Chapter 7: Missing You

One bad thing about her current assignment, Yoshino discovered, was the downtime. Oh, if you had to be off duty, then the islands were certainly a great place to be, unfortunately, you didn't get paid for it.

That wasn't precisely correct, she'd discovered. They did get a per diem allowance since they were out of town due to the mission. But the mission itself involved escort duty. Once the tradespeople were actually at their destination, the shinobi weren't actually escorting – so no duty – no duty pay. As soon as the clients were satisfied they had a good working environment they would probably arrange a routine transfer service between the two villages so that the shinobi escorting the in-bound crews could turn right back around and take the departing crews back to Konoha, maybe on a two week cycle. The goal would be a couple of teams of tradespeople, a couple of teams of shinobi escorts bi-weekly.

But for now, she, Asako and Tsuyoshi were stuck here for three more days while the crew settled in and verified that their working conditions were acceptable.

Boring.

Asako had negotiated a little bit extra for them by offering their services as sentries for the tools and supplies they'd brought with them from Konoha. The crew chief agreed it was a good idea, not because crime was particularly bad there, but just because there was so much activity going on it would be hard for them to keep an eye on their own things. Since the village was already full to bursting with tourists and construction people, they'd established a small camp at the edge of town and one shinobi was always on duty there so that the villagers would feel comfortable leaving the belongings they had brought with them.

This afternoon, guard duty had fallen to Tsuyoshi. That left Yoshino with the whole day free. She was wondering how to use it and considering she didn't have much money to spend she was leaning towards just relaxing on the beach for the day. Yoshino rummaged around in her rucksack and found her swimsuit. Preparing to change in the tent she shared with Asako she was interrupted by her roommate's return.

"Oi, Yoshino, how do you want to spend your birthday?"

Yoshino brightened, "How did you know?" She'd been deliberately trying to not think about it. It's not like she was a little kid anymore, needing a cake or anything like that. Still it was nice that someone remembered.

Asako just shrugged and winked at her. "I'm a good team leader – try to stay up on all my team member's stats. So, what do you want to do? Beach? Shopping? Or since the pay for this sucks and everything in this town is at tourist trap prices, maybe just window shopping."

Grinning, Yoshino agreed that window shopping would be the best. She put her swimsuit back and the two women headed into town after letting Tsuyoshi know where they would be.

They'd wandered aimlessly through the shops that lined the streets, starting with those nearest the ocean and working their way back into the heart of the town. Yoshino noticed that all the children's shops were catching Asako's eye. She remembered that Asako had a daughter but was ashamed that she couldn't recall how old she would be by now. In light of Asako even remembering her birthday, this made Yoshino feel pretty low for not having more information herself about the people she was traveling with.

"So, um, Asako, how old is your daughter now?" Yoshino asked.

"Anko? She's four now, hard to believe she'll be starting school this fall." It was Asako's turn to brighten and babble happily about Anko's antics. She may have sounded happy, but Yoshino could tell she must miss her, being away like this. She questioned her about it.

Asako shrugged. "You do what you have to do. "

Yoshino hesitated, full of questions, but unsure quite how to go about asking them. "Yes, but…"

"Not because I have to have to in order support us. I mean, in a way, I guess that is true because it's my job but I could probably get another job. But, it's hard to explain. It's different for everybody I guess. I have to because I'm a shinobi, because just about everyone in my family as far back as I can remember were shinobi. Not all of them, mind you, but the majority. And, it's who I am, it's what I have to do to be me."

"Don't you miss her?" Yoshino asked, remembering her mom home every day when she came home from school.

For just an instant she saw a flicker of anger in Asako's eyes but it quickly passed. "Of course I miss her. I miss her every day I'm away from her. I would venture to guess that your mom misses you, too, when you're gone. Like today, on your birthday?" As soon as she said it she saw the flicker of pain in Yoshino's eyes and Asako regretted how catty it had come out.

"Look, Yoshino, I'm sorry about that. But yes, I do miss Anko, but would she be better off if I were at home but not me? Do you see what I'm saying?"

Yoshino nodded. "I'm sorry too, that didn't come out right. I guess what I should have said is how do you manage?"

Asako laughed. "Be sure to marry a man with a large family and young parents. You'll have plenty of aunts and uncles to share the load, your kid will be a lot happier with a passel of cousins to spar around with and your highest priority mission in life once the baby gets here will be transporting it to and from the grandparent's house."

Camaraderie restored, they went into a children's boutique and picked out a pink frog coin purse for Anko.

The next store caught Yoshino's attention. It was a ladies clothing store with stunning displays in the window. Asako caught the look in Yoshino's eye.

"Come on, we're goin' in," she grinned, grabbing Yoshino by the elbow.

Yoshino resisted. "No, honestly Asako, I couldn't afford anything in there, I'm sure."

"Window shopping, remember? We don't have to buy anything but we can sure as hell have fun trying on, right?"

Yoshino relented. Inside was a bewildering display. Yoshino wandered among exquisite kimonos, elaborate haori, obi, hakima all in the richest silks and most elaborate patterns she'd ever seen.

Asako was teasing her, holding up one gaudy outfit after another. Yoshino just shook her head at each one, trying hard not to giggle at Asako's outrageous suggestions.

But then, Asako held up one that took Yoshino's breath away. Completely un-gaudy, it was actually rather plain until you looked closely at it. Rich, deep blue, it was a sleeveless tunic with a high collar, silvery-white piping around the edges, hem and sleeve. A dragon was embroidered on it, a single silver thread tracing the outline of the creature among clouds. It was very understated, but Yoshino thought it was very elegant. Holding it in her hand she felt the silk spill like water through her fingers.

"I think this is the one," Asako laughed, seeing how Yoshino was mesmerized by it. "Why don't you go try it on?"

The saleslady was happy to assist them finding an appropriate black hakima to go with it, same rich liquid feeling silk. Of course, once she had it on, Yoshino knew she just had to have it, even it meant returning from the entire mission with a netzero gain to her bank balance. Looking at herself in the mirror she couldn't help wondering if Shikaku would like how she looked in it. She lifted the hem of the tunic, feeling the cool silk between her fingers and wondering, too, if he'd like how she felt in it. Giddy, she would never admit to anyone but herself that the embroidered clouds reminded her of the night they'd kissed before she left.

After she'd paid for her purchase, they realized they'd been gone for several hours and it was time to return so that one of them could relieve Tsuyoshi.

When they returned, they found Tsuyoshi leaning up against a tree with that sullen, disinterested look that seemed to be characteristic of Uchiha. He was good looking enough, but the problem was, everything about his demeanor said that he knew it and you should too.

He spoke more words than she'd heard him utter the entire trip. "Hey, Yoshino, I hear it's your birthday. If Asako will take watch tonight, I'll take you to dinner."

Yoshino stood there, not quite knowing what to say. He wasn't asking her to dinner. As a matter of fact, the way he'd phrased it all he'd ask was for Asako to stand guard, and that not very politely. The presumption being that she'd go, that she'd want to go.

"Oh, go on," Asako poked her shoulder. "I don't mind standing watch tonight. You two go on."

"Yes, um, okay, um, thank you, Tsuyoshi," Yoshino stammered, not really looking forward to this at all but not seeing a way out of it.

"Wear something nice, " he said in an offhand, dismissive kind of way, "I know a great restaurant."

Yoshino was still holding her parcel as she slipped into the tent. It was a ridiculous thought, she knew, but the outfit was special to her. She didn't have anything else on the trip to wear though. But still, she'd kind of bought it with Shikaku in mind, wanting him to see her in it. The fact of the matter was, though, that they'd only had one date. What if they never even went out again? One date. That's all it was. She sighed. Today was her birthday after all. She might was well wear it today.

Dinner turned out to be every bit as bad as Yoshino feared. Not that the restaurant wasn't great, it was. But other than ordering, Tsuyoshi had hardly spoken more than ten words. The walk back was even worse, he kept brushing up against her shoulder, crowding her. She kept inching away, but he inched with her. Yoshino rolled her eyes in the darkness. They were back at the camp he didn't honestly think she was…

Then two ham-fisted hands were on her upper arms, pulling her close to him, mouth covering hers, tongue rammed down her throat and…

Yoshino stamped hard on his instep and jumped away as he yowled. "Bitch! What was that for?"

"What was that for you jerk!" she hissed back.

Asako came around the corner. Yoshino looked at her in concern, even in the moonlight she looked, ashen, shaken.

"Keep it down, you two. The clients are asleep." Her voice quavered. "Look, Yoshino, you're going to have to relieve me, now. I must be coming down with something. And what ever just now happened – it's over. You two got that?"

Tsuyoshi offered a muttered 'hai' and sulked off to his tent.

Yoshino ducked into their tent and quickly changed. Asako seemed to be trembling even more just in the few minutes it had taken her to change. "Asako, are you okay? Do you want me to get a doctor?" Yoshino asked with concern in her voice.

Asako brushed her away. "Nah, just coming down with something that's all. Get me a couple of aspirins out of the med-kit would you?" Yoshino quickly hurried to comply. As she handed them to her, Asako said, "You go ahead and take point until sunrise, I'll see you in the morning. And be sure and put on some insect repellent. The mosquitos are murder tonight."

Yoshino obeyed her team captain's orders and took her post. As she sat beneath the moonlit sky, watching the constellations wheel overhead she thought of that evening with Shikaku that seemed like forever ago, even though it was only three days. She sighed, wondering if Shikaku was thinking about her at all. Did he miss her the way she was missing him right now? Morosely she realized that the answer to that question was 'probably not.' After all, he was working with Tsunade.