"I'll wait forever,

Though it's never meant to be,

Always remember,

Spells fade eventually,

But I will treasure every single memory,

For all eternity it's you and me,"

-Blowing, AmaLee

"He was last seen in the Land of Wind, south of the border, southwest of Hyozan Town," Mamoru-sensei told us, leaning on the doorframe.

Yahiko was on the opposite side of the room, nagamaki on the floor next to him. "You know, it would've been a lot faster if you told me who your contact was in Wind Country, sensei."

Mamoru-sensei didn't acknowledge him.

I twisted to face Yahiko and patted Namekuji when he grumbled at me for moving. "But then we wouldn't need to tell him what we're doing."

Mamoru-sensei clicked his tongue at us, but still didn't speak.

I glanced behind me, where Naga knelt next to Joji, watching him sign. Joji was teaching him more about Iron and advising him on what to say in his second message. Iron still hadn't responded to the first.

Even if they wouldn't get involved, if we could say they were our ally and have it be true, would that would be enough to stop Shohei?

I didn't know. I didn't know how scared shinobi were of Iron or what army they had to fight, but Naga wouldn't be trying so hard if it was just about metal and steel.

He told me Kirigakure used metal too. Couldn't we ask them? Even if they didn't use as much as us, we could still try. But then I thought about Kakashi calling us the enemy, Iwagakure not taking us seriously as a ninja village, Shohei being strong-armed into peace, and thought that maybe I just didn't know enough.

"I don't know why you want to be so involved when you're barely here, sensei," Yahiko said. "How's Etsudo, by the way? Completely unrelated to what I just said—"

"Annoying kids," Mamoru-sensei said over him.

Yahiko grinned. "After so many years of being called that, it's starting to feel like a compliment."

"Freak of nature," Mamoru-sensei retorted.

"Really, with such a kind-hearted sensei it's no wonder Hidan's insults slide right off."

"How do you plan to approach him in Wind?" Joji signed, ignoring all else.

Yahiko sat up. "Well, since Nagato didn't help me make a plan—"

"You told me to stay out of it," Naga hissed at him.

"Since I had to do all the heavy-lifting alone," Yahiko went on. "Let's say I have an idea of how I'm going to convince him and leave it at that."

"Don't avoid the question. You're not going to use strategy, are you? You're going to approach Sasori of the Red Sand in the open. In his homeland."

"I have something I want to test out," Yahiko said airily. "I'm betting on it, actually."

Joji looked at him, then gave up and went back to helping Naga.

"Even you aren't reckless enough to go alone," Mamoru-sensei said.

"You're right," Yahiko acquiesced. "That's why I'm taking my little sister and Namekuji with me."

Mamoru-sensei glanced at me. "Do you want to talk to him or kill him?" he asked.

Yahiko snorted and choked on a laugh. "While our local wolf is prone to violence, she knows restraint too. It's been a long time since you sparred with her, sensei."

He eyed me doubtfully. "I heard about what she did to Hidan in Hot Water."

"That was different," I denied. "He can't die."

Yahiko outright laughed. "You're that confident that her and me would be enough to take down Sasori, sensei?"

Mamoru-sensei scoffed. "It's not about what I believe. If I've learned anything, it's that odds and chances don't matter at all when talking about you four. I could say you stand no chance at all, or Sasori has more field experience, and then you'll come back with his head."

Yahiko shook his head, but his smile dimmed, "Yeah, well, I want Oka and Namekuji with me in case I mess up," he said, and I heard again, even if he didn't say it. "We don't know if he's alone, and I don't want to be surprised."

He spoke lightly, casually, but it still came out somber.

"The slug stays," Joji signed.

Namekuji lifted his head. "Find another sensor to track your tiny humans, one-arm. Like the one right there."

Joji looked unamused at the nickname.

Mamoru-sensei blinked slowly, but Namekuji wasn't looking at him.

Matsu was taller than Naga, but I didn't correct him.

"I can't be everywhere at once," Naga finally said, putting his inkbrush down. "I can't teach Maho and keep an eye on Enyo and Matsu and take care of the village."

Namekuji crawled up my back and peered over my shoulder at him. "So? Make clones."

"Water clones don't last long unless I pour chakra into them," Naga explained patiently. "And I don't want to leave myself exhausted just to have more eyes."

"Must be nice to have that option," Yahiko said idly.

I fought a smile.

Namekuji only stared at him. "Not only does that sound like your problem, it sounds like you want me to stay."

"I'm only telling you why I can't do it, and why Joji-sensei is asking you, in his own way," Naga said neutrally.

Namekuji turned to Joji. "I don't care about you or your tiny humans."

"You can do both," I pointed out.

Namekuji shifted back, looking at me, and I realized why he didn't.

We knew Suisai was a civilian town even before we left. Killing no-name ninja in Hot Water wasn't a big deal, but Sasori was in the bingo book. He had a reputation that even Hidan knew about.

Because if Namekuji kept his main body here and sent a small piece of himself with us, he'd run out of chakra to sense Sasori before we found him. If he did the opposite, he'd have to stay with Naga more than Joji.

"You should stay," I told him after a second. "You could protect Enyo."

"He's not in danger," Namekuji denied.

It was easier when it was just Mamoru-sensei because he didn't need Namekuji. But Enyo was a little kid, and when I thought of him facing someone who wanted us dead, I saw me, bloodied and dangling from Usagi's grip.

I wanted Namekuji with me, but who needed him more?

"He is," I eventually said. "We could kill all the ninja who hate us, but then the people who loved them would want revenge on us, too."

Namekuji stared at me.

"Ah, I can get you a souvenir on the way back," Yahiko said, like Namekuji had already decided to stay. "I heard recently that you have a newfound love for leaves. They'll be hard to find in the desert, and harder still to buy without any money, but I'll manage somehow—"

"Who asked you to, carrot-hair?" Namekuji cut him off.

Yahiko threw up his hands innocently.

"We have money," I mentioned.

"Yeah, but that's village money, not pocket money," Yahiko explained.

"Go to Sana in Hyozan before you chase after Sasori. It's about a mile out from the border," Mamoru-sensei instructed. "She runs a bookstore and knows more about what he's doing in Wind than I do. You should be able to find it pretty easily since the town caters more to tourism than leisure reading."

Yahiko smiled, more genuine. "Sana, huh? I guess I'll have to ask her about your contact list, sensei."

Mamoru-sensei only scoffed.

.

.

.

"Watch out for her," Nagato told him, later, when the lantern was down to flickering embers.

Yahiko had been resting his eyes, but he opened them to look over to where Nagato sat, surrounded by open scrolls and scraps of paper. Nagato's current version of his missive to Iron (was that his fifth draft, or sixth?) was blank, and he saw why when he spotted the empty ink bottle.

He'd have to go fishing far out in the sea again for fish with ink sacs, but that was a problem for future Yahiko.

Nagato had both palms pressed against his eyes. He'd been at it for so long that his low ponytail was in disarray.

Yahiko glanced toward the opposite wall, where Oka slept with Namekuji. "I don't think she's the one that needs watching out for," he said.

"I know," Nagato said quietly. "But I can't help how I feel."

Yahiko fought off sleep. "It hurts, really, that you don't feel that same worry for me, best friend of mine."

It made Nagato smile, so he counted that as a mission accomplished.

"I do," he said, shaking his head. "You're both reckless, but..." he trailed off.

Yahiko understood anyway.

It's not the same, he meant.

Oka would always be his little sister, no matter how strong she got or how many people she killed. He'd never stop wanting to protect her.

She was his little sister too, but not quite in the same way, and he was perfectly okay with that. And because he understood so well, Yahiko didn't push him on it.

"I'm leaving the village in your hands. Don't cause too many riots while I'm gone," he said, slowly losing the battle to keep his eyes open.

Nagato didn't smile though. He trembled, just slightly. "It's a lot of responsibility. I don't know how you did it when I left," he murmured.

Yahiko made himself stand, if only because he'd fall asleep right then and there if he didn't. "I didn't do it alone," he yawned. "A certain local wolf and a slug sage convinced me that pawning off work on other people is a good thing."

Nagato looked up. "I'm not trying to keep you up," he said quickly.

He waved this away. "Ask Mamoru-sensei about Kusagakure if Fujiwara responds before I'm back. He knows all of it. And I didn't need it, but Joji-sensei gives surprisingly good financial advice. Something about being a former assassin who had to manage his own money."

"It sounds like you still did all the work," Nagato muttered.

Yahiko plopped down next to him, suddenly remembering how much he disliked fainting. "I took at least two days off," he said.

Nagato quietly scoffed and tilted his head back against the wall. "I don't know what I thought being in charge would be like when we were kids, but not this."

"Yeah, I didn't think a Kage could be two people either."

Nagato looked away, covering his mouth so he wouldn't laugh, and Yahiko watched the soft glow of lamplight until his eyes closed.

二重性

"Don't die," Mamoru-sensei advised.

Yahiko laughed. "I'll do my best, sensei."

Naga sat on a flat rock next to Mamoru-sensei, shoeless and leaning back on his hands. Neither wore their cloaks.

I still didn't know how to say goodbye.

Naga's smile was soft. "You don't have to say anything, Oka."

I wondered if I'd always be so easy to read. A wave crashed against the rocks behind me, spraying cold water against the back of my legs.

Namekuji was curled around Mamoru-sensei's neck and over his shoulder.

He didn't say anything, and I knew it was to avoid what might be another goodbye. Would it have hurt less if he had ignored Konan instead of making her make a promise?

I took a deep breath, but that didn't make the thought ache any less.

"Remember what I told you," Naga said, sitting up as he looked at Yahiko.

"Yeah, yeah," Yahiko dismissed. "More importantly, are the leaves in Wind Country like the ones in Fire Country, sensei? I realized in the last minute or so that I don't know a lot about Wind Country, other than it being a desert—"

"There are no trees in the Land of Wind," Mamoru-sensei said.

Yahiko paused. "That would make it a lot harder."

"Worry more about heatstroke than your sad jokes, carrot-hair," Namekuji finally spoke.

"It's one of many worries," Yahiko said airily. "And I got you to respond to my sad jokes, didn't I?"

Namekuji stared at him. "Why are you still here?"

Yahiko laughed hard.

"One week," Naga murmured.

I smiled. "Four days."

Yahiko turned away and raised a hand behind him. "Two days."

.

.

.

Yahiko stared at the sky, walking on what was left of what might've been a stone bridge once. "I wish it would rain," he said absently, then shook his head at himself. "We stopped the crying, and all I want is for it to start again."

I looked up, walking beside him on the water. The sky was full of clouds, but not dark ones. They were white and fluffed and didn't block the sunlight.

"That's not a bad thing," I mused. "Sometimes the village needs to cry. No one feels like they're filled with sunlight all the time, and we shouldn't pretend like they do."

Yahiko was staring at me when I looked down.

"What?"

"You hate the rain," he said.

I watched him hop over a gap. "No I don't."

"I seem to remember you being very depressed when we came back from Suisai that first time," he said thoughtfully. "There were tears."

"There were not."

Yahiko tapped his chin. "Are you saying my memory is flawed?"

Trees with wide trunks and thinner upper bodies were all over in the water ahead of us. The lowest branches were crooked and covered in fuzzy green leaves, while gray moss hung down from the highest ones.

"It was a long time ago," I finally said.

There was no sand, like in the direction of Fire Country, but only denser and denser swamp.

Yahiko maneuvered down onto the water when the bridge ended, holding the nagamaki still at his side, then back up onto another broken piece. "It was, but that doesn't explain the change of heart."

I hummed. "I thought I hated it," I answered, stepping on and over floating green pads. "But then when Naga brought the rain back for your birthday I missed it, and you don't miss things you hate."

"That was almost profound."

The trunks were dark and bloated with water, and it made me think of the blood soaked trees I saw when we left that first time.

"Naga would do it more, if you asked him," I told him.

"Yeah, I know," Yahiko said, rubbing the back of his head. "It's just not fair to everyone else. Even if we tell them in advance, it's not like there's many places to hide out in."

"So?"

He looked at me. "I kind of want the villagers to like me."

"That's important," I agreed. "But how you feel is important, too."

Yahiko's laugh was full of surprise. "I have a sneaking suspicion that there's a lesson here about following my own advice."

I paused. "I didn't mean for it to be advice."

He laughed harder and clutched his stomach. "I've been such a bad influence on you," he gasped.

"I didn't," I muttered insistently.

"You never do," he said, wiping a tear away.

I looked away from him.

"Believe it or not, it's a lot harder than it seems for someone who put others first for most of his life to put himself first, no matter what advice he gives," Yahiko said. "I mean this about no one in particular, of course."

"Then learn."

He snorted so hard he choked. He stopped to cough and catch his breath, hands on his knees. "I'm going to choke to death," he managed. "And die. Painfully."

I stopped and faced him. "Why is that funny?"

Yahiko sat heavily and laughed again. "Because you make it sound so simple. Just unlearn my bad habits. Just make an antidote. Easy. Why didn't I think of it before?"

"I know it's not easy," I said. "But it's like Mamoru-sensei said. What should and shouldn't be possible has never stopped us. Hidan shouldn't be immortal, but he is."

"He did say that," Yahiko agreed, grinning wide.

I crouched in front of him. "You did create the antidote, and you aren't the same."

He wiped his eyes again. "I didn't create anything. Emon produces it. All I did was talk to Kansetsu about it, and he showed her how to do it."

"Sounds easy."

He snorted again. He reached out and ruffled my hair, surprising me enough that when I finally swatted his hand, he'd already thrown strands everywhere.

I shoved him for good measure and he willingly went backwards, laughing all the way. He fell against a cracked corner of the bridge and adjusted himself, lacing his hands behind his head.

"You're the best sister a guy could ask for, Oka. Have I told you that already?"

"Probably," I grumbled, smoothing down strands.

He closed his eyes. "Let me have my moment, will you?"

.

.

.

The moon was a tiny fingernail when I looked up, and tufts of bushy grass floated on top of the murky water when I looked down.

"Naga likes to sleep on the ground," I mentioned.

The trunks were wider, somehow than the ones closer to the village.

Yahiko nestled in the curve of a tree that split down the middle, the trunks curved in opposite directions. It almost looked like two trees that had grown from the same base with twice as much moss.

"Yeah, well, not all of us can sense a kilometer in every direction," Yahiko responded. "I feel a lot safer up here."

My legs dangled down. "I don't think he can sense for a kilometer, or even half a mile."

Yahiko crossed his legs. "That wouldn't make it better normally, but it's somehow less knowing that you don't know how far a mile is."

I didn't respond, but I smiled a little.

He tilted his head towards me. "What do you think everyone is doing right now?"

I didn't answer, thinking of how much I'd been relying on Naga and Namekuji to sense danger or to keep us from going somewhere we shouldn't be.

"We can't sense anything," I mused aloud.

What if Zetsu was watching us? What if not-Madara was?

"Shouldn't we be quieter?" I asked.

"I think if there are foreign shinobi in Rain Country, we have bigger problems than possibly being attacked," he answered, sitting up. "Why? I think Namekuji might actually say my name if I told him you were afraid."

I leaned my arms on my knees and didn't smile. I glanced down at the grass and the water and wondered. "What if not-Madara is watching us?"

"Ah," he said. "I don't think he is."

I looked at him.

"Nagato told me an abridged version of what happened with Zetsu, and I've thought a lot about it since then," he said, stretching his feet back out. "He was worried he was wrong and not-Madara really could create more clones, but what stuck out to me was why it took so long for Zetsu to come back after you met him in Fire Country."

"He didn't track you right after because he went to Konohagakure with not-Madara. I get that," he continued, looking at the sky. "But there are three months between October and February. What was he doing, I asked myself. Why now? And what I wanted to know the most, why did he send White Zetsu without his other half?"

I hummed and wondered if Zetsu helped not-Madara fight against Minato, if that was why he died. Not because he was distracted, but because he was outnumbered by something he couldn't sense and wouldn't die, no matter how much it was torn apart.

"I came up with two answers," Yahiko went on. "The first is that not-Madara isn't a sensor-nin and having at least one at his side at all times would be useful for the most wanted man in Fire Country. The second is that he's busy somewhere else, doing something big enough that he needs someone watching his back. I'm leaning toward the second one, personally, since it is awfully suspicious that he hasn't come by to see why White Zetsu disappeared."

"What do you think he's doing?" I asked.

"No idea," Yahiko answered. "But he's being quiet enough about it that it's high on my mental list of concerns. Right below a war with Shohei, but above being scythed in my sleep."

I stared at my hands. There was anger there, just under my skin, and I wondered if it would still be there when not-Madara finally died, or if it would always stay with me like the scar down my wrist.

I sat up straighter. "I think Naga is still trying to write that letter to Iron."

Yahiko huffed out a laugh.

"And Maho would be on the beach," I decided. "Probably asleep, because Joji wouldn't care enough to tell him to go inside."

"And Enyo and Matsu?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"Well," Yahiko drawled. "I think Enyo is at the hideout, probably pestering Nagato to death. Joji-sensei would be near Matsu, using Namekuji to follow him around without him ever knowing."

I thought about that. "Hidan would be at the hideout, pretending not to care."

"It does say something that he stayed this long, doesn't it?" Yahiko asked.

I shifted to lie back on the branch and stared up at the stars. "If you're not worried about shinobi, why are we up here?"

"Because paranoia doesn't make sense," Yahiko answered. "And we're high up enough that no one would be able to hear us, anyway."

I smiled.

A/N: 二重性 - Duality