Ino was pulled awake by the rapping on the door; she opened her eyes and looked around the dark room illuminated by the silvery moonlight slipping in through the window. She figured she couldn't have been asleep for very long because she could still see small wisps of smoke floating through the air from Kumo's pipe. She had fallen asleep next to Kumo after another healing session, she had given him a sedative to help him sleep and he had enjoyed a smoke as she cuddled up next to him waiting in the dark for the drug induced sleep to take effect. Another knock came and she slipped out of the covers grabbing one of Kumo's shirts and slipping it on and moving to the door cracking it open and squinting her eyes at the bright light on the other side.

"What's the point of having a private room in this inn if you don't sleep in it?" Asked Nenshō standing on the other side of the door with his arms crossed. Ino frowned and reluctantly stepped out into the hallway.

"I see you still have a habit of wearing Kumo's shirts, some things never change." He said looking her up and down. "Why did you wake me?" she asked not in the mood for small talk. "Can we talk downstairs?" he asked leading the way. Ino swallowed the urge to tell him to go to hell and return to her blissful sleep; instead she followed him downstairs into the empty teahouse taking a seat in one of the chairs. Ino could see that some food had been laid out for him the empty bowls were stacked in front of him as he rolled himself a cigarette.

"I did some scouting earlier tonight; it seems we were followed here by those ANBU and their talking to some of the local bandits outside of town, it shouldn't be long before they arrive for us." He explained pressing his finger into the tip of his cigarette igniting it; Ino hung her head and sighed.

"So then what do we do? Do you think we can try losing them on the way back to Konoha?" she asked staring at the table. Nenshō shook his head, "I think it's too late for that, if we try running now we'll more than likely be ambushed in the wild. I don't see much choice other than trying to hold out here right now while we have a place we can defend from."

"What about the villagers?" she asked, "shouldn't we tell them to expect trouble?"

"I'll inform the sheriff but aside from him I don't think it will be good to cause a panic right now, so long as we stay in this inn they should leave the rest of the town alone."

"And what about Kenkō, or should I say Supūru" she asked crossing her arms.

"She told you?" he asked flicking the ash off his cigarette.

"I found out" she said, "She didn't deny once I confronted her about it."

"Have you told Kumo?" Ino shook her head, "not yet, I promised her I'd give her a chance to tell Kumo herself… but I won't lie to him much longer."

"I see" he said putting his cigarette out, "I'm sorry for not saying anything but I made a deal with her and I need to honor that."

"She said you're trying to gather what's left of Zabuza's organization, have you found any other surviving members?" Nenshō shook his head. "From what I've found she's the only real survivor aside from Kumo and me."

"Are you planning to pick up where Zabuza left off? Dethroning the Mizukage and reforming the Hidden Mist?" she asked leaning her head on the table knowing she was too awake to go back to bed.

"I don't know" he answered, "I thought I would but right now I'm having my doubts."

"Why?" she asked watching him roll yet another cigarette, he pretended not to hear her as he sat in silence smoking and picking at the remaining scraps of his food.

"You know ever since I mentioned Tenten and Eri to you I've noticed you sneaking peeks at the picture of Tenten Kumo gave you when you left."

He glared at her but Ino was hardly phased she'd never admit it to him but she considered herself one of the few people that could test Nenshō's patience and get away with it, once she had ignored his death threat and discovered Kumo's secret she had found herself able to push his limits more than most. She didn't know if this was because she was dating his best friend or because he genuinely liked her enough not to kill her. "I didn't bother looking at the damn thing before you told me about her." He sighed pulling out the worn picture in his back pocket.

"When I left everything behind in Konoha, I decided it might be my time to retrieve Zabuza's sword. I had my doubts about whether I had earned the right to carry my master's sword but in the two years since I pulled in from the ground I never looked back or had second thoughts about taking it into my possession."

"And now?" she asked.

"And now… it feels a little heavier than before." He sighed letting out a plumb of smoke into the air and Ino started to wonder how she managed to surround herself with heavy smokers' to the point where she felt more comfortable surrounded by a cloud of smoke than she did in fresh air.

"It's not your fault what happened" she said folding her hands in front of her, "It's not like you knew she was pregnant when you left, Tenten's convinced it happened on the night you left. So you shouldn't blame yourself."

"I keep telling myself that" he said looking at the red cherry burn in front of him, "but if I had known, I wouldn't have just left like that, I would have figured something out."

"Maybe" Ino said, "but you don't need to tell me things would have been different if you knew a kid was on the way, I know that and so dose Tenten. I'm grateful for what you did for Kumo and we're not the only ones who know why you did what you did. Most of the village is opinionated about your actions and not everyone is against you, to be honest a lot of people are sympathetic to you."

Nenshō didn't say anything for a while and finished his cigarette, "What's she like? My daughter?" he asked snubbing the fag out in the ashtray.

"Eri?" said Ino surprised at the sudden question, "well let's see she has brown eyes and inherited your red hair and bronze skin. She's only two but she's a pretty good talker and can speak well for her age, she loves drawing and playing with dolls some of which Kumo made for her, he'll often make them dance much to her pleasure. Last time I saw her she was crying because she had accidently activated her Kekkei Genkai and burned one of her favorite dolls while playing, she wouldn't stop crying until I told her time and time again that Kumo would make her a new one as soon as he returned home. It took some time but we managed to convince Guy sensei that two years was way too young to begin shinobi training. Guy fancies himself her God-farther but legally Kumo holds that title, he's taken that to heart so far. She doesn't have a lot of friends but that doesn't seem to bother her, she seems to enjoy being a loner, kind of like you."

Nenshō smirked, "I guess she really is my daughter in that case." Ino nodded, "We've never had any doubt of that" Ino stood up from the table and stretched out walking back to the stairs to return to bed with Kumo, "I'm going back to bed now, I'll see you in the morning."

Nenshō nodded, "Hey Ino… Thank you."

Supūru Sabaku maneuvered the blade in her hand with trained precision cutting the tobacco leaves while Nenshō watched her and waited patiently. She trimmed the leaves and poured them into a pouch. She moved back into the living room and grabbed her clay pipe pulling a pinch out of the bag and stuffing it into the bowl; she moved over to the fireplace and grabbed a small red ember from the flames with the tongs dropping it into the bowl to light up the leaves and send a stream of smoke thought to stem. She sat down across from Nenshō letting out a plumb of yellow smoke. "So how many ANBU are on your trail?" she asked continuing the conversation he had begun when he had first entered into her home leaving Ino and Raion to look after Kumo while he came to visit her and pickup whatever remedy she had concocted today, so far all she could do was attempt removing the poison from Kumo and was having no luck coming up with a cure for whatever was blocking his chakra.

"I don't know, could be a dozen could be more but their talking to some of the bandits so that can't be very good, I saw it happen last night while I patrolled the forest, they'll come here soon."

She sighed, "Well it seemed inevitable they would come for you I suppose, I hope you don't plan on trying to lead them away from my son."

Nenshō nodded, "They're not going to leave Kumo and Ino alone even if I try leading them away it'd be pretty pointless to leave loose ends that'll blow the lid on their operation, so I'm sticking with them until their back in Konoha. After that they'll be on their own I can't help them."

"The danger will hardly be over once they return I hardly see how putting them in the hornets' nest makes them safer." She said puffing at the stem of her pipe, "The ANBU will be able to keep a closer eye on them and keep them at a closer range."

"Maybe" admitted Nenshō, "but the closer they are to home the more eyes will be on them and these renegades will have to worry about the Hokage and the several thousand other shinobi in the village not to mention fellow ANBU members who remain loyal to the village and haven't joined in this little charade. And once the two of them have gotten word out of what's happened they'll be an investigation conducted by internal affairs once that happens they'll have to either stay low and hide or run away, either way they'll eventually be brought down and Kumo can resume his life."

"And go back to taking care of Eri for you" she added.

"Ino told you about that" he said pulling a pre-rolled cigarette from his pocket and lighting it, "I should have guessed she'd mention something once the identity game ended, she was always a nosy girl."

"So I've heard my future daughter in law told me about how her nosiness served her quite well, besides you can hardly blame her for confiding her in mother in law. Raising a child can take a lot out of anyone, believe me I know."

"If you're trying to instill a sense of guilt in me for all the trouble I've caused my best friend and his fiancée then don't trouble yourself I've already done that myself" he grumbled not wanting to hear what he's already said to himself.

"I'm not talking about those two I'm talking about that girl, Tenten I think her name is nice looking girl too" she commented holding up the photo Nenshō kept of her, it wasn't the first time she had picked his pocket.

"Give that back" he commanded snatching the photo out of her hands that seemed to look less and less worn and boney, he made a note to ask her if she planned on returning herself to her original appearance. She didn't protest to him taking the photo back, "I'm curious what you plan on doing for that girl and her child."

"There's nothing I can do" he answered tucking the picture away and stamping out his half-finished cigarette thinking he would have stayed at the inn and let Ino pick up todays medicine.

"You and I both know that isn't true Nenshō, just how close are you planning to get to Konoha before you leave those two on their own?"

"As close as I can get" he said knowing what she was suggesting and wondering just how stupid she thought he was.

"Well then you should have no problem making all the way back home then, I'm sure you can spare time for a visit" She explained tapping a few ashes from her pipe, "don't you think I'd be nice to see her at least once."

Nenshō opened his mouth to protest but was cut off with the sound of a bell ringing in the distance; the town's alarm bell was ringing three chimes at a time warning the village of bandits. He had heard the bell the first night in the village; it had been half a year since the bell had rung for bandits. He supposed it wasn't fair for the thing to gather dust; it existed for this very reason after all. Nenshō stormed to the door grabbing his sword as it leaned against the wall next to the coatrack. He hefted the weapon over his shoulder and took off towards the center of town taking towards the roofs hopping across the tiles and thatch. He climbed atop the towns in and ran across the roof to look down upon the towns square; he spotted Ino standing in front facing half dozen men brandishing a variety of weapons. From their haggard and rather clumsy fighting stances he doubted they were actual Shinobi, meaning they were more than likely watching from a distance. One of the bandits charged Ino thrusting a spear her direction, she twirled on the ball of her heel avoiding the weapon and closing the distance and sliding her tanto across his throat opening the skin and staining the ground with his spilling blood. Nenshō hefted the heavy curved sword off his back and spun gaining momentum and chucking the blade with all his strength and sending it flying at the crowd of the gathered highwaymen. The blade spun through the air like a shuriken cutting into a bandit cutting him in half and clipping another spilling his intestines, the blades curved tip dug into the ground standing at an angle its final act in its travel it cut into the foot of another degenerate. An arrow flew past his face missing him by only a few inches, he turned his gaze and cursed spotting an archer a few houses away notching another arrow. If it wasn't for the wind it was very likely the deadly missile would have pierced his face and ended him, if only the man had simply compensated for the wind properly he could have killed him, the common mistake would cost him his life. Nenshō drew a kunai from his holster and tossed it with a nice reminder to take the wind into account, the steel struck home and buried into the archer's chest, if the blade didn't kill the man the fall off the roof certainly did.

Nenshō hopped off the roof and took a place by Ino's side drawing another kunai, "Where's Raion?" he asked charging a bandit and easily burring the blade in his gut. A he dodged a chakra charged two finger jab, he abandoned the knife to evade the fist and reestablish his bearings taking measure of his new attacker. Protruding veins framed the all too familiar eyes of the Hyūga clan, Nenshō looked him up and down, his armor and weapons were not very different than those of the bandits they had just been fighting, hiding among the common criminals, clever.

Nenshō flashed his hand signs and shifted the metal of the kunai he had left in the dying man's back forming the harmless hilt into a deadly spike and shooting it off towards the attacking Hyūga with great speed. The man spun on his toes, not to avoid the weapon but to face it head on. His fingers glowed blue and flashed like lighting across the sky striking the very tip of the speeding spike making it flash azure and halt dead in its tracks. Small drops of blood dripped from his middle finger where he had touched the spike but they might as well had been pricked by a sewing needle. Nenshō hardly had time to ponder what he had witnessed before he found himself evading more attacks, he leapt back to put some distance between them and flashed more hand signs trying to make his Kekkei Genkai work on the immobilized steel he had been shifting. He willed the metal to reshape, form into a deadly bladed whip, a long spear for him to keep the man at bay, something. But the metal had become just that to him, cold inanimate metal that could not aid him in this fight, his Jutsu had been defeated by this man, Nenshō just felt his heart sink.