Chapter 7: The Business Meeting
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me.
###
Shikamaru sat with his head propped on an arm, trying to keep his eyes open as the representatives of two small villages argued over who would pay for a road between the two. What he really wanted was to put his head down on the table and sleep, but that would be unseemly. He had already gotten a warning glare from Iruka, who remembered Shikamaru doing just that from his classroom days. Before becoming Lady Tsunade's clerk, Iruka had been a teacher. Shikamaru thought that must have been good training for this job.
Looking around, he could see that most other attendees at the business meeting shared his torpor. Some were outright dozing; others were fanning themselves or engrossed in drinking sake or eating sweets. Even the Kazekage looked like she would have vastly preferred to be elsewhere. The meeting had been going on for more than two hours now, and they had still not gotten to the issue of Hyuuga-san. Instead he had had to listen to an interminable parade of petty squabbles and pointless pontificating.
It was all even more stultifyingly dull than he had feared. He almost wished he could be in the Pet Room instead. But he was stuck here.
###
Neji fervently wished he could be in the business meeting instead of being stuck in the Pet room. He hated the idea that his fate was being decided behind closed doors while he sat in here sipping tea with these…girly-boys. Nevertheless, his time in the Pet room was proving more interesting than he had thought. As Shikamaru had said, the Pets knew all the gossip. He had found out that the Kazekage had a gambling problem and liked her sake a bit too much, and that her husband was notorious for peeping in the women's bathhouses and hitting on young, pretty girls.
"Young girls," Neji said with distaste. "I suppose that's why she's so much younger than he is?"
This caused the Pets to dissolve into gales of laughter. Even Sai joined in. "She's not younger, yeah," Deidara said when he could speak. "She's just had a ton of cosmetic surgery to look that way. They're the same age."
"The same as your Master," Sai said to Deidara.
"Yeah, he's older than he looks," Deidara said, "he's had some work done. But," he added with a smirk, "he can still do everything a young man can do."
Neji ventured a question. He still wasn't sure the Naras hadn't just been putting him on earlier. "Does he really write only romance novels?"
More uproarious laughter.
"Not romance, yeah, they are –"
"Porn," Sai said.
"Which your Master reads insatiably, yeah," Deidara said cheekily. Haku looked somewhat disapproving. He did not seem to like it when the other Pets insulted each other's Masters.
Neji felt shocked and disillusioned by the whole thing, especially Jiraiya. But, he thought, what did you expect, really? In such a depraved country, even the great Sannins are bound to be rotten as well.
"Is that why she's the Kazekage and not him?" Neji asked.
The Pets looked surprised. Apparently being a notorious pervert and pornographer were not considered huge drawbacks here in the South.
"It's a long story," Haku said, pouring more tea. He and Deidara told the story while Sai scribbled away in the corner.
When the last Kazekage was assassinated during the war, Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade, both semi-retired, had been unwillingly drafted into service. Originally the elders had approached Jiraiya, but as he believed his wife's powers were greater (according to Haku) or just wanted to keep up his lewd activities (according to Deidara) he convinced her to do it instead.
This did not sit well with the former Kazekage's brother, who had hoped to have the post himself. Put in charge of the young Gaara, he instead tried to kill the boy several times, finally being killed himself when Gaara became old enough to fight back.
"Pretty sick, isn't it, yeah?" Deidara said with apparent relish.
Neji was silent. That particular story had hit a little too uncomfortably close to home. It was not so easy to sniff at the barbarity of the South when he had tried to do the same thing himself.
"You tried to kill him once, yourself," Sai said to Deidara.
"Yeah, when I was in Akatsuki," Deidara agreed.
Neji had also been treated to Deidara's life story. Evidently Deidara considered himself an artist, and his "art" involved making clay sculptures and then blowing them up. This had caused friction with the elders in his home village of Iwagakure, and eventually his parents had kicked him out. He had become a terrorist bomber, and was eventually recruited by Akatsuki, where he met his Master, Sasori. When Sasori left the Akatsuki, he had taken Deidara with him.
"He's an artist too, so we bonded, yeah," Deidara grinned.
"When you were in Akatsuki, did you know Orochimaru?" Neji said.
"He was Sasori-danna's first partner," Deidara said. "They hate each other now. But he left before my time, yeah."
"He left when Uchiha Itachi kicked his ass," Sai said.
Neji took this in. He was beginning to understand that everything Orochimaru had told him was lies.
Deidara scowled. "Don't talk to me about that Uchiha bastard."
"You knew him?" Neji asked.
"Deidara-kun, too, was beat by Uchiha," Sai said, not looking up from his drawing. Deidara shot him a murderous look. Neji wanted to ask more about Itachi, but it seemed to be a very sore subject, so he refrained.
Haku pushed the plate of sweets over to Deidara in what seemed to be a peacekeeping gesture, then held it out to Neji. "Are you sure you don't want any?"
Neji had been resisting, but in truth, he was still feeling a bit hungry as he hadn't eaten that much at dinner. And the other Pets had been eating them all evening and they seemed pretty lively. Still –
"Are they spicy?"
Haku smiled at this. "No…this is probably the one thing they eat that is not."
"What's wrong with spicy, yeah?"
"People from the North are not used to it," Haku said. "You are from the North, aren't you?"
"Yes," Neji said.
"Me too," Haku said. Neji nodded. He had suspected as much, from Haku's looks. "I am from a small, snowy village in the far North, just outside Kirigakure."
"How did you get so far south?" Neji asked. Kirigakure was about as far north as you could get. It was a good distance even from Konoha, let alone the South.
Haku looked grave. "It's a long story, and not a pretty one. But it has a happy ending, thanks to my Master, Zabuza."
As Haku began his story, Neji cautiously took a mochi cake. It was better than he had expected.
###
This business meeting was worse than he had expected, Shikamaru thought. He eyed the lavish plates of sweets in the center of the table without much interest. He was already quite stuffed from eating not only his own dinner, but several bits of Hyuuga-san's as well.
The two disputants in the latest agenda item had reached an agreement. They bowed to the Kazekage and each other, and resumed their seats.
"Item number seven," Iruka read off, sounding weary. "A prisoner currently in our custody, a member of the Hyuuga clan of the North Country, is wanted by Otogakure for the killing of Lord Orochimaru's son Kidoumaru."
There were a few surprised murmurs at this news, but no one even pretended to look sad. Kidoumaru would not be missed by anyone in the room; indeed, Orochimaru and his clan were almost universally hated and feared.
"Yakushi Kabuto," Iruka continued, "representing Otogakure, petitions Sunagakure for the prisoner to be remanded to their custody for trial."
Shikamaru saw some cynical smirks and mutters at the word "trial." Everyone knew what that really meant. No one seemed too disturbed by it, however.
"So hand him over," Baki-sensei, who trained the Sabaku siblings, grumbled. He still bore a heavy grudge against the North for the death of the last Kazekage, killed in the war between North and South. Baki had been close with him.
Iruka fixed him with a glare Shikamaru remembered all too well from his school days. Raising his voice slightly, he went on. "A counter-petition has been filed, by the Nara family, to purchase this prisoner as a Pet."
That woke everyone up. There was shuffling and low whispers around the room as every head, it seemed, turned to look at them.
"The Nara family?" Inuzuka Tsume, his friend Kiba's mother, said in astonishment.
"Nara Shikaku, on behalf of his minor son Nara Shikamaru," Iruka clarified.
"Ah!" Kakashi said softly, as if something had just become clear to him. Iruka gave a brief summary of that morning's meeting in the Kazekage's office.
Now everyone was well and truly staring their way. Shikamaru, who had never been the type to seek out attention even under the best of circumstances, now found himself really disliking it.
Yamato, one of Tsunade's most trusted captains, spoke up, frowning at Kabuto. "The Hyuuga are a very prestigious clan. Why would one of them leave and join you?"
Kabuto waved a hand, as if brushing away a fly. "He told Lord Orochimaru he felt disrespected by his clan."
Shikamaru could all-too-readily imagine that. Hyuuga-san seemed to have an endless talent for taking offense. A tendril of doubt crept into his mind. Was the Hyuuga telling him the truth? On the other hand, Orochimaru and Kabuto were not exactly beacons of honesty and integrity. He couldn't picture anyone willingly wanting to go with either of them.
"I want to register my objection to this proceeding," Yamato said, his voice rising. "I find this whole story difficult to believe. And I do not consider Otogakure a friendly nation." Shikamaru glanced at hm in surprise. Yamato was normally so calm and even-tempered. He shot a questioning look toward his father.
"You know his history, right?" Shikaku whispered. Shikamaru shook his head. "A war orphan, taken by Orochimaru for some medical experiment or other…there were a whole bunch of them. Something went wrong, and they all died except him. He managed to escape, and came here."
Shikamaru felt a chill run down his spine. This had happened to someone he knew, in a place less than a day's travel away. It had happened to hundreds of others, and it was about to happen again, unless he could stop it.
"I am here by personal invitation of the Kazekage," Kabuto said coldly. "The Hyuuga is our prisoner, but we are prepared to listen to the proposition to buy him as a Pet."
Lady Chiyo, the most revered elder in Suna, looked toward Tsunade in disgust. "Are we using the business meetings to trade slaves these days?" Chiyo had a longstanding grudge against the Sabaku clan, believing that her clan should have been the one to control Suna. She also had a personal rivalry with Tsunade (whom she referred to as "that slug-girl" because Tsunade's family bred a large strain of slugs that they used in making antidotes and healing potions). Before Tsunade, Chiyo had been the reigning medical authority (and military poison maker). Tsunade, however, had proved herself to be even greater, earning Chiyo's resentment.
Tsunade looked affronted at Chiyo's question, but she kept her temper. "No, Chiyo-baa-sama, it is not –"
"A Pet isn't a slave," Chiyo's grandson Sasori put in, his tone just short of being rude. Shikamaru knew the two of them did not get along well either. Sasori's parents had been killed when he was young, and he had been raised by Chiyo. What the trouble was between them Shikamaru didn't know, but Sasori had run off in his teen years and joined the Akatsuki for a time, before returning to Suna and taking over the family puppet-making business. Sasori also kept a Pet – not just a Pet, Shikamaru reflected, but some kid he had picked up in Akatsuki who liked to blow things up, a choice guaranteed to give his grandmother grief.
"A Pet is a weapon," Momochi Zabuza agreed. Shikamaru didn't know him well. He was a rough, scary-looking individual with a gentle, feminine-looking Pet. Still, for all his seeming delicacy, Shikamaru knew Haku to be a highly skilled fighter,
"Why all this nitpicking?" Onoki, the aged, crotchety Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, harrumphed. "I remember when everyone kept slaves, why not? What else do you do with prisoners of war?"
"We are not at war right now," Kakashi pointed out.
"Well," Chiyo said, "I say we give him to Otogakure. This business of keeping Pets just leads to trouble."
Tsunade slammed her hand down flat on the table, shocking the room into silence. "We are not here to debate the practices of slavery or keeping Pets! We are here to conduct business between two villages! Kabuto, have you heard from Orochimaru as to a decision on this?"
"I have heard from Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said, with just a hint of frost in his tone. "Given the pain and suffering he has gone through, he thought a fair price would be 100,000 ryo."
Shikamaru had meant to play it cool, but he felt his jaw drop at that. 100,000 ryo! With his savings and the money he would get when he came of age, he himself had just a little over 20,000 ryo. His father had said he could lend him some more, but even with that, they could probably only go to 30,000 – 35,000 if they pushed it.
"Ridiculous – for a Pet?" Shikaku said dismissively. "20,000."
"This is no ordinary Pet," Kabuto said. "This is a Hyuuga, one of the most prestigious clans of the North. No one has ever made a Pet of a Hyuuga before. His eyesight, speed, and fierceness are superior. He is young and in good health."
"Not true." Shikamaru found his voice. "He has a number of injuries."
Shikaku nodded. "He has clearly been mistreated."
"The injuries were sustained while fighting Kidoumaru," Kabuto said, as if that should be obvious. "We didn't beat him."
Shikaku shrugged in a dubious way.
"85,000," Kabuto said.
"25," Shikaku said. "Who knows if he's even in battle condition right now?"
"He was well enough to come to dinner," Kabuto said coolly.
So that was it, Shikamaru thought. Kabuto had not only wanted to humiliate the Naras. He had also wanted to show that Hyuuga-san was well and strong. Probably he had hoped to goad him into a fight to demonstrate the Hyuuga's aggression and fighting abilities.
"He did have a number of visible injuries," Kakashi put in. "And I wouldn't equate sitting on a cushion eating Lady Tsunade's excellent food with being in battle."
"80,000," Kabuto said. "To go any lower is an insult. Lord Orochimaru has lost his beloved son, at a time when his firstborn son hovers near death as well. The money will of course not compensate for –"
"Excuse me," Yamato spoke up again. "As Chiyo-sama has said, we do not trade slaves in Suna. I'm aware that some people keep Pets. But I don't like the way this young man is being bartered for here, like…a horse, or some other animal."
"Animal!" Inuzuka Tsume barked out a laugh. "I've known plenty of dogs I'd trust more than a White-Eyes."
"I've seen plenty of scorpions I'd trust more than a White-Eyes," Baki said sourly.
"Shikaku," Lady Tsunade said, a definite edge of impatience in her voice. "What do you say to that price?"
"30,000," his father said. Although Shikaku seemed unperturbed, Shikamaru was growing nervous. They were reaching the upper limit of what they could afford.
"If you cannot make a serious offer," Kabuto said, "then I think we are done here. Please hand the prisoner over and we will take him back tonight."
Shikamaru felt himself break into a sweat. Kabuto did not have much to lose. If he could not sell Hyuuga-san here, he would simply sell him elsewhere. Could he really get 80,000 ryo? Shikamaru had no idea. Before today, he had never thought about what the price of a Pet would be.
"Just a minute," Lord Jiraiya leaned forward. "Does the Pet have a Certificate of Purity?"
"A – no." For the first time Kabuto appeared slightly flustered. But he quickly recovered. "We had no intention of selling him as a Pet. That was the Naras' idea."
Once again many looks were flashed their way. Shikamaru kept his head down.
"Still, it's a valid question, as it definitely affects the value of the Pet," Tsunade said. "Has he been Used?"
"I have no idea," Kabuto said coolly. "Probably not."
"Was he Used, perhaps, by Kidoumaru?" Kakashi said. "Is that why he killed Kidoumaru?"
"Not at all. He attacked Kidoumaru, without provocation."
"Without provocation?" Shikamaru said. "That's not what he says."
"Was that the provocation?" Tsunade said. "Is that what he told you?"
Shikamaru felt his face grow hot. The way Hyuuga-san had looked, that first night…no, he had not said what had happened, but Shikamaru could guess. But to speak of it this way, as a bargaining tool…it seemed like a further violation.
Shikaku leaned over to speak into his ear. "Well, did he?"
Shikamaru swallowed. He reminded himself that this was his father's money and honor at stake as well. He owed him that much. "Not in so many words, but…" he whispered.
"Yes," Shikaku said, straightening up to face the Kazekage.
"Of course he would say that," Kabuto said acidly. "When Kidoumaru is not here to clear his name of these slanderous lies. This Hyuuga has virtually bragged that he killed Kidoumaru. He is treacherous and savage."
"Not much of a Pet," Shimura Danzo spoke up for the first time. Loathed by the Kazekage and many others, Danzo ran a Pet mill called Root. He took in orphans and trained them from birth to become Pets, in the process erasing all their own memories and emotions. Kakashi's Pet Sai had come from there. Shikamaru had heard about it from his friend Naruto, who was friends with everyone, even Sai. "I wouldn't waste my money on it. Spend a little extra and get a trained Pet. It will save you a lot of grief. No one can domesticate a Hyuuga."
"No one could ride my son's horse, either, before he trained it," Shikaku said. Shikamaru glanced at him in surprise.
"Kabuto," Jiraiya said commandingly. Everyone fell silent. "If you felt he was so dangerous, why did you allow the Naras to bring him to my table and sit at the banquet with all of us?"
There was a murmur of assent around the room.
"The Naras brought him," Kabuto said.
"At your express request," Shikaku fired back.
Kabuto turned to the Kazekage. "Excuse me, Tsunade-sama, but I was under the impression that this was not a hostile meeting. So far, there have been a number of attacks and slanderous insinuations upon me and my village."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "If you feel that way, I am sorry. And I know this subject is not for the squeamish. Nevertheless, a forcibly Used pet is much less valuable. If you cannot come to some agreement, I can examine him medically."
If Shikamaru had been mortified before, now he wanted to crawl under the table. Hyuuga-san would never, not in a million years, submit to such a thing.
"Your son looks like he is losing the stomach for this," Kabuto remarked.
"My son is a minor," Shikaku said curtly. "Deal with me."
A long moment passed. Kabuto appeared to be weighing his options. Finally he spoke. "It has been a long evening already, and I have a funeral that I must help plan for. I will bring the price down to 55,000. That is my final offer."
"35,000, and that is our final offer," Shikaku returned without hesitation.
The Kazekage looked at Kabuto.
Shikamaru waited for his answer. He could feel the tension in every inch of his body. He wondered what was going on in the Pet room. He hoped Hyuuga-san wasn't causing havoc with the Pets.
###
Neji waited. There was nothing else he could do. He could feel the tension of it, wondering what was going on in the other room, even as he sat back on the extremely soft cushions, eating sweets and chatting with the Pets.
He had heard Haku's story, and, as Haku had said, it was not a pretty one. In Kirigakure, many of the games and tournaments were held on ice. Haku had demonstrated an unusual quickness and talent for these, surpassing all others. Unfortunately, this caused his father to suspect Haku was not his child. Whether this was true or not, Haku had never known, because his father had killed his mother in a jealous rage, and would have killed him too, except that Haku fought back and beat him to it. Orphaned at a young age, and ostracized for his parents' deaths, he had scratched out a miserable living, eating from trashcans and fighting wild dogs for scraps. Freezing and starving, he was rescued by Zabuza, his Master. He positively glowed when talking about Zabuza.
"So you became a Pet when you were…only 7 or 8?" Neji asked, torn between pitying him and feeling horrified.
"No, no," Haku said. "He was my sensei, my guardian…he taught me everything. It was only when I came of age that he made me his Pet. He did not Use me until then. We had a real First Night." He blushed and smiled to himself at the memory.
"Unlike Deidara," Sai threw in.
"My First Night was a blast," Deidara said with a grin.
"Literally," Haku added. "He blew up part of the house."
"You had to do something to make it different from every other night, I suppose," Sai said to Deidara.
"So I let him Use me before the Ceremony, so what?" Deidara said. "I didn't come from a Pet mill or a slave trader. No need for a Certificate of Purity on my ass, yeah."
If he was hoping to spark a reaction from Sai, there was none. Sai went on impassively drawing in his book.
Use me. Neji was cringing inwardly at the term. He had no doubt it meant the same thing that Kidoumaru had done to him, the thing he could not remember without feeling that nauseating sense of rage and humiliation. He could not even look at the other Pets.
"You do not mind being –" he felt his face flush with shame at the question, "—Used?" He raised his eyes reluctantly, expecting to see the same emotions on their faces. Instead they exchanged an enigmatic look that was almost amused.
"Your master is…very young," Haku said gently.
"Perhaps he lacks experience, yeah."
"Perhaps he lacks a penis," put in Sai.
Deidara flung a pillow in his direction. "Shut up, you." To Neji he said, "Tell him to ask Master Jiraiya for some instruction, yeah. He's an expert at –"
"—anything perverted," Sai said.
"I said, shut up!" Deidara winked at Neji. "We can give you some tips, too…if you like, I'll show you how to use your hands to make it seem like you've got three tongues."
Neji could feel his face getting hot.
"Stop it Deidara," Haku said, "you're embarrassing him."
"Do all Pets, always…have to be…Used?"
"Well, yeah," Deidara said, sounding confused. "Why else would a man take a Pet?"
"Pets are bodyguards," Neji said, "aren't they?"
"Of course," Haku said. "That is our primary function. Zabuza is the most precious person in the world to me. I would give up my life to keep him safe."
"I will give up my life if necessary to protect my Master," Sai intoned, with so little emotion it sounded rote.
"Of course, I'd protect Sasori-danna," Deidara said.
'The life of a pampered artist is better than being a terrorist bomber for hire, isn't it?" Sai said.
"What would you know about being an artist?"
For the first time, Sai showed a flash of feeling. "My art is lasting. Yours is over in a moment."
"Real art," Deidara said, "is the beauty of one single perfect moment of explosion. It's alive, yeah, not dead and static."
Haku sighed. Neji had the impression he had listened to this debate about art many, many times before. Leaning toward Neji, he said, "To answer your question, yes, we are bodyguards, but we are more than that. There is a special bond between a Master and his Pet."
"I mean, if all he wants is a bodyguard or worker, why pay the price for a Pet?" Deidara said.
"That's what we're here for," Haku said, "to let him Use our body and our soul in any way he wishes. It begins on First Night, and goes on for as long as we both live."
Neji started to reply to that, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sajin, the guard, poked his head inside. "Excuse me, Petto-sans…the meeting is breaking up."
Haku and Deidara rose and went to the mirror to inspect their appearance and comb their hair. Sai went on drawing. Neji sat still, feeling frozen. What had taken place in the meeting?
"Deidara." An elegantly dressed red-haired man was at the door, speaking in a deep monotone voice. "Don't keep me waiting."
Deidara winked at Haku. "Yes, Sasori-danna."
Next was the rough man Neji had seen Haku standing beside earlier; this must be Zabuza. Haku went to him immediately. Zabuza bent and whispered something in Haku's ear, which made him giggle and blush. Haku gave a small bow to Neji and Sai and followed him out.
That left Neji and Sai sitting alone in silence. Sai looked up. "My Master is always late. I don't know where yours has gone."
Neji decided he was not going to just sit here waiting. He left the Pet room and walked out into the hall. The last few stragglers were filing out of the meeting room. Neji pushed through them impatiently, and there was Nara-san, walking slowly with his head down, a shellshocked expression on his face.
Neji wasted no time. "What is it? Bad news?"
Nara-san looked dazed. "Yeah…"
Neji felt like everything inside him had turned to ice. He had not realized until that moment how much he had depended on the Naras to keep him from this fate. He drew a deep breath. "Just give me a sword. Or a knife. Are they going to try to take me back tonight?"
This snapped Nara-san out of his daze. "Whoa, wait…oh no, damn, I'm sorry…Kabuto took the deal. You're not going back to Otogakure."
Neji clenched his fist so that he would not punch Nara-san right in the head. "Then what is so bad?"
Nara-san looked down and away, as if remembering something unpleasant. "Kabuto stipulated, as part of the deal, that he is to attend the Pet Ceremony."
Neji stared at him uncomprehendingly. "Okay…"
"They want him to be there," Shikamaru spelled it out, "to see that you are really made a Pet."
"So that means –"
"Yes. We have to actually go through with it."
Neji leaned against the wall in shock. "But…why would he care? He has his money."
"Either they want to make sure we are not intending to make fools of them, or they hope we will let you go tonight, and they will be waiting."
A group of people passed by. Shikamaru motioned to Neji to be quiet. "Let's go." They left the Kazekage's mansion and crossed the courtyard. Although it was now dark outside, the lanterns, and the full moon above, gave off plenty of light.
Shikamaru stopped by the fountain and dipped his hands in the water. Neji wasn't sure if this was protocol or just a quirk of Shikamaru's, but he followed suit.
"Where is your father?" Neji asked.
Shikamaru opened his mouth to speak, but the answer took a while to come. "Ahh…he's…meeting some friends." He looked away, frowning. "My parents probably won't be at the ceremony tomorrow."
Neji gazed at the younger Nara for a long moment. Shikamaru was staring into the fountain, rubbing his head as if it hurt. He looked tired, miserable, and, as Haku had said, very young. Neji could guess what had happened with his father.
Certainly there were many things to despise about Nara-san. He was lazy, and slow, and had a lot of peculiar habits. But as he said, he could have let Kabuto take Neji back that morning. Instead, he had been willing to make a personal sacrifice to save Neji's life.
"Nara-san." He waited for Nara-san to meet his eyes. "You and your family don't owe me anything. You don't have to do this."
Nara-san looked at him wearily. "You have a better idea?"
Neji shrugged with a nonchalance he certainly did not feel. "I got away from them once. I can do it again."
Shikamaru gazed at him for a long moment, looking thoughtful. Then he straightened his shoulders, seeming more energized. "Okay, first we need to check out something. Come with me."
Neji followed him as they reclaimed the horses and started down the road away from the Kazekage's mansion. To his surprise, however, instead of turning right to head back to where the Nara's lived, they turned left, heading further up the hill.
A few minutes later they came to a flat area, surrounded by rocks. Shikamaru stopped, dismounting in one smooth motion. "Leave the horses here," he said in a low voice. "Follow me."
Neji stayed where he was. The whole thing was bringing back unpleasant memories of Kidoumaru, leading him into the forest that night. "Where are we going?" he said sharply.
"To the lookout tower," Nara-san said in a whisper, putting a finger to his lips. Neji followed him in silence until they came to the tower. It was high and massive, made of rough stone with several narrow slits along the sides. A couple of guards were sitting outside, chatting idly. They appeared to recognize Shikamaru and greeted him as he came up.
Shikamaru led the way up the steps inside. Once there, he turned to Neji, speaking quietly. "From here you can see most of the roads into and out of Suna."
Neji went to one of the lookout slits and peered through. From the position of the stars, this would be the western road into Suna. At first the road below appeared empty. Then, in the shadow of the rocks, he thought he saw something move. One figure, two…
"Here," Shikamaru's low voice called him over to the other side. That would be the eastern road. Looking through, he could make out three figures below, two men and a woman with very long dark hair. One of the men had a fur bundle strapped on his back.
"Dosu…Zaku…Kin...down there," Shikamaru whispered, "they're from Otogakure."
Neji went to the far wall, the main gate of Suna. Something moved, something large. Neji recognized the shaved head, the heavy gait…and the purple bow.
Jirobou. Orochimaru's son.
"Orochimaru's son is outside the gate…probably not alone."
"They've got a lot of people surrounding here," Shikamaru said. "You really must be extraordinary."
Neji sank down on the low stone bench inside the lookout, leaning his head back against the wall. He didn't feel extraordinary. He felt exhausted and overwhelmed. He had let himself be tricked by Orochimaru, had let his body betray him with Kidoumaru. He hurt all over; his ribs especially were aching almost unbearably.
"Hyuuga-san," Nara-san's quiet voice broke into his thoughts. "You don't owe us anything either. You don't have to do this."
"I can do it," Neji said. He had said that many times – on missions, in tournament battles, learning a new move that only the Main House was supposed to be able to do. But now, for the first time in his life, he did not believe those words as he said them.
Shikamaru regarded him. "You're already injured, and you never let the doctor treat you. You'll die if you go out there, you know."
But he would take a few of those Sound bastards with him. "Maybe it's my fate," Neji said.
"Bullshit," Shikamaru said, pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning against. "I don't believe in fate and destiny and all that crap. Besides," he added with a wry half-smile, "my family's name is already shot to hell. All those people saw us with a Pet; they know we did this. Might as well just bite the edge of our swords and get it over with." He started walking toward the steps.
"Wait a minute." Neji said. Nara-san stopped, watching him. In his heart, he knew Nara-san was right. But before he would consent to anything, he intended to clear up this First Night business. "There is one more thing. The other Pets told me what to expect...that I must submit to…"
"Oh…shit...yeah." Nara-san closed his eyes and shook his head, as if in pain. "I forgot that. Listen, I know –"
Neji felt himself tense all over. "I will not do it."
"I know, I know, it sucks, but we have to," Nara-san said. "It's part of the ceremony, and Kabuto and everyone will be watching to make sure we go through with it."
Watching? For a moment Neji was speechless with horror and disgust. "And you think your village is any better than Orochimaru's? You can all burn in hell!"
Nara-san reddened, his eyes falling away from Neji's. "I'm sorry. I don't like this any more than you do."
At least he had the grace to be embarrassed, Neji thought furiously.
"Look," Nara-san said, "it's not that bad. I mean, yeah, I guess it hurts, but only for a couple of minutes, and –"
"I will never let you touch me!"
"Don't worry, I don't do it," Nara-san said. "Shizune will do it, or maybe the Kazekage herself."
Neji stared at him for a few moments, blinking. "The...Kazekage?"
"Yeah, she's a doctor, the head of the medical corps, in fact. She's good at it, quick, and they say it's practically painless when she does it."
Confused, Neji frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"The Pet Mark," Nara-san said slowly. "What are you talking about?"
Neji flushed slightly and crossed his arms. "What is the Pet Mark?"
Nara-san stared at him quizzically for a moment before answering. "As part of the ceremony, they will place a seal on your forehead, and a matching one on my hand. It identifies you as being under the protection of the Nara clan."
Nara-san had insisted he wear a headband to the banquet; Neji understood why now - to hide the fact that he had no Pet Mark. He had refused to wear the symbol of Suna, so his headband was plain black. "And as a pet," he said coldly.
"No offense, but in this village, I don't think you could be taken for anything else...except maybe a spy."
Neji seethed at the words, but before he could respond, Nara-san changed topics. "So what were you worried about before?"
It was Neji's turn to look embarrassed. "I...the other Pets, they said…there are certain things Pets are expected to do."
Nara-san raised an eyebrow. "Such as…?"
Neji met his look with a defiant glare. "They said there is only one reason a man takes a Pet instead of a slave."
"That again? I already told you, I like girls," Nara-san said, sounding irritated . "And, just so we're clear, I don't expect you to do anything."
"So what did they mean?" Neji demanded. "Were they lying?"
Nara-san sighed. "No, not lying. Whatever they told you, I'm sure it's the truth about what Pets are traditionally expected to do. It's true for them, because they're all traditional Pets. You, however, will be a Pet in name only. As I said, I don't really care what you do, as long as you don't try to kill me or anything. You can train with my team, or use the training areas on your own, or lie in the grass and stare at the clouds all day."
"Don't be ridiculous," Neji snapped.
Nara-san pulled a small kunai knife out of the pack he carried. Neji eyed it warily, but Shikamaru was not threatening him. Instead he used the point of the knife to roughly scratch the sign of the Nara clan onto the red stone of the wall. Then, pressing the tip to his finger, he let a single drop of blood fall onto the symbol. "Hyuuga-san," he said, "I will swear two things to you, on the honor of my clan and the graves of my ancestors. I swear that I will never touch you in that way against your will. And I swear that I will set you free on the day I come of age."
He turned to Neji. "In return, I will ask only two things of you: that you don't try to harm me or my family, and that you don't run off before you are legally freed."
Neji realized he didn't know exactly how much time they were talking about. "By the way, when is your birthday?"
"September 22, but –"
"September," Neji said. "That's not too bad…just over a month. I suppose I can do that."
"Um…September of next year."
Neji stared at him in disbelief. "You are only fifteen?"
"Almost sixteen. And I believe you said you just turned seventeen, so really, it's not that big a difference," Shikamaru said, sounding somewhat defensive.
"So…a whole year…?"
A whole year of living as a Pet. Neji closed his eyes, feeling sick at the thought.
###
A whole year of owning a Pet. Shikamaru felt sick at the thought. And not even a nice Pet like Haku, but this Hyuuga, who could be even more obnoxious than Sai.
Still, Shikamaru reflected as they walked back toward their horses, it could be worse. There were certainly plenty of things to dislike about Hyuuga-san, as he had noted before. But you couldn't say he didn't have courage. And you couldn't say he didn't have honor.
He just wished his parents saw it that way. His father's face at the end of the evening, realizing that they had been outsmarted by Kabuto and would have to do the unthinkable…so defeated, disgusted and disappointed in Shikamaru. It was a look Shikamaru had not seen in a while, not since the days when he was a lazy bum who was flunking out of school. When Asuma-sensei had said he had a genius I.Q.; when he had begun to be entrusted with missions and gain some respect as a strategist, Shikamaru had gained some of his father's respect as well. Shikaku had begun to consult him on strategy, had started to treat him more as an equal.
His life had been just what he had wanted, he realized with a pang. His parents' and friends' and Asuma-sensei's respect, a good job, interesting strategic problems to solve. In time, he expected, he would move out of his parents' house, marry a girl who was neither beautiful nor ugly, have a couple of kids, and eventually retire to play shogi.
Now, he thought, all that would be washed away, like the ground when the rains came. Everything in his life was going to change, and not for the better.
It was like the old saying: The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. Never in his life had he been the nail that stuck up. Tonight, he had been. And he was getting beat down for it, big-time.
It was going to be a long year. A long, terribly troublesome year.
###
A.N. Woot, almost 2000 hits! Thanks to all my awesome reviewers! And if you're reading, please take a minute to review!
This was a lot of characters with lots of backstories on everyone…hope it didn't get too confusing! What do you guys think?
Btw, I used ryo as the currency cuz that's what they use in the Naruto video games. I'm such a geek ;-P