The Beast, the Woman, and Her Flowers
A/N: Here I am. And this is more about Haru and Shikai's relationship, so...
"He is no brute, he is a man.
Konoha's Green Beast has met his match in a woman with flowers in her hair.
Haru was twenty-two years old when she saw the dragon inked onto Shikai's back.
They were in a bathhouse east of Kirigakure, an old one with its elderly owner and her granddaughter as the only other people in the establishment. They had just finished a mission that day, an escort mission turned bloody when their charge's own people turned against him.
They fought, the two of them, against sixteen soldiers.
Haru looks at Shikai's pensive expression and notices the cut on her cheek.
"They got to your face." She muses.
Shikai sinks neck-deep into the steaming water and breathes shallowly.
"At least they didn't get to yours." She replies.
However, Haru had three cuts on her left arm and she was sure she had a large bruise forming on her right thigh.
"Right." She says, watching her blood seep into the milky water.
She frowns at the sight of it.
Haru sees the dragon again, but this time they're in the Konoha Hot Springs.
It's late in the afternoon and they had been informed earlier that a Lady Miyabi had a booking here for a spa treatment and a dinner.
"Miyabi-hime ought to come to these things when she is invited." Shikai had frowned when they arrived at the entrance.
"Oh, hush. You mean Miyabi-hime should give us missions like this more often."
Haru knows that Shikai is a picky woman, that despite her bare appearance, she would never eat at cheap establishments by choice and wouldn't pass up on an opportunity to indulge in the finer things in life.
Haru knows that Shikai is like her, at least to some extent.
And so when faced with the dragon again, at the far end of the spring, Haru dares ask a question that has been on her mind for quite some time.
"A dragon often symbolizes strength." She mused, "I wonder what yours symbolizes, Shikai-san."
It was a white dragon, twisted and curling, and behind it was a tumultuous ocean. Haru doesn't know if the dragon is floating above it or trapped within its waves, writhing in desperation. Its expression is quite hard for her to decipher, its fangs are bared as if in anger, or perhaps it is in pain, or perhaps in joy? Are the waves even the waves of an ocean? Or perhaps they are those of a river? A lake?
"If you're wondering where it is, it's in an ocean." Shikai begins.
"So it's in the water?"
Shikai paused.
"I don't know..."
Haru wonders how she could have a tattoo and not know what it meant or what it depicted.
"Do you think the dragon is drowning?" She asked carefully.
Shikai doesn't answer.
"I'd like to think it had just risen from the water." Haru offers.
Shikai looks down at the water in the spring, and Haru wonders if what she said was right.
The dinner spread is glorious, and the food selection is expensive. Haru noticed that Shikai's mouth hung agape at the sight, and laughs.
"Surely Miyabi-hime wouldn't be able to consume all of this either." Haru spoke. "Perhaps she was expecting guests?"
"Something doesn't seem right." Shikai kneeled in front of the table and picked at the food with chopsticks. "Why the first night, Miyabi-hime?"
"Perhaps she expected us to bring friends along."
Shikai could only think of one answer.
"Who would threaten her life here and so soon?"
Lady Miyabi is rich, famous, and surely someone, somewhere in the world wants her dead.
"The Chuunin Exams are a troublesome time, Shikai-san." Haru sat across her. "Miyabi-hime just took precaution."
"She could have just booked us an inn." Shikai frowned at the sight of food. "Things like these are hardly necessary."
"Let's enjoy the finery while we can, Shikai-san." Haru reached over to the bottle between them. "Sake?"
Shikai raised her cup in silence.
"Cheers." Haru smiled.
In her mind, she wondered if there was a chance that he would be around the premises. It would be a pity to see such good food go to waste.
And he was. At least, if by "premises" Haru meant within thirty miles of the Hot Springs. They approached a restaurant, a homey establishment, and he came out of the very same place. Or rather, was carried out by two younger shinobi. His face was bruised and cut, and his clothes were dirty and bloody.
"Oh, dear."
Shikai held Haru's wrist before she could step forward.
"Don't, Haru."
Haru's arm stiffened in her grip.
"Don't interfere."
The younger woman glared, and Shikai could only think of the many ways she could force her way out of the ironclad grip. But Shikai, being the taller one, stared right back at her.
"Miyabi-hime said to help those in need."
Shikai dislikes it when Haru uses Lady Miyabi's words.
"The hospital is right around the block."
Haru's glare didn't disappear.
"You're going to expose us." Shikai continued.
Haru kept her response sharp, "As if medical ninjutsu is such a rarity."
"But seemingly ordinary women who practice it are."
Haru snapped, as if struck by lightning, and Shikai smiled in spite of this.
"Ordinary?"
"Yes." Shikai pulled Haru before she could move. "And remember, we're here as guests, nothing more."
"Not even a single act of kindness?"
"If he were so helpless."
Shikai's grip didn't falter, and Haru could simply watch as the man's companions dragged him away. She knows that this isn't anything new, and Haru knows that this isn't anything strange either. They are soldiers, they and the shinobi both. And soldiers get scarred and wounded, bloodied and bruised. This was normal. This is normal.
Still, Haru wonders.
Whatever could have happened to him?
She frowns, and lets Shikai lead her to the inn.
And not too far, a shadow follows them.
"Tomorrow..."
Shikai sits at the low table in Haru's room as the younger woman changes into something simpler.
"What are we going to do tomorrow?"
"I don't know about you, Shikai-san," Haru laughed as she began undoing her hair, "but I heard that the Botanical Gardens here are marvelous."
"And they would grant you entry?"
"Miyabi-hime's token." Haru glanced at the medallion on the dresser.
Shikai purses her lips. The exams are still three days away, what are they to do? Sure, it was upon her initiative that they depart as early as possible, but she didn't expect to arrive this early.
"Is there anything else to do here?"
"Oh, I'm sure there's something for you here." Haru smiled as she pulled the pins from her head.
But that didn't comfort the older woman. Instead, the older woman sighed and leaned her head against her hand. She simply watched the younger woman undo her carefully coiffed hair and counted the pins that came from her head.
"There's one missing." Haru spoke after her left hand felt air.
Shikai's eyes widened. But it wasn't that she would notice–there was simply too much hidden in Haru's hair–it's just that the pins holding Haru's hair were not ordinary pins. There were jeweled ones sure, but the one that was missing...
"One of these." Haru raised a pin with a yellow flower at one end.
Shikai knew what that pin actually was.
That pin held a syringe with a paralytic toxin.
"Whoever must have found it..." Haru thought aloud.
They've skipped the question of "Where could it have fallen?" and went straight to the important one. If a civilian found it, then it would be no problem. But if a shinobi found it, or if a civilian who found it brought it to the authorities...
"But there's no need to worry, right, Shikai-san?"
Haru was oddly calm.
"We're civilians, after all." She continued. "And it would be hard to trace it."
Shikai hesitated to accept Haru's words.
But Haru was right, to a certain extent. The pin looked unremarkable enough, and its trigger was hidden away in careful twists and pulls. It would harm anyone so quickly. And if they had played with it for more than a little while... The toxin wasn't so deadly. They would be paralyzed for half an hour at most.
But that was the best case scenario.
"The worst case..." Shikai muttered.
"Don't think about it too much, Shikai-san." Haru comforted the stiff woman, "Sleep will do us both some good."
She nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Haru."
It was just the first night, after all.
And the first night in any place, as Shikai knows, is often the most dangerous one. Enemies are bound to lurk and would-be assassins would take this opportunity to fulfill a contract. They're paid higher the quicker they get it done, after all. And what would be a better time to strike than at night?
Shikai thinks that if there ever were assassins out to kill Lady Miyabi, a more opportune time would have been in the hot spring. It's easier to drown someone than to force a blade through their chest. And even easier to poison the food or drink rather than to strike from far away.
So the first night comes, and there is no threat to either of their lives just yet.
But there is a thief.
She senses him even before she slides open her door.
But what is there to steal from her? Clothes? Food? Whatever money she has left in her room? She doesn't sense him trying to leave, though, it's more like he's waiting for something.
So perhaps she had spoken too soon about there being no threat.
Like always.
She sighs inwardly before sliding the door open.
"Lady Miyabi is not here. You've wasted your time."
She expects the would-be assailant to rush forward, aim a decisive cut to her neck or perhaps move to incapacitate her and disappear without a witness, but he doesn't. Instead, he's leaning against the wall–all aloof and quiet–one hand in his pocket and another holding a hairpin. Haru's hairpin.
Well, guess that answered the question.
"So," Shikai doesn't move from her spot at the door, "what brings you here?"
The man's so shocked at her words that the needle almost falls out of his mouth.
Almost.
Well, that sentence he did not expect.
He didn't expect the pretty woman's companion either.
Shit.
There are about three other ways Shiranui Genma could have planned this.
"Wrong room."
A/N: Okay. So nothing happened. Anyway, read my other work (War-torn) because I just love putting characters in difficult situations.
Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for reading!