Chapter 4: The more expensive sort of prostitute.
"I love you," The deep brown eyes that had captivated him from the very beginning were now pinning the ninja down with the intensity of her desire. She straddled his prone body. "I need you."
He finally had her. Together, they tore at her finery, revealing more of her satin smooth skin—
Sakura pulled at his elbow. "Sensei, Naruto's annoying Sasuke again."
"Mmm, good." He replied absently.
"Sensei!"
He glanced up. Naruto was walking behind Sasuke, trying to step on the back of Sasuke's sandals. Sasuke was avoiding his attempts deftly.
"Looks like they're having fun, let them be."
Sakura gave up and huffed forward to admonish Naruto herself.
Now, where was he?
Her cherry-painted lips parted, a pink tongue darting out eagerly as she brought his—
"I told you before, we don't pay you to read." Kakashi groaned internally. The world wasn't in the mood to let him delight in the details of Junko's nights of passion today.
A sour-faced Hayao was riding up on his side on the hapless guard's horse.
He snapped the book shut and stowed it away. As bitter and petty as Hayao seemed to be, he was still a client.
"Don't think I don't know what you were doing, ninja." Hayao spat the word like it was an insult.
"The lady is too young to know any better, but I know what your kind is like."
Kakashi regarded him calmly. He only needed to tilt his head up slightly to maintain eye contact with the attendant thanks to his height, but he was rapidly finding that even that little bit rankled him now. He itched to take the book out again.
"Did I offend, Hayao-san?"
"That book is not proper for any kind of company, let alone when you are serving our lady." Hayao's scorn could have torched even Naruto's incorrigible cheer.
"I wasn't aware you were familiar with the series."
The horse neighed and danced at the sudden tightness in its reins. Hayao loosened back up.
"Keep that filth away from Lady Hinogawa," he gritted out. He urged the horse up ahead.
Kakashi pulled Icha Icha out again, very professionally suppressing the thought that Hayao was a stiff old coot that probably hadn't had a decent lay in years.
Besides, it was probably Kakashi that should be fearing for his virtue around Lady Hinogawa. Though she'd spent the majority of the trip in the carriage listening to her handmaiden's music or playing shogi with Hayao, she'd continued to try to coax him closer to her after that second night on the trail.
Now, on the final day of their trip to the capital, the genin seemed to have woven an elaborate story about the two of them, mainly powered by Sakura.
This latest interaction between him and Hayao had not gone unnoticed.
Sakura grabbed the other two. "Did you hear that? Hayao-san told Kakashi-sensei to stay away from Lady Hinogawa!"
Sasuke shrugged her off. "No, he told her to keep the book away from her."
Naruto made a face. "I wish he'd tell sensei to keep the book away from us too!"
She shook her head at the simpleness of the two boys of Team 7. "No, don't you see? He doesn't approve of the love between them!"
Sasuke scoffed. "You're crazy, Kakashi-sensei isn't interested in that stuff."
"Just look at him!" The three of them turned to look at their sensei.
Kakashi-sensei was looking at the trees disinterestedly as he walked by the carriage, deprived of his favorite reading material. If anything, his slouch was more pronounced than usual.
He hardly cut a dashing figure covered by the dust kicked up by the horses around them.
Sakura continued gamely against the uncooperative vision of their sensei, gesturing wildly. "He hasn't left her side for a moment!"
"…" Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look. Naruto spoke up cautiously.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, he's supposed to do that, we're on protection detail."
"Exactly! He's protecting her~!"
The end of the sentence turned into a squeal that could have communicated with bats.
Sasuke had no compunctions about disabusing Sakura of her delusions. "We should be by her side right now. We're getting sloppy."
Sakura flapped a hand furiously. "Don't you dare, we mustn't disturb them."
Though he didn't consider their sensei's proximity to the pretty lady particularly good evidence for their romance, Naruto was also buying into the narrative.
"There was the time they were talking together in the woods, Sasuke, you can't deny that."
Sakura jumped on this opening.
"Yeah, and she looks at him so much, and there was the time Kakashi-sensei helped her down from the carriage!"
Lady Hinogawa had "stumbled" as she stepped down and found herself caught firmly in Kakashi-sensei's arms.
Naruto's face crinkled at the discovery of the obvious issue with this theory. "She's too pretty for him though."
The group glanced back at the lone figure of their sensei, the other two now mentally comparing the two adults' prettiness.
Sasuke turned away, remembering to be bored with the conversation. Ninja weren't supposed to care about romance.
"If there's anything there, it's Lady Hinogawa fawning over Kakashi-sensei. There's no point to talking about this."
Sakura's face was a sight to see, torn as it was between an indignant defense of the epic romance that was clearly blossoming in front of them and the fangirl's desire to follow her love's every wish. She didn't end up having to choose.
"City's up ahead, looks like our mission's almost over." Sensei was right behind the three of them, tenor voice laced with amusement.
All three of them jumped. Kakashi-sensei just eye-smiled and gestured down the road.
"Just a little bit more that way. Take a look."
Naruto hooted with excitement and headed right up the nearest tree. "Where? Where?"
After a moment, Sasuke leapt as well, Sakura close behind.
From the tree, the three genin could see the city sprawling ahead of them no more than 5 or so miles away, a distance they could have covered in minutes if it had just been them.
"Oh wow!" Sakura breathed. The city was larger than she could have imagined, stretching to fill the visible horizon. She'd known the Land of Fire's capital was the largest city in the world, but her beloved books had never fully captured its true scale.
The buildings weren't necessarily taller than in Konoha—the Hokage's tower easily matched the highest of these—but once the trees gave way to city, the city never seemed to end, whereas Konoha was neatly encased in the basin bordered by the Hokage mountain.
Naruto was the first to jump down to rejoin their sensei by the carriage, bouncing with excitement.
"Hey sensei, sensei! We don't have to go directly home, right? We can check this place out?"
He grabbed at Kakashi pleadingly, almost pulling his kunai pouch off. "Pleaaaaase?"
The other two genin didn't add their voices to the plea, though their eagerness to stay was apparent in their expectant stances.
Kakashi brushed the tuggy genin off affectionately. "Maa, I don't see any reason why we couldn't, though you'd be responsible for your own spending."
It wouldn't be an issue, the pay from this mission would easily cover the cost of a half-dozen trips to the capital and then some.
The carriage door behind them slid open. "Ah, I may have a proposal for you and your team then, Kakashi-san."
Lady Hinogawa beckoned them closer. "I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but I couldn't help but overhear. I plan to return to Takihishi in five days. Since I was hoping to commission your team for my return trip anyway, it would be natural to hire Team 7 for private guard duty in the interim if you're planning to stay in the city awhile. Lodgings would be prepared for you, and I wouldn't think to ask for your time during the day. Accompanying me to court functions in the evenings would be sufficient."
Naruto and Sakura both squealed and looked to their team leader. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, trying to consider every angle of this undoubtedly quite generous offer. "Ah…"
Lady Hinogawa extended a cajoling hand.
"Since the work involves attending court functions, I would of course be paying A-rank standard compensation each day."
"Senseiiiiii~"
Choosing between dealing with a smitten noblewoman for A-rank pay or a sulking Team 7 for a week (for no pay) was an easy decision.
"Done." He extended his own hand to shake hers. She had different plans.
Her hand shifted in his grip so he only held her fingertips; she clearly expected him to kiss the back of her hand. Kakashi looked at it, mildly repulsed by the kowtowing all these nobles seemed to demand.
Still, fifty thousand ryo was fifty thousand ryo.
Feeling like the more expensive sort of prostitute, he brought her hand up to brush his masked lips against her knuckles briefly. She flushed a light pink but smiled triumphantly.
"I'll have my people sort out the details through hawk with your Hokage."
The door was shut again by a rather disapproving looking Kimiko.
More squealing from Sakura, who kept looking at Sasuke sidelong and blushing furiously.
Ladies did quite like the hand kiss.
He was reminded of a passage from a certain book, where one such kiss had opened many doors (and one set of legs) for the protagonist. Which reminds me.
Kakashi flipped Icha Icha open again. His reading habits weren't going to be costing the village mission pay any time soon. Hayao could shove his head up his repressed ass.
The now considerably richer genin behind him started chattering about their plans for their stint in the city. Well, those of them that weren't Sasuke, who was celebrating in his own way, which was by not glowering.
The four of them were set up in the Hinogawan townhouse's guest chambers, once the procession had spent another 2 hours winding laboriously through the city streets. The city folk stopped to gawk at them, making the genin feel better about their own awe at the sights around them.
Their new quarters were undoubtedly too fine for hired shinobi, but the lady had insisted on it, going so far as giving each ninja their own room.
Once the handmaiden that showed them to their suite left, Naruto dumped his belongings with a whoop. "This is great! I've never been anywhere anything like this!" He jumped from spot to spot, looking at the fine ink paintings placed artfully throughout their common space. The other genin followed suit, though they moved to put their belongings into the rooms Kimiko had designated for each of them.
Kakashi smoothly intercepted Sakura. "Ah, Sakura, would you mind using my room instead?" Sakura gave him a confused look. It cleared up immediately upon seeing that the new space was much larger than hers.
"Of course, sensei!"
More than happy to claim the space for her own, she dropped her bags and plopped on to the plush king-size bed inside with a happy sigh.
Kakashi moved his pack into what had previously been Sakura's designated room. The rooms given to the genin were probably the servant quarters for whichever guest the his room was hosting at the time. The small window opened on to a drab courtyard by the kitchens.
Interesting thought, the genin being my servants. Kakashi mused, conveniently pushing aside memories of the genin performing D-ranks as he lazed in the sun and "supervised". It was for their development, anyway.
Servant quarters or no, the simple cot inside the modest space was more than enough for him, especially since it came with the reduced probability of amorous noblewomen dropping by to be aggressively scantily clad at him.
It looked like the genin were getting ready to go explore the city. He poked his head out the door. "Be back by 5!" Kakashi said cheerfully.
"Hai, sensei!"
"Believe it!"
"Hn."
Once they left, Kakashi turned to writing the court guard mission request. He needed to get it out before noon to have the hawk back with the reply by tomorrow.
"Wow, this is nothing like Konoha!" Naruto spun slowly in circles as they walked outside.
"We're not even outside the Hinogawa compound yet, dobe." Sasuke sniffed. "Besides, this is nothing compared to the Uchi—to the Hyuuga compound."
"Whaaa, you're saying Hinata lives like this?" Naruto went starry-eyed. "Why doesn't she invite people over?!"
Sakura suppressed a giggle at the thought of how the Hyuuga heiress would respond if Naruto marched up to her and demanded to be invited over for dinner. Hinata's crush on Naruto had been obvious all throughout the Academy and didn't seem to have waned any now that they were genin.
Naruto stopped mid-spin, squinting.
"Blech, I see Hayao."
They turned to look. Hayao was indeed standing on the other end of the courtyard, directing soldiers to take a familiar-looking crowd away.
"Hey! Those are the bandits!"
Sasuke turned away. "Are we leaving or not?"
"Hold on, I'm going to go see what they're doing there." Naruto started stamping over.
Sasuke moved to follow, but Sakura held a hesitant hand out to interrupt him, a flush staining her cheeks red.
"Hey, why don't we just let Naruto do what he wants to and the two of us go see what the city is like?"
He stared at her blankly. "Why would I do that?"
Sakura pulled her hand back as if burnt by his flat tone, stammering. "W-what?" She twisted her hands in her dress. "I-I just thought, since we never get any time alone..."
"Tch. You're being as stupid as Naruto again." He moved to push past her to follow Naruto, but the blond had disappeared, as had Hayao and his men. Annoyed, he turned back to her. "Great, we've lost the dobe now. Happy?"
Sakura smiled tentatively, twirling a strand of hair nervously. "A little…?"
His gaze turned colder than usual.
"You don't care at all about Naruto, do you?"
The sudden left turn in the conversation snapped Sakura out of the flirtatious reverie she'd been in. "What? Why would you say that, Sasuke-kun?"
"Doesn't seem like you care when you're looking to lose him so you can force a date on me."
Sakura gasped, balling her hands into fists. "Sasuke-kun, how—"
"Whatever. I'm going to look around on my own. You do what you want."
He walked away, leaving Sakura looking shell-shocked.
Unaware of the conflict his absence had stoked between his teammates, Naruto was dealing with a detail that had been bothering him since the second night of their trip. It took him a bit to catch up to Hayao's group, which had been moving at a brisk speed.
"Hey, hey, where are you taking them?"
Hayao seemed as irritated as ever, though he seemed more at ease than he'd been on the trip. "We don't answer to you, ninja brat."
Naruto shook off the attendant's expected sneering response, turning instead to the guards that he'd kept good company with on the road.
"Hey, come on, where're you taking them? Jail?"
The guards, expressionless in the presence of Hayao, continued marching the captives out through the gate, though he could see the hint of an apologetic look in Garu's eyes as the young guard gently pushed the genin away.
Kage Bunshin no jutsu!
The group had no choice but to stop as a dozen Narutos blocked their path.
"What is the meaning of this?" Hayao's hand went to his sword, though he didn't draw it.
"Do you mean to challenge me in my home?"
"I asked you a question, old man, it's rude not to answer!"
He could see the old man's desire to ride straight through the clones, but the attention the group was attracting—half out the gates of the Hinogawa compound grounds as they were—seemed to temper his judgment.
"If you must know, brat, these leeches are being taken to the slave pens to see if any use can be made of them."
Naruto's face remained firmly distrusting. "Slave pens?" He looked from Hayao to the captives to the expressionless faces of the guards. "What's that?"
Hayao's horse stamped its feet, betraying the impatience of its master—not that Hayao was making any attempt to hide it. "Where slaves go."
When Naruto's confused expression didn't change, the horse was prompted forth roughly, dispelling a few clones. "We don't have the time to explain basic facts to you, country brat, out of the way."
The group continued forth briskly. Naruto let them pass, the matter-of-factness in the old man's voice enough to make him back down for now. Sensei had said to be careful with these folks anyway. Still.
He turned to a handsome older gentleman who'd been watching the proceedings with interest. "Hey, what's a slave?"
The man's face matched Naruto's for confusion for a second.
"You don't know what a slave is?"
Naruto stamped a foot. "I wouldn't be asking if I did, right?"
The man raised both hands to calm the incensed child. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry, I guess it's possible for kids not to know? He's...taking them away, so we can teach them to do things instead of going around making trouble. They'll be doing menial jobs, and we don't have to pay them."
Naruto made a face.
"Oh, I know that, back in my village we call those students."
The man suppressed a grin.
"Ah…this is a little different, I think."
But Naruto had already moved on, vaguely reconciling the situation to be that the bandits had been put in some kind of vocational school like the Academy to be re-educated and, as the angry old man had put it, "made use of".
Guess it's better than jail. Naruto mused, going back in the courtyard to look for his teammates.
He wasn't totally surprised to find that his teammates seemed to have gone off without him. He hid his disappointment with a broad smile.
It was likely their impatience to explore the city had gotten the better of them. There would be other times for them to explore the city together.
He leapt to the top of the courtyard gate to see if they were still visible.
"Woaaaaaah!" The group of children that had been throwing what looked like mudballs at each other a small distance away came running over to crowd around the gate, pointing and exclaiming at Naruto's feat.
Grinning at the attention, Naruto forgot all about his teammates.
"Hey, how'd you do that mister?" A dirt-streaked kid bounced in excitement.
Naruto grinned and stuck a foot out, pretending to fall. The scream that rose from the children abruptly turned to cheers and laughter as Naruto neatly pivoted about the gate to start walking vertically down the wall.
The kids gathered around him, awed little hands reaching out to touch him as they would have a god. Standing head and shoulders above these six year-olds, Naruto flashed a V. "Never seen a ninja before?"
A dark haired one, equally covered in mud and puffing his chest with authority, declared, "That's a type of monkey! My dad has a monkey and it can do that too!"
A chant rose up. "Monkey-san! Monkey-san!"
Naruto laughed embarrassedly.
"No, no, I'm a ninja! Ninja." He struck a pose. "The strongest shinobi in Konoha! I'm going to be the Hokage!"
The crowd stopped chanting 'Monkey-san' long enough to query: "What's a Hokage?"
Naruto's turn now to shake his head at these city-slickers' lack of common knowledge.
"It's the leader of all the ninja! Only the strongest, smartest ninja in the village can become the Hokage and you're looking right at the next one!"
Chubby faces looked up at him, shining with admiration. "Hokage! Hokage!"
A serving-girl came around the corner. "What's all this commotion then?"
She shrieked to see the state of the children. More specifically, at one child.
"Kawamaru-sama!" She dropped to her knees in front of the dark-haired one that had tried to designate Naruto a new breed of monkey, trying to use her overskirt to wipe at the mud on his cheeks. "Oh no, no, no, look at you!"
The rest of the children and Naruto found themselves shooed unceremoniously away, with Kawamaru being ushered inside by the frantic serving girl.
Naruto looked at the children. There were about ten of them total, with none of them over 6. "Hey, is anyone watching you guys?"
They shook their heads gleefully. "No, Hokage, they just let us play."
A little girl piped up. "Kawamaru's the only one who has someone watching and they never allow him to play with us long."
Another kid jumped on him. "Hey, hey, play with us! Show us how to be ninja!"
Naruto stroked his chin mock-thoughtfully. "Hmm, I don't know if you have it in you to be ninja though…"
This statement was followed by cries of dismay and an overeager girl trying to run up a pole. Naruto caught her deftly, laughing.
"Alright, alright, how about instead we go explore? Where do you guys want to go?"
A little boy raised his hand, waving frantically. "Oooh, ooh, take us to the river!"
"No, Toruno-dummy, that's sooo far away! We can't walk that far!" The girl he'd saved from a broken neck shook her head at her age-mate's folly.
Naruto grinned. "Who said we'd be walking?" Narutos appeared in a cloud of smoke, each kneeling down to take a kid on their back. It'd be a quick trip by ninja. He'd be back by 5 after giving these kids the best day of their lives, easy.
Sakura was not having the day she'd expected. Too embarrassed to try to explore the city in case she bumped into Sasuke again and had to face his freezing scorn, she'd ducked into the city library. And wow.
Before she'd started paying attention to Sasuke and her hair, she'd read every book in the Academy library, even the boring technical ones. Especially the boring technical ones. In fact, if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd finished all of them, Ino may have had Sasuke all to herself. Then again, maybe not. The perfect planes of Sasuke's face had done funny things to her heart even when she'd been buried in books.
Nevertheless, her first love had been the love of books and this library threatened to send her head over heels again. There were seven floors to this library, each one filled to the brink. Her hand lingered over one that read Seven ways to Capture a Heart. It was a title that would never have been allowed in the academy library at home, though she'd seen it once in a bookstore in Konoha, in the adult section. There was a familiar orange cover near it along with a red volume that must have been by the same author.
She blushed at the thought of taking them out and turned to another shelf. Fire Country's Inner Power: the Tale of a Nation through its Leaders. Ah, perfection.
Head filled with fantasies of Sasuke's approving nod and Kakashi-sensei's praises as she rattled off facts about the city, she plucked it off the shelf. As she did the book next to it. And the one next to that.
When the sun through the window and the clock above the table showed it was half past four, she closed the book she was reading with a regretful sigh.
Nobility of Fire Country had been a fascinating read, especially after the background from the Inner Power text. The Hinogawas in particular… Mind neatly filing away details about their client to impress her teammates with, Sakura put the books away and leapt out the window.
She needn't have bothered trying to be punctual. This was Team 7 we were talking about after all.
When she swung into their chambers, Naruto was nowhere to be found. Sasuke shot her the same annoyed look he had in the courtyard. When the annoyed look failed to force Sakura to produce their wayward teammate, he addressed Kakashi-sensei, who was lounging on the floor with the book.
"We should probably look for the dobe if we don't want to be late to meet the lady."
"He wasn't with you two? Maaa, this could be troublesome." Kakashi-sensei paused, eye unreadable for a second. Then it relaxed.
"Ah, nevermind. Let's give him another ten minutes, I did tell him he had until five."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura crossed her arms, annoyed at the lease Naruto got. "What if he's not back by then?"
"Maa, Sakura, have some faith in Naruto-kun." Kakashi relaxed back into the floor, engrossed in his book.
When she stayed standing in the window, arms crossed, he peeked over his book at her.
"If he's not back by then, we can just swing by the kitchens and pick him up."
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged incredulous looks despite the conflict between them. How did he know?
Naruto, directly beneath them in the kitchens, was loudly boasting about his ninja prowess through a full mouth to his new dinner mates, who'd gathered for dinner at 4 as usual so they could eat before having to serve dinner for their masters.
The children were chattering and clamoring even more loudly, backing up Naruto nii-chan's skills to the adults.
"We flew through the sky like wheee~" Hana, the loudest little girl, gestured wildly, to the affectionate laughter of the gathered servants.
"Naruto nii-chan is going to be Hokage, believe it!" Toruno declared. The cry of "Believe it!" echoed through out the room as all the children repeated their new rallying cry.
Toru, who seemed to be the ruling power in the servant quarters smiled as she ladled out more soup for Naruto. "Is that so? How nice."
She handed the bowl to Naruto, "You'll need to eat up if you're going to get stronger than the Professor."
Naruto puffed up self-importantly. "Pfft, that old fart has nothing on me and my Sexy Jutsu! I brought him down with a single wiggle!"
Toru's eyes widened in horror and confusion briefly but was interrupted by an angry voice.
"Don't talk about the Third like that, Naruto!" Team 7 stood in the door, Kakashi holding a hand up in apology for interrupting their meal behind a fuming Sakura.
"AH! It's five?" Naruto bolted up and wolfed down the fresh bowl of soup in front of him, scalding his tongue. "AH!"
"Come on, dobe, we can't keep her waiting." They leapt away.
Naruto ran after them, waving a quick goodbye to his new friends. "Sorry! I'll come by tomorrow to play some more!"
Lady Hinogawa was on a horse this time, to Kakashi's relief; they wouldn't have to accompany a cumbersome litter or carriage down the city streets. She seemed to have prepared horses for them as well.
A hostler offered them the reins while Hayao tried his best to look through his nostrils at them. A much smaller group of private servants waited behind, also astride.
Kakashi waved the hostler off. "Ah, that's unnecessary. Horses will be more a hindrance than a help in guarding you."
Lady Hinogawa pursed her lips, "I considered that, but this is more for appearance's sake. I cannot be seen entering court appearing poorly guarded, whether it is truly the case or not."
Hayao interjected. "And do something with your attire, we're going to the daimyo's court, not a carnival."
Sasuke's hand twitched. Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder to warn him not to act brashly with the attendant. "That won't be a problem," he said smoothly.
Henge!
When the smoke cleared, the three genin were dressed in full Konoha uniform, mini-flak jackets and all. Sakura smoothed a hand over the jacket in wonder. Kakashi winked at her. "Just a temporary promotion for the evenings."
He turned to the other problem at hand. "As for the horses…I don't believe the genin know how to ride horses."
If the power of Hayao's sneer were captured, it could have powered all of Orochimaru's secret laboratories for a day.
"See, my lady? We should take our regular security detail."
Lady Hinogawa's eyes had widened upon seeing the henge. She sidled up closer, leaning low to inspect Sasuke's jacket closely. This meant, of course, that the teen was given a clear view down the noblewoman's robes. To his credit, Sasuke kept his gaze straight ahead, with nary a blush on his pale cheeks.
"Interesting…is this permanent?" Kakashi shrugged.
Lady Hinogawa straightened up. "Well, it'll be enough to show up with four ninja, on horseback or no. I would appreciate if you'd oblige us to ride, though, Kakashi-san."
Kakashi eyed the horse the hostler was still guiding. Of the many, many things Kakashi knew to do, horseback riding was not one of them, not that he was going to announce that to the clients. He hadn't so much as come across a merchant riding horseback while he had the Sharingan exposed. A quick flash on Hayao, clearly an experienced rider, would sort the issue out, but…
Kakashi swung himself into the saddle behind Lady Hinogawa so fluidly that she was nestled on his lap before anyone had time to react. The normally bold noblewoman stiffened in his arms.
Guy would be the first to tell you Kakashi had a surprisingly petty side to him. That side currently thrilled at how Hayao's grip on his reins went white-knuckled. Eye fixed on the older attendant, he murmured playfully in the noblewoman's ear, "Will this do?"
No response but the quickened heartbeat he felt, pressed as he was against her. She seemed to be struggling to speak.
"Maa, I suppose I could ride separa—"
"No!" She cut in, voice pitched higher than usual. "This is fine!" She cleared her throat. Voice more normal, she continued. "We should go, we haven't much time until I'm due to be presented. Hayao, lead the way."
They set off, Hayao leaking chuunin-level killer intent as they did so. Kakashi took the chance to peek the sharingan out from under his hitaiate. He'd be riding better than Hayao by the time they got to court.
In the meanwhile, he was happy to allow the lady to guide the horse, surrounded by his giggling genin.
The smirk on Sasuke's face told him that the boy was just as happy about Hayao's foul mood. The boy had a mean streak.
Hayao set a fast pace through the city streets, breaking a path through the city traffic with nothing but sheer noble haughtiness. The city locals showed the noble's entourage almost absolute deference, the same way they had on their way in. What Kakashi had estimated to be a 15-minute ride was cut in half due to the obliging way traffic held up for the rampaging Hayao.
"He usually isn't in this much of a hurry, I wonder what it could be?" Lady Hinogawa murmured back to Kakashi, a wicked smile on her face. She was leaning back against him now, their bodies swaying together with the rhythm of the horse's gait. The three genin, keeping pace easily, all shared the same grin.
They thundered into the court stables, hostlers leaping out of the way.
Unbeknownst to them, eyes widened in a window.
Sharingan no Kakashi had come to court.
A/N: our boy's in townnnnn
