Scarlet Justice - ep. 74
"Fair Trade"
[Hidden Sand Joint Mission: Epilogue]

"...and as you can see, I have brought your children back to you safely. They are well-fed, clean, and now have a refreshing scent to them. All at my own expense, of course. You're welcome."

I give the unamused old men of the Sand Council a playful wink. It's the day after our return from the mission to Mitsurin District. The mission has been formally completed, and today is my final meeting before being released from the contract. On my end, I am free to take as much time as I wish before heading home, but I intend to leave soon after saying my goodbyes to Temari and the others.

Actually, there is a new face. One man on the younger side, perhaps in his twenties. Very debonair, well-groomed with smooth black hair. Charming smile. I assumed him to be some sort of representative, perhaps to make the lives of the old men easier as they talk to me. Temari's rapidly deteriorating attempts to keep her amusement hidden communicate there's something more to it. I have to wonder what the game is here. Oh well. This one's easy on the eyes, so I don't mind either way. Speaking of easy times, our time at the hot spring was quite nice. I figured that Makoto had some knowledge on physical therapy, but she really is talented. My back hasn't felt this good in a long while...

"Now, Miss Kobayashi-"

"Captain Kobayashi," I correct the young man with a smile. "We should maintain this air of professionalism, Second Lieutenant Hojo."

To his credit, he doesn't visibly flinch at that. "Right. Captain Kobayashi, my apologies." His voice is suited to public speaking, too. Hm...I wonder. "On the mission, we relayed instructions through our kunoichi, that you should return to the village as soon as possible after retrieving the mission target. We of the council would like to know why you decided to stay in the mining town overnight."

"Simply put, the additional objectives were not disclosed to me until well after the mission was underway. While you of the Sand are well within your rights to provide additional assignments to your soldiers without my knowledge or consent, you must also realize that as the squad leader, I maintain control of overall group movements as long as they don't conflict with what has been listed in the contract between our villages. I made the executive decision to stay overnight, with the desire to complete a full survey of the area before leaving with 1200 being the latest time we would remain. Rumours of foreign infiltration were gathered on my first pass, and I saw fit to make sure that there were no immediate threats to the area because of the stated importance to the country; both in the mission reports, and verbally by the council itself."

"..." He nods and writes down notes again, as he has been doing for the last hour or so. A chair has been provided for me as a courtesy, and I cross my legs over as I sit. "You're aware that during your overnight stay, five shinobi of the Hidden Sand were murdered in an area that was in proximity to the inn that you and the members of your squad were occupying."

"Yes."

"The team sent to investigate obtained full cooperation from those of our village...but not from you."

"Yes."

"Can you explain your actions?" Hojo asks.

"I can."

"Then, if you would?"

"I won't."

There's a murmuring among the old men as Hojo pauses to compose himself. "It's...not exactly a request, as much as it sounds like one-"

"I understand what words mean, Second Lieutenant. I can explain why I refused to cooperate with your shinobi, but I won't explain. I am under no obligation to and you legally cannot make me. Especially you, who sits at a lower rank than me. The only person that can compel me to speak is the Hokage himself, and I don't think he wants me kept in a cage here when I can be doing productive work in the Leaf on his behalf."

"Captain Kobayashi," he says with a thin smile, "you do understand that this is a matter of national security, don't you? We simply want cooperation from an ally of ours in the Leaf. It wouldn't be good if our relationship became strained because of these events."

"Is that so? So you would be willing to disclose your reasons for concealing mission parameters from me, including an insistence that we leave the area as soon as possible? Perhaps there was a scheduled event that you didn't want those young ladies caught up in?" I say sharply. "It would be understandable. You wouldn't be so reckless with someone like Aiko, after all."

"..."

"Is there something that I should know? There was also a planned bombing in the area, and evidence was found that one of the shinobi was fatally injured by an explosion at close range. It's a tragic thing...people so callously murdered by foreign agents. Well, the fact of the matter is that I was provided with latitude to complete the primary mission objective in a necessary window of time. I performed to those expectations, along with allowing for other undisclosed objectives to be completed within that same time. If your issue is that I didn't cooperate with rude, unprofessional, and frankly unorganized personnel from your village, then you are free to take that issue up with the Jounin Commander, and then then Hokage himself if needed."

"Second Lieutenant Hojo, is there somewhere you're going with this?" Temari asks. Gaara is seated beside her today, quiet as always.

"With the extra unscheduled time spent in Mitsurin, we simply want to rule out any inadvertent involvement with the recent incident. This is for the sake of both the Leaf and Sand, especially if there are foreign elements involved as we highly suspect," Hojo says. "It's why that, in this neutral setting, we want Captain Kobayashi to be as forthcoming as possible, in order to dispel any unpleasant assumptions."

"I am required to do no such thing," I say. "Again, as per the agreements we made prior to the mission commencing, I was well within my rights as well as the allocated mission time to hold within the settlement for as long as I did, which I intended to be overnight with our group leaving in the morning."

"If she was involved in something like that, why would she tell you?" Temari asks. "This is getting stupid."

"With all due respect, Lady Temari...five of our countrymen are dead at this point in time. We all want justice to be done on their behalf, and any information to that end is valuable. It's precious to a village that has already been hit heavily by all sorts of tragedy these past few years, especially this one. I think that calling these questions 'stupid' is slightly inappropriate," Hojo says delicately.

"No. I think stupid is the perfect way to describe it. I also think what's stupid is trying to direct blame towards one of our allies for using the tools provided to them," Temari fires back. "Hojo, you and this council have no grounds to do what you're doing right now. This is a courtesy coming from the Leaf, and you would do well to realize that. And as far as using the tragedies of this country as a cudgel against an elite of the Leaf? I suggest you learn your place and back off. That goes for all of you."

"Lady Temari-"

"Shut up," she says firmly. "The mistakes we've made are our own. We have to look inside of ourselves and solve those problems, on our own terms. If you all lament our reliance on the Leaf, then perhaps you should act like it. Take some responsibility. Captain Kobayashi did her job. She completed the mission that we asked of her, she protected the kunoichi we sent her out with, she allowed them to complete their objectives, and she helped us retrieve a valuable asset while protecting several others for a time. That is what we should be evaluating, not claims from some jerk-off stationed in the desert that there was some sort of 'obstruction of justice'. That's not how these things work, that's not how they're supposed to work, and you damn well know that. And if you want to go a little further than that, try this: you lot have the balls of a goddamned elephant to pile onto someone from a village that we just attacked, unsuccessfully. Instead of leniency, instead of some sort of understanding of the situation, you treat a jounin from the Leaf like this?"

"Lady Temari brings up a rather pertinent point, gentlemen. This is a dangerous game that you're playing, as our previous actions have done little to garner sympathy in many corners of the world," Baki says.

"In addition...retribution has been delivered to a common enemy. The man who killed this village's leader," Gaara adds in. "While the Hokage has shown compassion and understood that we were tricked into doing the bidding of Orochimaru...this gesture and the many others like it are above and beyond what is normally done. There should be proper respect shown for those who volunteer their services to us. Especially those who stand atop the shinobi world..."

I hold back my smile, but display my pleasure at hearing the most important members of the council side with me. It's about time these wrinkled trolls learned their place.

"Let's put an end to this farce before it gets any worse," Temari says. "God willing this doesn't make it back to Fire Country."

"What is the listed rate for the mission?" I ask Temari.

"We are paying...225,000 per person. At twenty five percent, that is 56,250 ryo. This means that as per our arrangement, your total owed is 168,750 ryo."

"Will this be included in the taxed portions?"

"Everything rolled up nicely and taxed, yep. Feds need to take their cut."

"A shame. Round it up to 200,000 then. I believe that comes out to about...66,000 each?"

"66,666 and change."

I nod and toss Temari a scroll, which she catches with one hand before unsealing. The pile of money appears on top of the scroll and she expertly moves 200,000 ryo into a neat stack before sealing the scroll again, tossing it back to me. I catch it easily and put it into one of my sweater sleeves, where it vanishes in a timely fashion.

"I assume that there aren't any other topics up for discussion?" I ask.

Everyone glances at each other. There's nothing, it seems. Good.

"That should be all, Captain Kobayashi. Thank you for your time," Hojo says.

"Of course. Thank you for having me, Second Lieutenant. Please be well."

He nods and collects his notes before getting up with the rest of the room. Temari, Baki, and Gaara leave through another exit and I follow; they've immediately crossed over to another room where a kunoichi stands outside the door. She closes it as soon as we're inside.

"You know what it is I want to ask."

"I do."

Temari sighs and nods her head. "But I don't think we can talk about it. Sensei, what do you think?"

"I feel the same way. As soon as we become aware of the situation, we'll be expected to act on it swiftly. Whatever happened in Mitsurin District was done without our knowledge. Some members of the Council decided to act in what they thought were the best interests of the nation. It's unfortunate."

"You did what needed to be done," Gaara says in that flat tone of his. "The results were indeed unfortunate..."

"Yes. Very much so," I say.

The three of them are well aware that it was me who was behind the killing of the Sand shinobi while on the mission. The council suspected me and had Hojo try to apply pressure, while the emergency team was looking for someone to apply blame to after the girls didn't follow orders precisely, because I prevented them from doing so. In any other circumstance, I would put everything out into the open properly. But these tangled strings prevent me from doing so. Temari would try to move me out of the way where she could, Gaara would lock the secret up inside of him, but Baki...I'm not sure that Baki could let it go even if he wanted to. He's one of the village's senior shinobi, a right hand to the former Kazekage. An investigation would have to be carried out if he had clear evidence of what was going on.

"..."

Stopping the false flag was what mattered, and I would do it all over again. The kinds of problems that it could drag Leaf into...it's little wonder I was sent over, then. I doubt that Shikaku and Hiruzen had this specific instance in mind, but any political problem avoided is a blessing in itself.

"There is...a lot to take in," Temari mutters. She puts a hand to her head.

The long and short of it is...I was not supposed to be in that place at that time. If I had left when I was being persuaded to, we would have had a much different conversation earlier. In any case, we wouldn't be currently standing around in silence.

"Gaara's right. You did what you had to do," Temari says to me. "And I can't get mad at you for that. I wouldn't get mad at you. You did a lot of things right, and we as a village...definitely overreached. All of that aside, you've done a lot for me and my family. Listening to me and doing your best to keep me safe. Giving Gaara another chance to rethink his life instead of ending him, like you could have at any time. And of course, looking after those girls. Aiko especially had a lot of nice things to say about you. Makoto was...appropriately Makoto. You know how she is."

"I certainly do."

"Well...we can leave it at that. You probably won't call on this mess of a village for help in the near future, but if you need us, we're right here."

"Thank you, Temari. I will be here for you as well, both on and off the beaten path."

She nods and we share a warm hug. I shake hands with Baki and Gaara before stepping back and bowing towards the three of them.

"Until the next," I say with a smile.

"Yeah. Till next time, Scarlet Viper," Temari says, smiling back. I knock on the door and it opens, the kunoichi acknowledging me with a nod before closing it again. Those three are no doubt having their own discussions, but...that is no longer my issue. This mission is officially over, and the rubber stamp will come once I make it back home to the Leaf.

"So said...so done. Time to go." I gather my things from the storage area at the front of the building and leave, walking through the village and towards its entrance. It would have been nice to taste more of Gaara's cooking, but he'll be busy for a while yet, unfortunately.

"Hey, Cap!"

"Hm?" I turn my head to see Makoto running towards me. "Fancy meeting you here. Are things well?"

"Yeah, totally. I was hoping you hadn't gone home yet...wanted to show you something. If you have time, I mean. Looks like you're already packed."

"Time shouldn't be an issue. What is it?" I ask.

"Follow me. I was talking to Aiko earlier but she had to run an errand or something with Remi. Kinda sudden, but whatever." We jump lightly across the rooftops and towards what looks like a small park. Certainly lush against the setting of the village itself, with green grass and trees scattered about. Currently, there is a group of shirtless men working out. They all seem to be shinobi, judging from the attire and the attitude of the person leading them. This group is in fine form, with fit and muscular bodies that glisten with sweat in the heat. A few women have gathered on the grass to watch, and I can't blame them for doing so. The aesthetics are dazzling.

"Is this what you brought me out here to see?" I ask Makoto with a smug smile.

"Hell no. We're early. I was gonna get some stuff for us to sip on, you wanted to come with?"

"I'll have what you're having."

Makoto shrugs. "Alright. Enjoy your sweaty men, then."

"Since you have asked so nicely, I will do so. Thank you."

She shakes her head and leaves while I get myself comfortable. Of course Makoto would have something so reckless in mind, but that's part of her charm. The group of men finishes their routine and socializes a bit before starting to move out. At that point, the female spectators disperse, seemingly satisfied with what they've witnessed.

"Hope you like pineapple."

"That sounds lovely. Thank you." I take the sealed cup from Makoto as she returns, settling into the grass next to me. "How much was it?"

"Need to know basis, Cap."

I nod with understanding and take a sip. Delicious. "So. With your obvious enthusiasm for the female form, how did you seize this opportunity without being a bother?"

"Ah, wasn't much. I was hanging out a couple times and some creeps pulled up, you know how men get. Took care of the situations as they popped up, and the ladies were very appreciative." She shrugs. "They're on the record as missions now. Remi, uh...hooked me up after Aiko asked. So I get a little pocket change and a nice show. There are other girls who take up the work when I can't, and they get the earnings, but it's usually my job here. Even if I wasn't getting paid, you can't go wrong with this."

"Indeed."

"Here we are," Makoto says with a smile. Our featured group arrives at last, women of different sizes and complexions wearing snug workout apparel. Certainly colourful, and a lovely sight to behold. A few of them wave and say their hellos to Makoto before getting into formation and starting their routines.

"The best part, though...you watch for a while and see everyone changing, meeting all of their goals and stuff. It's really great to see the strength and confidence kinda...boom. You know?"

"It gives them a lovely glow."

"Yeah, you get it. Well, I figured you would. That's why I brought you out here. I guess that, and part of it is making up for how I treated you when we first met, and...as thanks."

"I really only did my job," I say as I watch the ladies start their stretches.

"You did way more than that. And Aiko...you know how I feel about Aiko by now, obviously. But Suketsune and I have our families. She lost hers, and everything. You two talked, but more than that, you really and truly listened to her. You understood what she was going through and that meant a lot. It'll mean a lot going forward."

"Mm."

"So, you know. You've done a lot more than you realize."

"Perhaps so."

"You're pretty modest sometimes, you know that? It'd come off as weird if I didn't know you better."

"I'm not a very good person, Makoto. That sort of self awareness breeds restraint, and the modesty you speak of."

Makoto sips from her cup while focusing on the women in the distance.

"I don't really get it. But I look at things this way...you don't need to be a good person to be good to people."

That answer is something I hold within myself constantly. But hearing it from someone else...it's validating. A good...or rather, great feeling.

"Well said, Makoto."

"I have my moments, Lili." She raises her cup. "Precious smiles, right?"

"Yes. To those smiles we strive to protect."

We tap our cups together and drink, returning our attention to the beautiful flowers ahead of us.

A just reward for a job well done.

I move a bit slower than the last time and make it home in two days. The written report is delivered to Shikaku by hand, and we talk a while about what happened.

"A false flag...of all the things that could have happened there. So you took care of it on your own," he concludes.

"Yes."

"Hm. An operation like that...nothing complicated, then. Explains why they wanted someone around to lead their group in. A little bit of chaos goes down after you leave, no real timeline. They make the switch and start pushing the angle that Rock was involved."

"Leaf would be pulled in, because of the nature of the mission. Either from accusations that I was involved in the incident somehow, or because Sand needs an ally against the Hidden Rock, which is already wary of Leaf as it is."

"An excuse to grab more resources and manpower from us," Shikaku says with a nod. "And the old man isn't going to stand by and let bad things happen. It's not good for us if the Sand collapses, or worse is annexed by another village. That's part of why these aid missions are so important. We don't want Sand to remain feeble for many reasons. But their leadership got greedy this time and went too far."

"Indeed."

"That takes away more than a few headaches. You're really impressive, you know that?"

"I might be. It's what good shinobi do, isn't it?"

"This is above and beyond good," Shikaku says with a smile. "I'll have a chat with the Hokage about this. He'll probably just sit on it for a while after skimming the contents, but having this at the back of his mind will help us in the future. Hopefully what you did was enough of a warning shot to dissuade them from doing it again."

"Mm. I have my doubts they'll try it with anyone else. Missing the prize once has probably broken their confidence completely."

"Guess we'll see. We might have to talk about this later with the Hokage, but don't worry about that part right now. Go and get some rest, you've more than earned it. Welcome home."

"Thank you. Until the next, Shikaku."

He nods and I leave his office, stepping into the warmth of the Leaf once more. I yawn and realize that I truly am more tired than I thought.

Time to find my way into that warm, comfortable bed of mine.