rank and skill. You're an Inuzuka. If your tracking skills are needed for a mission that seems otherwise suited for a different team, you'll be attached to that team without Kushina or Kokoro. It's something you're going to have to get used to."
When the Third Hokage needed Tsume's tracking skills, he usually just propped her on the top of the Second Hokage's carved head and had her sniff the air with Oyubi at her elbow to interpret Tsume's descriptions and assist her with calculating distances. Tsume figured that eventually the Hokage would send her on an official tracking mission, but it never occurred to her that she would be attached to a different team.
Tsume was trying not to pout and sulk as Aunt Natsumi declared it a night and shoved people out the front door. Sakumo stayed just a little longer to discuss Kakashi's cares. "He won't be coming with us on the circus – he's too young, and it's not really the place for him." Kakashi and Sakumo faced Tsume, so Tsume was the only one who saw Kakashi stiffen and flash his father a look of betrayal. She said nothing though, because Sakumo had directed her a long time ago not to undermine or question his authority in front of Kakashi. As much as Tsume felt like she was Kakashi's mother and was (unofficially) Kakashi's clan leader, her head knew that she was just his teenaged aunt, and therefore she couldn't butt in on Sakumo's authority and territory.
Biting down her impulse to bring Kakashi along, Tsume instead smiled and ruffled Kakashi's hair. "You'd probably get stuck with me cleaning the tiger's cage anyway."
Kakashi stuck his bottom lip out. "I'm not scared of tigers. I've got Pakkun. That tiger wouldn't look at me twice."
Sakumo tugged Kakashi to the front door. "Pakkun is just the right size for a tiger to snack on, and he'd probably be very put out with the fact that you seem perfectly fine using him as a delicious decoy." Kakashi was still pouting as he held Sakumo's hand and Tsume waved goodbye as they walked down her path.
Aunt Natsumi was the last person to leave. As she pulled on various layers of multicolored scarves and shawls (complaining, as she usually did, about the spring's evening chill), she studied Tsume intensely. Then she tapped Tsume on her breastbone, because Tsume finally got the growth spurt that brought the top of her wild hair to Aunt Natsumi's clavicles, and said, "Show me the summon seals."
Tsume obeyed without thinking about the order or applying chakra. She was at the point where muscle memory was firmly established, and she didn't have to think twice (or four or five times) about how the order went.
"Good, good. You're getting smoother at this, and faster. You just need to build up your level of chakra a wee bit more before you're ready though, and then you will be able to summon your guardian. If you don't have enough chakra to make it to the summon's plane of existence, you'll pass out, and you'll never have a second chance to make this attempt." A failure in a successful blank summon was considered a permanent rejection; Tsume would never be able to successfully sign any contract.
Tsume rubbed her hands together and nodded her head eagerly. "Oh boy!" She still dreamed of something ferocious and exciting. Sometimes she fretted in the dark of the night, when it was just her and the five ninken snoring in her bed, that she would be stuck with a guardian that was pathetic and embarrassing, like Cousin Hiji's guppies or – worse yet – Cousin Touka's naked mole rats. Tsume was hoping for something majestic, something that would make everyone look twice at her in awe and fear. (But mostly awe. Although a little fear wouldn't be remiss, especially if it came from Shikaku or Fugaku.) She thought of how awesome it would be to have a wolf – even if it meant sharing the contract with Grandmother – but after what she saw today, she was now strongly hoping for a honey badger summon.
Aunt Natsumi laughed and flicked the tip of her finger against Tsume's nose. It stung, because she used her claw. "Keep dreaming, child. The anticipation and excitement that comes with your very first summon is unmatched by anything else in life." Her eyed were heavy-lidded and her gaze distant for just a moment. "And your guardian is very telling – it's a reflection of your personality, of what you are."
Tsume thought of what Grandmother had called her, and then thought about being Kakashi's surrogate mother, and wondered what exactly would be an accurate reflection of what she was. Gosh, she could live with a hedgehog summon if she had to, even if it wasn't very scary and looked kinda funny, too. Hedgehogs were still way better than naked mole rats.
"Goodnight, sweetie. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow at the circus."
Tsume nodded, closed the door behind Aunt Natsumi, and then turned to Kuromaru. "Remind me tomorrow before I leave for the circus to nab her, since she'll probably get lost."