Hagakure has changed little in the past few years.
After the Fourth Shinobi World War, one would expect life Hagakure to fall into shambles, and yet the town remains the same way it has always been. The river cutting across the village remains the same; bright orange leaves and peach blossoms are flowing downstream to the where the children gather them in wicker baskets to show to their mothers.
She saunters around the village, reacquainting herself with the cubic organization of the streets, remembering where her mother's favorite flower shop, her father's favorite restaurant, her brother's favorite toy store. It's almost as if nothing has changed at all in all the years she was away. She passes by her family home, the compound empty and quiet, having being turned into a tribute for her late mother and father, martyrs of the Third Shinobi World War.
She wonders if she could still find her childhood things there, but thinks not of trespassing the barred, locked doors of her former home. She stills herself in front of their graves, whispers a prayer and a wish for luck, imagining them to welcome her back with open arms, exclaiming;
"You've returned!"
But alas, she believes herself too old for such things.
So she visits Amane Shinretsu, the woman responsible for forming Tori-Hana-Ken among other 3-man teams in secret, the owner of the brothel, Senbara. The older woman greets her with a smug grin as she exhales sweet-smelling smoke from her mouth.
"I never thought I'd see you back so soon."
"It's nice to visit every once in a while, Shitsu-sama." She bows deeply out of much respect.
"So this isn't a business call?" The woman frowns slightly. "Has Konohagakure kept you busy after the war?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth." She laughs. "I thought I'd relax for a while. Take a break."
"You might have come to the wrong place. I've lots of errands I hoped to have someone to run."
By 'errand' she could only mean another contract.
Shikai sighed. "Can we just talk a while, Shitsu-sama?"
The older woman is taken aback, exhaling a cloud of smoke through her agape mouth. She eyes Shikai in disbelief, and without sensing the least bit of dishonesty in her, closes her mouth and hums in agreement.
"You've changed." She comments before she inhales a large bout of smoke from her pipe. She taps the pipe on the table thrice before exhaling a thick, sweet-smelling smoke that immediately flies past Shikai and pushes the doors to the establishment closed.
"There." The woman says, placing her smoking pipe down on the table, "We wouldn't be disturbed for a while."
To anyone else, that feat was quite the trick, but for Shikai who knew this woman from time ago, that was just one of her special abilities to manipulate smoke, a specialized form of Fuuton ninjutsu.
"Show off." Shikai replies.
Shinretsu simply waves this off with a lazy smile. "Come. I think I still have those sweets you claimed to hate."
She follows the older woman to a small room, a private space kept hidden by an elaborate tapestry at the end of the hall. At the center of the room is a low table and four seat cushions. To the left, there is a large peach blossom bonsai. Beside it, a small fountain. Past the table, there is a circular window overlooking the courtyard. To the right, there is a simple shelf half-filled with porcelain and old books.
"You were expecting visitors?" Shikai notes the afternoon set-up on the table; red bean cakes, rice pudding, and an assortment of sweets, along with two saucers and a pitcher of sake, and a teapot and two cups.
"Tenkou sent a letter yesterday." Shinretsu admits as she enters the room, sitting on one of the cushions.
"Of course she would." Shikai comments, trying to recall whether she had mentioned her departure to the younger woman.
"Sit." The older woman motions her to the seat across. "Tell me of your life in Konoha. How is life after the war?"
In all honesty, Shikai hadn't imagined life afterwards to be as it was now. She had always thought that she'd return to Hagakure without a second thought, continue her mother's school as a partial retirement from a life of death and violence, visit her younger brother in Shizoku and spend the winter with him and his family.
Everything is so different than what she had planned for herself and she can't tell if it is for the better.
"It's unexpected, to say the least." She finally admits. "I never thought I'd be indebted to a shinobi."
"How so?"
Sake is poured onto a saucer in front of her.
"They called us friends after the war, not anymore just allies or comrades, but companions." She is still shocked at the fact. "They want us to stay. They even asked if I would mentor their children, if I would accompany a group of young shinobi to Torigakure because…because they found that they could trust me."
She takes the saucer and finishes its contents in one gulp.
"And then?"
The saucer is refilled. She takes a pastry from the table and bites into it, savoring the sweet, tangy flavor.
"And then there's this man." She suddenly blurts out.
"A man?"
"He has become my friend." She says tentatively. "I found that our fighting styles are compatible. He is an efficient shinobi. He is strong, smart. He writes terrible haiku."
There's a heavy pause before anyone speaks.
"He is courting you?" Shinretsu suggests.
"Oh, no!" She becomes flustered at the thought. "I haven't thought of him in that way."
Was haiku, albeit terrible haiku, a sign of one's romantic interest? Yes, at least that's what schools in Hagakure taught, that writing love letters in the form of haiku was part of the art of courtship and romance.
"That's what you think." Shinretsu takes her own cup of sake and drinks coyly, amused at Shikai. "And I thought you're familiar with seduction tactics?"
She wasn't wrong. One of the older woman's basic requirement was that her teams were knowledgeable and effective in the ways of seduction. She wasn't an advocate of using violence to achieve one's goals, she believes a more subtle tactic should be used, on men and women both. Shinretsu formed 3-man teams with the prerequisite that these men and women in her employment were people capable of seducing and subduing an enemy without a second thought.
"I am. Just not familiar with being on the receiving end."
"Aha!" The older woman exclaims, smirking proudly, "So he is courting you."
"No!" She replies quickly. "I would not think of him in that way!"
He is a friend. He is her friend.
"The best romance blossoms from the best friendship." Shinretsu concludes. "I give him my blessing."
"Shitsu-sama!" She shouts exasperatedly.
Meanwhile, in Konohagakure a man's boisterous laughter fills an otherwise quiet room. Hatake Kakashi was a man of few words, Yamato even less. But Kakashi believed that actions spoke louder than words, and laughter expressed much more than any amount of words.
"It's not like that!" Yamato defended. "She wanted a re-take and I couldn't think of anything else."
What harm would a simple verse have anyway? A lot, as it turns out.
"Haiku, Tenzou." Kakashi began, "Haiku has always been the way to a woman's heart. And with her being a samurai and all…"
He chooses his words carefully, hesitantly, "Was she asking that I court her?"
"Probably." Kakashi shrugs. "On second thought, maybe not. Is she showing signs of interest?"
"Not that I can recall."
Maybe they were platonic actions. Maybe he was over reading into her reactions, her sudden invitations. Maybe it wasn't even romantic interest.
"We're friends." He says.
"And wouldn't that be a great next step to your relationship?" Kakashi suggests. "As was in your terrible haiku, a man of wood and a woman of steel." He muses, "I wonder which bloodline your children would inherit."
That's taking it a bit too far, right?
"I haven't…Why are you thinking about it?" He demands, feeling flustered at the thought.
Kakashi sends him a sheepish smile. "If you think about it, it's a lethal combination. You're one of the few to inherit the Senju bloodline, and she's one of the few thought to inherit the Hagakure bloodline. But if she did inherit it…then how lucky your children will be to inherit two of the strongest elemental bloodlines."
"I'm not even courting her and you're thinking about children?" He omits the word 'our' on purpose.
"You'd better get started, then." was his casual reply.