The hotel Kaeda had booked was a lovely sea-side resort. They'd all negotiated on the price of the trip which all of them would split, though were suspicious when Kaeda claimed she'd won the week long stay in a sweepstakes. But, as they arrived and all was as Kaeda told them, the other two relaxed a bit, allowing themselves to loosen their purse strings and decompress from the trip by ordering food from the restaurant downstairs.
As they waited for the meal to arrive, they relaxed in the onsen.
Yasahashi had always been very shy during public baths, but she kept her cool. It was just the human body after all. But, she couldn't keep it that cool around Kohaku, and knew it, so she avoided the beautiful Uchiha woman while in the bath.
"Yasahashi, why wont you come sit with us?" Kaeda called from the otherside of the pool. Yasahashi was nestled in between two wrinkly old women. She smiled sheepishly and waved.
"Sorry, I have water in my ears," she called. From her position on the other side of the bath, Kohaku and Kaeda were a fuzzy blur.
They returned to their room for dinner and were puttering about when a heavy knock came on the door.
"Oh, it's early- the food shouldn't come for another 20 minutes according to when I requested," Kohaku said, walking over to the door.
When she answered, instead of a hostess, it was a short bearded man in a flashy, well-creased business suit. He wore a panicked expression.
"Are you the leaf ninja I hired?" he asked through chattering teeth.
"Say what now?" Yasa asked from her seat at the table.
Kohaku's eyes grew dark. "Kaeda?" She dared.
Yasahashi looked at Kaeda, who jumped up and pushed Kohaku out of the way.
"Mr. Baku! Kaeda Morimoto, freelance ninja at your service." She bowed, "These are my two teammates, Hashi and Haku!" We were going to eat dinner really fast, but I'll come down afterwards to discuss the terms, alright, thank you!" She tried muscling him out the door.
"Oh, I see. You must be exhausted from your long trip. But please," he begged, "My nephew cannot wait much longer!"
"Of course, of course. We'll rescue him, no matter what, sir!" Kaeda grinned bigly at him then she shut the door.
She looked between Kohaku and Yasahashi nervously.
"Ummm.. Kaeda?" Yasa said.
"I can explain!" Kaeda said, "You see, Mr. Baku here hired me to go save his nephew, but it's way above my paygrade, you know. So, I thought you two could help me out. In exchange, we have free room and board for the next week!"
"So the sweepstakes…" Yasa winced.
"Absolutely not," Kohaku said. She started packing her belongings and changing back in to her travel clothes, "let's leave."
"But, Kohaaakuuu," Kaeda whined, "his beloved nephew is missing."
"He can pay the price to a licensed ninja village."
"Well, you know this is going to reflect poorly on us leaf ninja, then," Keada put her hands on her hips, "You think he'll go to Konoha? Probably not. He'd probably go to Mists instead, which would not be a good look for the village, you know!"
Kohaku couldn't exactly argue with that. After thinking about it a bit more and eating their dinner, the police officer agreed that, though unfavorable, following through was the most responsible action.
"I'm going to have to book you when we get back, though." Kohaku said.
Kaeda laughed, "Oh, you wouldn't!"
"Try me."
All this while, Yasahashi had an unsettling feeling rising in her, but didn't know how to express it.
They all met the hotel owner again downstairs in half an hour, as Kaeda had promised. It was straight forward enough. He gave them the hideout location of the gang who had kidnapped his nephew, and showed them the ransom note and all that. Kohaku took charge, not letting Kaeda make any big decisions. She planned the rescue mission which would occur tomorrow.
When they returned to the hotel room afterward, the Uchiha woman fell face first into the soft pillow of her bed. "I wanted to relax."
Kaeda looked at her friends guiltily. "There'll be time to relax after the mission!"
"You're slimy, Kaeda," Yasa smirked, "roping in a police officer to help you with your black-market ninja business."
"It's not black-market at all! It's a simple exchange of goods and services," Kaeda huffed, "Kohaku, Yasa, I'm just a young, independent woman and I want to live a good life. What do I have? These basic ninja skills. I can use them to complete all sorts of deeds and tasks."
"Or you could just register with the office of ninja affairs and get payed directly by the government," Kohaku propped herself up on one arm and looked at Kaeda with half-lidded eyes.
"And give up my freedom? Absolutely not!"
"Kaeda, why'd you invite me, though?" Yasahashi asked. She felt sick.
Kaeda looked at her like she had asked her why the sky was blue. "What do you mean why did I invite you?"
"I mean, you know."
"Yasa, don't worry about a thing- we're a three ninja squad, right?" Kaeda grinned.
"But I can't-"
"I'm here, don't worry," Kohaku looked Yasa in the eye, "You're a good fighter, anyway. And, I'm an Uchiha after all. I'll keep you safe."
Yasahashi blushed.
"Hey, what about me?" Kaeda pouted, "I'll protect you too, Yasahashi!"
"I don't know about that," Kohaku shut her eyes.
The three made a pretty good unit.
During the mission, Kohaku continued to assume the position of leader, strategizing and delegating, much to Kaeda's distaste since she fancied this "her firm's" mission.
Yasa, feeling a bit better flanked by her friends, actually ended up being very effective in beating up the kidnappers. It turned out they were just common crooks with no ninjutsu power. Their taijutsu skills were no where near the ninja training that came from Yasahashi's days in the academy and at her mother's gym. Yasahashi marveled in the realization that they considered her just as imposing as the other two leaf ninja.
There did turn out to be one fancy ninjutsu user, but as promised, Kohaku took them out herself. The Uchiha hardly broke a sweat during the mission, and didn't even need to use her sharingan. There was a moment where Yasahashi might have been hit by a ninjutsu attack, but Kohaku rescued her in the blink of an eye. It was all very daring and romantic, and Kohaku promised to teach Yasahashi how to better avoid ninjutsu attacks one day.
Kaeda was actually pretty useless combat-wise. Though she had the ability to do ninjutsu, she had very little tact and didn't act as quickly as the other two women. But, she provided moral support, was the voice of the group when confronting the kidnappers, and was more than happy to have the support of her friends. Perhaps Kaeda's biggest strength was pick-pocketting and finding money. She seemed to drip with the stuff by the end of the mission. Kaeda was holding the 5 year old nephew in her arms while also hoisting up her backpack full of loot. Kohaku gave the freelance woman a side eye.
"What?" she asked, "Stealing from a criminal isn't a crime."
Kohaku rolled her eyes.
Yasahashi was absolutely glowing at the end of it all, "I can't believe we did that."
"See, Baka-no-jutsu?" Kaeda said, "You can still be a ninja!"
Yasa smiled.
And for the first time since they'd learned about Kaeda's secret plan, Kohaku smiled too.
Leaving the Civil Engineering Department was bittersweet. She packed up her belongings in the bullpen in the afternoon. They all surprised her with a send-off party, surrounding her with kazoos and sake and cheers.
Tanaka gave her a big hug, "Let's keep in touch. Don't be a stranger like the last time you left us, Yasahashi." he said, "If you ever need an ear, I'll always be here."
"Of course, sempai," Yasahashi grinned. She felt tears in her eyes but blinked them away.
She found Takamaru crouched over his desk working during the party. He didn't seem to want to talk to her, but Yasahashi knocked on his desk expectantly. She noticed a tear drop land on to the vellum he was working on.
"D-don't make me stain my p-p-plans," he sputtered.
"Hey now," Yasahashi said putting a hand on his shoulder, "It's not like I'm going far away or anything."
Takamaru turned to look up at Yasahashi, his face a wet mess."It was so nice having you back, Yashashi!" he said, "Please think of us while you're teaching those ninja."
Yasa hugged the man, "Of course, I don't think I can ever forget this place," she gestured to the room, "We've done so much good work here."
Tanaka came up behind her "You have. Professor Ayame would be proud." He looked to Tanaka, "Of both of you."
They wanted to go out that night, but she turned them down. "We can go out on the weekends together, still. Don't worry," she'd ensured them.
She hadn't gone to see Kaeda in a while. Since Mizuki went rogue, the woman had been distant and hard to get a hold of, and if Yasa didn't know better she'd say her old friend was avoiding her. But, she wasn't going to let her best friend not know about this big life change she was making. And, she was worried about her too, of course.
She found Kaeda that night in her apartment. Haku, was buzzing around babbling about things he was learning in preschool. Kaeda let her in with not much of a smile, she let Yasahashi shut the door while she returned to the kitchen to scrub the counters.
"The place has never looked this clean before,"
Kaeda didn't answer, but kept scrubbing.
Yasahashi sat on the couch and let Haku show her one of his toys.
Kaeda started vacuuming the carpet behind them. Haku shrieked and ran to his room, upset with the noise. The two women couldn't converse over the sound.
Finally the housewife put the vacuum away and put Haku to bed. She brought Yasahashi a glass of water and sat down next to her old friend on the couch.
"I got a job teaching at the academy," Yasahashi said finally. Kaeda didn't respond.
"Not teaching taijutsu like I thought, but, I'm still going to be teaching, nonetheless."
"Oh? What will you be teaching then?"
"Math," Yasahashi smirked.
Kaeda snorted.
The two women were silent again. The sound of Kaeda's clock ticking felt so loud. She remembered many evenings in this living room, of her, Kaeda, Haku, and Mizuki, sitting around jovially. Mizuki and Kaeda didn't always used to fight, and there had been a time when the now rogue ninja was not as toxic of a person. The circumstances sank into the couch next to her.
Kaeda began to cry, softly at first, but it soon grew to sobs. Yasahashi wrapped her arms around her old friend and held her as she let it all out.
She thought back further, to before Mizuki was in the picture, and the would be 3 ninja squad would hang out at Kaeda's other apartment. Yasahashi imagined what it would be like if Kohaku were still here too, patting Kaeda on the back.
"Why's mommy crying?" Haku asked, coming into the living room.
Kaeda looked up at her son, "Come here, Haku." Haku ran up to her and hugged his mother.
"Is it because of daddy?" Haku asked. "Did he come back? Did he do something bad again?"
Kaeda sobbed again. "No, no, sweetie."
Yasahashi ruffled Haku's hair and he looked up at her, confusion in his eyes.
"It's going to be alright, Haku," Yasahashi said. I'm here.
Kakashi's Prius here! This halloween, I'm planning on going as Gai's Lenovo laptop.
