"Alright, we need to discuss our plan of action," Tsunade ordered, folding her hands together. "If we don't properly split things up, we'll run out of supplies far earlier than planned, and due to the sickness that's taken hold since the torching, we can't afford to lose another life due to careless planning."
"Approximately twenty percent of the survivors have fallen ill, and thirty percent are too injured or feeble to work," Shizune reported dutifully. "Only sixty percent of the healthy are able to help out around the village, while the remaining forty percent of them are either old or too young."
"We have to do something," Sumire begged. "We can't continue like this; we need to send out a group as soon as we can."
"What do you suggest, then?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her. "We can't afford to spare too many of our healthy and able, because we need to continue rebuilding efforts. We certainly can't afford to spare our medical nin; we still have too many sick and injured."
"Send a group to Konoha," she pleaded. "We've already got a good start to the village again, much better than we planned, and this suffering is too much to bear. I…" she hesitated before Karin's encouraging look made her continue, "I myself can't bear watching the pain and suffering on the people's faces. Especially not the children."
"I agree with that," Hinoki chimed in, a grim look on her face. "Things have gone on long enough, and the capital has gone too far with this. The pain won't end until we do something. If we don't act quickly, they're liable to wizen up and flush us out for real this time, and after that we have no idea what will happen."
"I do," Karin replied. "Imprisonment for most of our agents, private executions for everyone in this room, and for Tsunade, a public trial and execution. They'll be merciless because of her lineage. Need I remind you that, while few, there are still those who were alive during the skirmishes between the Uchiha and Senju clans and would have an outdated bias against them?"
The room fell silent, and people either looked away or looked down. Tsunade's face hardened at the mention, her fingertips coming up to brush against her seal. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, dropping her hand into her lap.
"Well, I can't argue with that," she relented. "Hell, we're already taking a gamble in having Mokuton users in the force. If they knew about that, there's no telling what they'd do to the handful that have that ability."
"Experiments," Sumire shivered. "The day I have to come face-to-face with that disgusting Snake will be a day too soon."
Most of the people in the room murmured agreements. Karin nodded, looking repulsed.
"We'll have to strategize the best way to move forward, then." Tsunade took a sip of her tea, looking around the room. "Since some of our recruits are still technically under probation, I'd like to wait until it wears off for them, but we'll have to go ahead and plan with them in mind. For now, though, we'll have to continue to support the people - and greet the two new recruits that Kisame and Itachi have found for us."
Aika grew troubled, grabbing the woman's attention and signing. "(Have they found anyone in specific? Anyone on the run from the law?)"
"Two young people from the capital," Tsunade confirmed, glancing Sumire's way. "One of them has been touted as a genius, and the other is famous for her mind-body techniques."
Sumire gaped. "Shikamaru? A- and Ino?!"
"You know them well, do you not?" One of the men asked.
"Ino was a very good friend of mine, and so was Shikamaru," she confessed. "A- are you sure about this? I have my doubts that they would defect so easily."
"Apparently it was an easy task. Something about getting enlisted." Tsunade shrugged. "And yes, about her… abilities, I can safely say that she's better off with us than in the capital. I haven't forgotten about the purges that easily."
One woman shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Aika looked away, a sad frown on her face.
"Anyways," their leader caught their attention again, "Meet here again tomorrow night so that we can properly go down the list and decide on groups. Should we need to split up, it would be most helpful to have an even distribution among them… especially for the group headed to Konoha."
Sumire swallowed. Karin's face grew serious. Hinoki looked down at her empty plate with a determined frown.
"Meeting dismissed," she finished.
One by one the members of the council stood from their seats, taking their plates and trudging out. The aura about them was more solemn than it had been, and Sumire couldn't keep her mind from wandering to her friends.
"I hope they make it," she thought desperately as she looked up at the evening sky. "Please, Kami-sama, please don't let them get hurt."
The moon was high in the sky when Aika spotted Shinji standing near the fountain, staring into the dry stone bottom.
She smiled, rushing up to him. With a hop, she wrapped her arms around his back and hugged him, causing him to startle.
"Wh- what the-" He twisted around, eyes wide and alert, only to slump when he realized who it was. "Geez, Aika-san, don't sneak up on me like that. I thought you were a spy."
She frowned. Easing up on her embrace, she signed to him, "(I thought I told you not to bother with honorifics. You always sound too formal.)"
"Oh, sorry," he sighed, sitting down on the fountain with her beside him. "I've been… kinda stressed lately. I must've forgotten."
She shook her head. "(Don't worry, it's been a frustrating time for all of us. I'm just surprised you remembered to meet me here after how scattered you've been.)"
He smiled weakly. "Would you be upset if I said I'd forgotten until you hugged me?"
She looked surprised for a moment before she giggled silently. Leaning in to rest on his shoulder, she sighed in content, looking up at the sky.
"(I missed this,)" she commented. "(Sitting here with you, alone, with the stars above us. It was so hard to get a moment alone at the palace.)"
He said nothing to that.
"(Shinji, what happened to you that night?)" She asked, staring up at his covered eye in concern. Her fingertips touched the wrapping for a moment before she continued. "(Were you caught in the crossfire? I don't recall you being so hurt.)"
He flinched at the question, but glanced to the right, a contemplative frown on his face. After a second of hesitation, he responded, "I got a knife to the face. I only had enough time to wrap it before getting out of there."
She nodded slowly, taking it in as she raised her hand to touch it again.
"He's lying," she noted, recalling the way his gaze shifted. "But why? Was what happened so terrible that he can't trust me? I thought… I thought we were past that stage. What happened to you in the twenty-four hours between meetings, Shinji?"
Her lips pursed together and she gazed sadly up at him, getting closer.
Shinji blushed at her proximity, eye widening. He inched back a bit, but when she didn't move closer he tried to force himself to relax. When her thumb brushed the bottom lid of his visible eye, he closed it and tilted his head forward.
"I care for you too much to have you hurt," she thought worriedly. "Perhaps I should have notified Tsunade sooner."
When she let go of his face, he opened his eye as she was signing. "(Have you gone to medical about it?)"
"Oh, I'd… forgotten about that." He blinked, as if realizing it himself. "I guess I ought to get it checked out tomorrow, huh? Thanks for reminding me."
She smiled softly at him, cupping his cheek.
The familiar smell of pine from his clothing was soothing, and she rested her head against his chest. The rapid thumping of his heart was comforting; even now, as they grew closer together, he never changed.
A/N: Please tell me what you thought!
