Haku

Little girls, this seems to say

Never stop upon the way

Never trust a stranger friend

No-one knows where it may end

As you're pretty, so be wise

Wolves may lurk in every guise

Now as then, 'tis simple truth

Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth.

.

Intro – The Company of Wolves

Kiba lead Naruto and Haku through a series of increasingly dank alleyways in a strangely out-of-the-way district to a courtyard devoid of any openings in its sad, stained, stone walls but for a wide, industrial-looking sliding door hung from a rust-splotched steel lintel on heavy rollers. The door sat open about an arm's length, beyond which only shadows lay. Kiba walked in without so much as a pause. Exchanging glances, Haku and Naruto hesitated for a moment then quickly followed.

Inside, a roomy passageway ramped downwards, twisting and turning tightly, sometimes quite steeply, interspersed with long, shallow straightaways. Akamaru's merry bark echoed.

"Where are you taking us, Kiba?" groaned Naruto, both wary and curious in equal measures.

"You'll see!" answered Kiba, maintaining the mystery. "It's not far now."

Almost as he said it, the passage spilled into an enormous subterranean room bounded by the mineral-crusted subbasement walls of surrounding buildings all haphazardly buttressed, and lit by a motley assortment of lamps which ranged from guttering, old-fashioned oil lanterns to modern, high-powered electric floodlights. Stacks of crates, barrels and boxes loomed practically everywhere along with forklifts, cherry-pickers and rolling winches. Strewn amidst the more-or-less orderly stockpiles, sprawled eruptions of overturned furniture, shattered plates and bottles alongside crumpled bodies that lay about in various uncomfortable positions. The rough-looking sorts who were still conscious startled in alarm at Kiba then quietly crawled further away or else waved their hands in expressions of surrender.

"What the hell's all this?" Naruto blurted, wide eyed and mystified.

From the look of the crew and the stink of 'controlled substances', Haku knew at once. "The Yotsu Gang," he answered as much to himself, "this is a distribution center…and right here in the middle of Kirigakure itself." The young shinobi's eyes followed down a wide length of tunnel that fed to a hidden cove. Sitting there docked, a queen upon her throne, sat a stout-bodied boat with a single cabin and an upper-deck wheelhouse. The aft end was packed with eight massive outboard engines ganged together with the promise of extreme speed. "A Tai Fei!" he gasped.

Naruto looked at him. "A what?"

"A Tai Fei – 'big flyer'. It's a smuggler's boat. There's nothing faster."

"That's right!" agreed Kiba, a smile wide on his fang-tattooed face.

"Kiba," said Haku, suitably impressed and melting with gratitude beyond what words could convey, "how…how did you find this place? You've never even been to Kirigakure before."

The genin shrugged. "The smell of gas and opium kinda stood out. Both are illegal for the most part in Fire Country and other places but I guess I don't have to tell you that, huh."

Haku chuckled. "No, you don't," he agreed. "These must be the last ones out after Lord Hirai's decree. There's only one boat left." He turned to his benefactor, rested a hand on his shoulder. "Kiba," he began, "I don't know what to say. Thank you." But as he moved with an eager step towards the Tai Fei and freedom at last from his self-imposed mission to Kirigakure, Kiba raised his arm across the almost-Mizukage's chest to bar his way. From the leaf-ninja's forefinger, keys dangled, glittering like jewelry in the harsh lights.

"There's just one thing," said Kiba as his wolfish eyes flashed toward Haku's and his fingers curled tightly around the keys. "If you want to ride that boat…you're gonna have to fight me. I guess I probably shoulda told you that before."


Kiba

Kiba saw Haku's grey eyes flicker uncertainly, the smile struck from his face, the ninja's expression wavering as if he couldn't possibly have heard right. "What?" he muttered dumbly, stunned and hurt.

"Kiba!" Naruto blared. "Have you gone crazy or something?"

The genin rolled his eyes and turned toward his former classmate. "Hold on, Naruto, you just wait," he insisted.

"And I thought we were friends," ventured Haku in what was supposed to be a disarming lilt but came out aching.

Kiba grunted in frustration. "Of course we're friends, Haku. We fought together, you're my teammate, the unofficial forth member of Team Eight, all of that!"

"Then…why?"

"Not to get too much into it but I've gone on lots of missions and been in lots of fights. When we fought Kaori, that pile-of-crap Eueki and the rest of that Sound Ninja cell back in the Leaf Village, with you chucking tornadoes and me sitting around useless, that was the only time when I felt like I…like I'd fallen behind, like everyone had passed me."

Haku gazed at him, perplexed. "I – I don't remember it that way -."

"It doesn't matter. It was true. I'd always been fast, strong, but while I was taking it easy, everyone else kept working and getting better. Actually, it's 'cause of you that I rededicated myself to my training. And I realized too that, not only had I been slacking, I was missing something – a rival!" he declared.

The slender teenager blinked. "A rival?"

"Yeah! I mean, look at Naruto and Sasuke, they pushed each other constantly and got a lot stronger because of it. Naruto especially. Or Rock Lee and Neji, Sakura and Ino," Kiba explained passionately. "I was put on the wrong team for that. I couldn't be rivals with Hinata, she's way too nice, and Shino?" The genin made a face and shuddered. "Forget it, that's just crazy, all those bugs, ick."

Haku looked at him, still lost. "So…me?"

"Why NOT you, Haku?!" Kiba crowed, gesturing boldly. "You're the sole disciple of this maniac jonin who almost overthrew the Mizukage, you got your senbon, your kekkei-genkai. You're the master of wind, water and ice, you beat Itachi Uchiha and to top it off you're like an international criminal who's in the Bingo Book and everything!"

"They were gonna make him Mizukage too," Naruto pointed out.

"Huh?" said Kiba with a stunned gasp, wolfy eyes wide as saucers.

"Naruto," Haku hissed.

Kiba shook off the effects of his former classmate's update and got back on track. "Ok. Ok, that too! You see? That's even better. As rivals go, you're perfect. You got the perfect background, the perfect, uh, um, you know…" The boy's face constricted as he hunted for the word.

"Pedigree?" offered Naruto.

Both Kiba and Haku shot looks at him - Kiba's exultant, Haku's withering.

"Exactly!" cried Kiba.

"Naruto!" Haku snapped then turned to Kiba. "Not all of that's what you think. There's a long story behind my being selected as Mizukage which was just politics. I was never proud of being of the Bingo Book and anyway I've been exonerated." Haku stared at his challenger in disbelief and shook his head. "You've lost your mind."

Kiba pointed at him emphatically. "It's not lost, it's made up."

The slender ninja's jaw tightened. "I am not going to fight you, Kiba. Friends shouldn't fight."

Kiba frowned and glared. "Did you and Naruto ever fight?"

"Of course, at the Bridge in Wave Country," Haku answered, looked toward the blond genin then back, "everyone knows that but that was different."

"Uh-huh, and what about after that?"

Haku's expression betrayed him. "Um, well…"

"A-HA!" the wolfish genin crowed in victory then pressed his case on the still-unmoved Haku, following as he started to pace away. "Look, don't think of it as a fight, think of it as a-a-a competition, a contest! A friendly contest, what's wrong with that? Come on, Haku. You want to go home; I want to test myself. Let's deal! I know you've been through a lot and I'm not trying to be an asshole about all this. I don't want to hurt you or get hurt by you, just to see where I stand – I have to know. I have to! Either way, win or lose, in just a few minutes you can be on your way back to Wave Country just as fast as that boat can take you. So what do you say?"

Haku's expression squirmed but he looked like he was starting to understand. "This means a lot to you?"

Kiba nodded seriously, watched closely as the Demon's Apprentice stirred with conflicted thought, his eyes searching back and forth between him and the beckoning boat.

"Ok."

"You'll do it?"

Naruto bellowed his objection. "Aw, Haku! Not you too!?"

Haku shrugged unhappily then answered, "At this point, Naruto, really, what's another fight?"

Kiba laughed then whirled toward Naruto, startling him. "Don't you get too comfortable either, Naruto. You beat me at the Chunin Exams fair and square if a little, uh, unusual. That's fine; I had it coming because I took you way too lightly and I wasn't training to win."

"That was like a million years ago, Kiba!" the yellow-headed ninja protested. "Are you really sore about that?"

Kiba shook his head then grinned, a single fang denting his lower lip. "Not a bit. You beat me. I just want you to know: I'm not the kind of guy who stays beat."

"Guys, come ON," Naruto prevailed again, his frustration showing, glowing in his whisker-marked face. "You can't do this."

The wolfish genin gave a sarcastic snort. "You're one to talk. There's hardly anyone left in Konoha you haven't fought."

Haku set down the sack he'd been carrying, stretched and started to warm up a little.

Eager, Kiba moved a few paces away, did the same and turned to face him. Akamaru gave his master a questioning look but drew up by his side nonetheless. "Sorry, Akamaru," said Kiba, kneeling down to cradle the pup's little white head in his hands as he explained. "We're a team, we'll always be a team but this is…well, some stupid personal shit I have to do on my own."

The puppy made an uncertain growl and slunk reluctantly but obediently to the sidelines.

"Alright, Haku," said Kiba, "are you ready?"

His opponent, the Demon's Apprentice, the Angel of Kirigakure, depending on who you talked to but he was both, looked up. Despite how lost he'd looked before there was cold calm in his eyes now. Mist gathered at his feet, issued in ghostly plumes from his nose and mouth when he breathed from the sudden drop in temperature around him. Fractal traceries of frost flowered around his feet, crawled over the warehouse floor. Safe to say: yeah, he was ready.

Kiba, feeling the chill even from here, grinned grimly, fought back a pang of nervousness and dropped to all-fours. It was 'big-fight' time. He'd seen a few, heard of a few – Rock Lee and Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke – these amazing challenges, these tests, these purest expressions of athletic ability, technique, improvisation, composure and strategy. These were the kinds of fights that showed the content of the soul: Neiji was cruel (or had been); Gaara was a killer (or had been); Shikamaru, calculating (no surprise there); Rock Lee, determined, and Naruto, courageous beyond belief!

In victory or in defeat, what would being pushed past his limits show about himself? Kiba was eager to know and about to find out. Whatever happened, whatever the outcome, the leaf-genin vowed to move forward following whatever truths were revealed.


Sakura

'Minutes of terrifying action alternated between weeks of boredom.' That was a good description for the shinobi life. After all the effort it had taken just to get TO Kirigakure, avoid being killed while IN Kirigakure, finding Naruto, getting caught up in the middle of an upheaval and, finally, a terrible battle with one of the world's most dangerous shinobi, things had settled back into the boring part – waiting around for someone to decide something. After so much, she supposed she should be grateful.

You could hardly ask for a nicer place to wait. Mei Terumi, amazingly beautiful and astonishingly nice for a mist-ninja, had set them up in an old, private house with a library and study packed with all kinds of books and games. Chouji played solitaire in between rounds with a strange kind of puzzle, a big bowl of snacks always within reach. Shikamaru, having spent hours with Mei, Ao and Haku discussing heaven-knows-what, had been back ever since, tight-lipped and evasive. He was more than happy to spend his time resting flat out on one of the library's plump couches, eyes studying the designs of the frescoed ceiling above in lieu of clouds. Naruto had gone who-knows-where with that mean-looking swordswoman, Yashako, and Kiba had vanished soon afterwards. Since nobody else seemed particularly bothered by any of this even though getting Naruto back WAS the whole point of them being here in the first place, Sakura had made it a point not to be the only one. Kiba had been acting weird since even before the start of this mission and she hoped he was all right.

Haku, the fulcrum around which all of these intrigues hinged, had been put on a pretty short leash right after the old Councilor, Lord Hirai's arrival, and had hardly been allowed to see anyone or go anywhere since and when he was it was with a couple of minders. She'd overheard some people saying that he was going to be the new Mizukage while others maintained that it would be Mei. Sakura supposed anything was possible, though Haku seemed a little young for the job, just a year older than her! She didn't know much of anything of Mist Village politics but supposed that if they wanted him, it was their business.

Just as she was thinking again about her two missing teammates, the door swung open and in stumbled Naruto with an unconscious Kiba draped over his shoulders. Akamaru followed almost immediately after, bounding around their feet and barking.

"What on Earth?!" the girl exclaimed then jumped up to help her teammate over to a couch onto which the blond genin lowered the body. "Naruto! What happened to him; I can't believe you sometimes; can't you go five seconds without causing trouble?!" Without waiting for his stammering answers that were bound to be unhelpful anyway, Sakura looked Kiba over, checking breath, pulse, eye response, then for any obvious injuries. He was alive – always a good start! Then she found the swelling behind his ear at the occipital bone, the result of a clean knock-out blow, and another bruise darkening his cheek. "Fighting now, here? Honestly, Naruto, what is wrong with you?"

The young ninja's face had settled into a pitiful hangdog look, wringing his hands. "Is he gonna be ok?"

Sakura sighed in exasperation then glared. "Yes, he should be fine, but…" The urge to punch was strong, very strong, but passed, wrung out of her by all these recent adventures, by having found Naruto still alive when all kinds of horrible things could've happened to him. As temper yielded to calm, she realized something: "You're a shadow-clone, aren't you?"

Naruto looked up in alarm then down even more guiltily.

"Ok," Sakura accepted, "where are you?"

"With Haku. We're on a boat on our way to Wave Country."

Sakura tested the taste and texture of that idea then sighed. "I guess that's a better answer than I had any reason to expect."

"I'm sorry, Sakura, and I don't mean to cause trouble, it's just, well…"

"I know, I know," the girl headed him off. "You've got such a good heart, Naruto. I just wish you'd think more and run off less."

"I…I do think…it just sometimes leads me to…running off."

"Well next time just give a thought about who's going to have to run after you."

"I will, I promise!" Naruto smiled, encouraged by the pink-haired girl's warming tone, then raised his hands into a seal to dispel himself. Sakura took his hands in hers and stopped him. "Hold on," she said, leaned slowly into him and kissed his cheek. "Take that with you."

The clone stared, stunned and bewildered before his face bloomed into a radiant smile. In that moment he vanished.

Musing, smiling softly, Sakura switched gears, went to Kiba and started her healing jutsu. With friends like these she was bound to get lots of practice.


Haku

Who guides this ship

Dreaming through the seas

Turning and searching

Whichever way you please?

.

Shadow Captain – Crosby, Stills & Nash

A sharp jolt awakened Haku. Despite a sense of dizzying motion and a dozen aggressive sounds and smells, his body begged to stay down. So too did his spirit. Defeat was never an easy thing to weather no matter what the circumstances. Better to retreat from it. Better to rest. His eyelids crawled heavily back down his half-opened eyes.

Another jolt ruined that idea.

More or less conscious now and with his jaw throbbing, the teenager took a long glance around the Tai Fei – scuffed, white fiberglass and badly worn seat cushions. The air was thick with the stink of gasoline and the tang of sea-spray. Through the windows of the enclosed cabin he could see the ocean speed by as the vessel's powerful engines carved the water.

Naruto, sitting across from him with an amazed, far-away expression, looked up sharply as he noticed Haku stirring and rushed to his side. "Hey, Haku," he greeted cautiously, his high, rough voice creaking with guilt, "are you ok?"

The ninja returned a sour look then brought a hand to his bruised jaw and tested it for breaks or cracks, worked the hinge a little then took inventory to make sure all his teeth were still in their expected locations. Although far from pleased, another look into the concerned, unimpeachably good-natured face of his friend diffused his anger just as surely this time as it had all those countless times before. "Yes, Naruto," he allowed stiffly, "I'm ok."

Up through the opening to the wheelhouse, Haku did a double-take then stared at the blond girl who stood at the helm, very nearly naked but for a tasseled thong, cowboy boots and festive pom-poms. Without fully meaning to, he studied the way her golden pig-tails, round breasts and curvaceous buttocks rose and fell with the motions of the fast-moving boat. Only on closer look at this vision, this tender, underage goddess, did he notice the whisker-like marks on her cheeks, the blue eyes and facial similarities to the genin from Fire Country hovering over him. This time, thankfully, there was only one, not well over a dozen.

He swallowed drily. "What do you call that technique?"

"Oh," Naruto chuckled with soft apologies, "that was my Cheerleader Knockout Squad Special jutsu."

Haku groaned quietly, disgusted with himself. That he'd been caught completely off guard was his own fault. That Kiba had probably suffered the same fate didn't make him feel any better.

"Are you mad?"

Haku's eyes swiveled. He meant to lash but didn't. "It's ok," he said instead. After all, he had more important things to consider. After all the trouble he'd had in Kirigakure, now he was headed home, back to his relatively quiet constable's life in Wave Country, back to Mari, borne by the power of this craft's eight powerful outboards. A winged chariot straight from mythology could go no faster. "You got me out of a fight I really didn't want to be in in the first place," Haku continued and, by the time he said: "No, Naruto, I'm not mad," he actually meant it.

Naruto's face melted with a grateful smile. "This boat's amazing. It's SO fast!" he blurted merrily. "We'll be back in Wave Country in no time!"

Haku smiled faintly then looked back up at the cheerleader. "Are you sure she knows where she's going?"

Naruto's blanking expression was answer enough even before he replied with a wavering "…um."

"Right," said Haku who heaved a breath. "I'll just go back to sleep then." With that he closed his eyes and laid his head back down, gratified to find the sack containing his fine kimono and obi that Naruto had set there for a pillow.

He couldn't tell if it had been a few minutes or several hours that had passed when he felt a hand on his shoulder, jostling him gently awake. Haku opened his eyes, yawned then smiled at Naruto who leaned over him with a very concerned look on his face. The ninja noticed at once that the Tai Fei had stopped and was now bobbing slowly up and down in rhythm with the waves.

"What's up?" he asked innocently, rubbing an eye, once it became clear that Naruto wasn't going to volunteer this information right off.

"Um," the boy began evasively, "we're lost."

Haku blinked then offered with the barest touch of feigned surprise and gravitas, "you're kidding."

"And we're out of gas."

The Demon's Apprentice stared into Naruto's sad expression with an affected deadpan, snorted hard then burst out in a fit of laughter.

"H-hey," said Naruto, "what's so funny?"

Haku tried to answer but couldn't as he continued, doubled over, rolled off the padded bench and tumbled to the deck.

"W-what?" Naruto pressed seriously but he was laughing now too. Equally incapacitated, he tried to pull Haku up but fell over and became hopelessly entangled with him like two extension cords left in a drawer. They continued on like this, comically unable to stand or separate, for some time until the younger ninja settled down and got enough breath to ask - "W-what do you think we should do?"

Haku wiped his tearing eyes and said, sputtering the whole time, "Oh, I have no idea, Naruto," he broke off again, "but I'm really flattered that you thought I would." Haku looked toward the cheerleader shadow-clone who sat at the top of the ship's ladder looking down at the two boys in all her ripe, clueless, jail-bait, nearly-naked, pulchritudinous glory. Inspiration struck him. "I know - why don't you have 'Naruko' stand on the roof with her thumb in the air? I'm sure some helpful stranger will come along eventually."

Naruto, still giggling in spasms, seemed uncertain about the idea. "You think so?"

Haku settled, breathing in between intermittent fits now. The ninja shrugged. "I don't know to be honest but that's all I got."


Mizukage

Lord Kissohamaru Hirai, the sagacious Fifth Mizukage of the Village Hidden in the Mist and over a hundred years of age, stood on deck and watched the port of Wave Country creep closer over the waves. He would have made better time had he simply taken Lady Inoue's ship, The Sophae, with its engines and other quasi-legal technologies but he couldn't stand those kinds of contraptions and greatly preferred the feel and creak of wooden decks, the sound of wind in sails, and traveling in partnership with the ocean rather than cleaving through it. Of course, as Mizukage, sailing about in a metal monstrosity like The Sophae would have been seen as highly questionable and sent entirely the wrong message to the other leaders of the ninja world.

He'd barely held the title a week and already he could feel his office pulling on him, adding to the weight of his considerable old age. Despite that, he'd returned to his health regimen and jutsu and remained still much as he'd been – tall and unbowed, hard-eyed and square-jawed, his hair full and silver as a crown.

But now there was the matter of Wave Country. Kirigakure had been devastated and would require truly vast sums to repair back even to the level of bare sustainability let alone what it had been before. Wave Country was an obvious source of revenue, rich in as-yet unexploited resources and real estate money from Inoue's treasonous scheme. As a protectorate, there were mist-shinobi already deployed there which meant that moving things along to full annexation would be a simple matter. The populace wouldn't like it but such things, as always, were beneath consideration and easily overcome. Fire Country wouldn't like it either but, as the saying went, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. After his mist-ninja fortified the island it'd be much easier to deal with any objections and negotiate a settlement from a position of strength.

Though matters seemed well in hand, the day he'd been selected to be Mizukage had left him slightly rattled in a way he hadn't quite been able to shake. Haku had escaped, somehow, leaving behind one of his ridiculous water-clones to suddenly and spectacularly gush apart right there in the meeting that was supposed to mark his ascension. The lords of Water Country had been thoroughly appalled, the more tenuous of Hirai's allies rebelled and so, when the vote was taken there'd developed a three way split – one faction still supporting Hirai's choice, Haku, despite everything; another moving to nominate Hirai himself, and the last group supporting Lady Mei Terumi. Terumi herself would cast the deciding vote. If she'd relished her position, she hadn't let it show.

Mei

We live in interesting times, Mei had thought, remembering an old world curse to that effect, using the few minutes she had to gather her thoughts while Lord Hirai reluctantly accepted the mantle of Mizukage. The jonin certainly hadn't expected a real shot at being Mizukage herself, not this time. In fact, she'd been hoping for Inoue's spot on the Council, sure that the old kunoichi would have been removed one way or the other before now. She should have guessed that Hirai would put practicality over any ephemeral considerations like justice or even retribution. But this was fine. Filling Hirai's Council vacancy was even better.

After Hirai was done, a pretty short speech for him, all eyes turned to her – their new Councilwoman. Well, ok, she thought, cleared her throat and rose to speak. I don't have a prepared statement but I suppose I can wing something.

"My Lords and Ladies of Water Country," she began with a smile, her tone ingratiating and confident, "friends and colleagues, this is the part where I set aside my supposed reservations, accept this seat on the Council with appropriate humility and begin my campaign to convince you that I am, at heart, a quiet, go-along-to-get-along-type defender of the status quo. After a couple of years of this, after I've raised my profile, established myself and cemented the necessary alliances, then will I show you just how far that is from being the case. I can hardly wait.

"Lord Muso, Lady Nimmyo, Lord Jinsuke, you think I don't know that you were in on Inoue's plot to destroy Kirigakure and begin anew in Wave Country, but I do. Hirai knows it too which is why you'll be his slave from now on and why you'll be mine when the time comes. You bet on the wrong side, how awkward for you, though you weren't wrong by much. Even so, you're still traitors and scum-sucking opportunists of the lowest order."

Mei smiled again, pausing for effect, settling in to the feeling of her new rank subordinate only to Lord Hirai's.

Yashako (or rather her proxy, disguised as the swordswoman) returned a blank, bored stare. Ao sat with his eye closed, arms crossed but somehow managed to seem pleased.

The kunoichi turned to her new master. "Lord Mizukage," she began anew, "since I'm Councilor, I've a duty to give you my insights. Here they are. You've ruled the Mist Village to varying degrees from behind the scenes for decades now, amusing yourself with the power but without shouldering any of the responsibility, interfering with or abandoning village affairs as it suited your whims, controlling puppets who proved either too strong for the yoke like Madara or who broke under it like Oku.

"And while I'm sure you'd love to have someone else step in during these long next years of painful deprivation and rebuilding, all the new sacrifices that some will be forced to make while others, your cronies and allies, will be spared, some shiny new face behind which you'll pursue the same governing philosophies that've lead us inevitably to this most recent disaster, it's sure not going to be me." She waved her hand toward the wet, empty chair, conspicuous by its vacancy. "It's obviously not going to be Haku either." The kunoichi snickered, looked off before opining absently: "Y' know, you got to give that kid a lot of credit for not following someone else's dream, being a cog in someone else's machine, for not falling for an offer that's just too good to be true. There's real wisdom there."

"Anyway, this time around I think it's only right that you stand behind your own decisions. This time you can clean up your own mess. I'd like to add that, given that we've faced a Civil War, a coup attempt and now the near obliteration of our Village, perhaps it's reasonable to suggest that you rethink your approach. But I digress.

"Suffice it to say, when the sum of all your failures becomes impossible to ignore, too much even to blame on our usual scapegoats then I'll step forward and become the Mizukage and I'll have all the support I'll need to really change things the way they should have changed long ago and it will be on my terms, not yours. Now, even if I was to tell you this outright," she fought back a sardonic laugh, "which I would never do but if I did, it wouldn't matter. I know you. I know your sort. What you believe and who you are are one in the same. You couldn't change even if you wanted to.

"Lastly, I'd just like to conclude that I am greatly humbled by this honor and look forward to the challenge of serving as your Councilor."

Smiles and nods all around the table. Ably done. Public speaking had never been her forte' but she figured she'd bound to get better in time.

No, of course she didn't actually SAY any of that. That'd have been catastrophically stupid! Instead she offered the usual, expected platitudes with just enough personal embellishments to make it sound sincere. Whether they believed it or not was up to them.

Disingenuous? Mei thought as she took her seat. Maybe, but to turn rotten fruit into wine requires a little honey.


Next Chapter = Last Chapter.