While Yahiko goes off to check up on Rai's brother - motivated, perhaps, by some feeling of duty towards their dead parents - Sakumo and the others take turns making sure that Rai stays put. They make up some excuse about not trusting him but it's for the better despite the hurt and anxiety on Rai's face. The group's resolve grows all the more when Yahiko returns pale, shaking his head at Sakumo's unspoken question.

When the head housekeeper calls for Kakashi first thing the next day, Sakumo has different worries altogether. 'Kakashi hasn't done anything to warrant suspicion, has he?' His doubts only multiply when Kakashi is led to the main building and the butler greets them at the door. Cold as ever, the man doesn't give anything away as the pair make their way through the winding corridors. All around them, the household is still steeped the sleepy silence of pre-dawn.

They come to a stop deep in the building, where a small training ground stands, its bamboo planted borders lined with lit stone tourou*. It's one of Ame's rare rainless mornings and Hanzou is there with a bokken in his hand, running smoothly through a kata**. His feet draw graceful patterns in the sand as he moves in a sure, meditative way, restrained power in each of his forms.

The butler prompts Kakashi to kneel and he does, bowing low until his hair brushes the cool floorboards of the veranda. No-one calls out to Hanzou; he knows they are there and he will acknowledge them when he sees fit. Sakumo narrows his eyes at him just on principle but the tight knot in his stomach eases a little. Hanzou won't bother playing mind games with a civilian servant; he'll just order him off to interrogation like Rai's brother.

At last, Hanzou finishes whatever training schedule he has and walks up to them on silent footsteps. "Hanzou-sama, the replacement for the one you sent to Murakami-sama..."

Rai had mentioned that he was one of Murakami's. From the butler's words, Sakumo supposes Hanzou has sent one of his servants to replace Rai, leaving an empty place amongst his own. As for whether it is a sign of distrust rather than plain generosity towards his wife, Sakumo thinks the former.

"Raise your head," Hanzou commands impassively, tucking the bokken into his obi and resting his forearm against the pommel. Kakashi straightens, though he keeps his eyes respectfully on the floor. "What's your name, boy?"

"Kazuo, my lord."

"Hm. Age?"

"Eleven, my lord."

"You're a bit small for your age," Hanzou remarks idly as he ascends the steps leading up to the veranda. Kakashi just bows his head a little lower, uncertainty radiating from his posture. The Ame-nin pauses at the last step and kicks off the sand on his sandals. "Do you know how to read?"

"F-forgive me, Hanzou-sama, I..." Kakashi forehead touches the floor again, his shoulders hunched. Unable to continue watching his son abase himself, Sakumo turns his eyes to the brightening skies and lets out a shuddering exhale. ''It's just your pride talking, Hatake, this is for the mission.'

Completion of the mission, and nothing else, is pride and dignity for a shinobi. (But Sakumo really hates that voice in his head. How can one thing both make and break him? All that blood on his hands, his own amongst others...)

"That's acceptable," Hanzou says, walking past Kakashi and into the building. "Youta, get Sora to show Kazuo around."

"Understood," the butler answers, bowing.

"Thank you, Hanzou-sama!" It's a promotion and Kakashi reacts accordingly with restrained excitement and apprehension. Getting closer to Hanzou is an unexpected boon for the mission too, so for once Kakashi and Kazuo might be in agreement. Sakumo tries to think of silver linings - 'the mission, Hatake, the mission' - but when he remembers Rai and his brother, all he feels is the lump in his throat.

"Work hard," Snake says with a faint smile as she tries to smooth Kakashi's hair into something neater. Even in disguise, Kakashi's hair is a rebellious thing with a mind of its own. "And be careful."

"Yes, nee-chan." His placid tones turn into a low growl when when Snake pinches his cheek and pulls. "Nee-chwaaan."

Now that Kakashi has been promoted, he is not allowed to leave the compound at all. Luckily, it doesn't change much since it has been Snake's job thus far to send out their status reports when the older maids bring her along to the wet market. These irregular opportunities are all they have to get information out to the Akatsuki and consequently, to Konoha. Due to the Paper Burning Barrier jutsu that protects the compound like a glass dome, not even Konan can send her paper animals to contact them.

The brief replies in Minato's hand have always come back the same: "orders unchanged". The show goes on even as Kakashi steps into deeper waters.

"Don't talk about anything you see or hear, or Hanzou-sama will cut your tongue out," Sora warns as he runs through Kakashi's new duties, the main one of which is to be the food taster. Any poisoning attempt will kill Kakashi first before it does Hanzou, and in the case of slow-acting poisons, the forewarning provided by a dead food taster will enable a med-nin to act more quickly than otherwise. Courtesy of ANBU, Kakashi has an immunity towards most poisons. It's cold comfort, however, since anyone trying to kill Hanzou - a man known for his own salamander-derived toxicity - will use the most lethal concoction they can obtain.

Sakumo counts down the weeks until they are due to return to Konoha. 'Just 7 more.' Still, that's 147 chances for fatal poisoning and 147 too many.

*(灯籠) traditional Japanese lanterns

**(型) detailed choreographed patterns of movements; form (Wikipedia)