TW: non-consensual touch/violence (not graphic). This chapter is rated M.

Chapter 5: Solo

Yugao turned the old black and white film camera over in her hands. It had belonged to her parents, one of the few items they managed to bring with them when they fled their civil war-torn home country. It might have seemed strange to anyone who didn't know her parents, that in the rush of having to flee their home, with the limited belongings they were able to bring, an item they deemed absolutely essential was a camera. But to anyone who did know them, who at this point was likely only their daughter, it made sense. From what she remembered – or rather, from what they had left behind – she knew that her parents had been obsessed with documenting. They had kept every photograph or document they had deemed important throughout their lives. Their wedding license, genin, chunin, and jounin certifications, a few pictures from their youth, and the letter granting them asylum in the Leaf were all they managed to save from their doomed home. But once in Konoha, they held on to everything, including their most prized possession, still sitting framed in her living room: Yugao's birth certificate from Konoha Hospital, registering her as a citizen of the Leaf.

And their diaries. They wrote down everything, from their family's history to their journey to Konoha to Yugao's first word. Pages and pages of their handwriting Yugao had devoured once she realized that they were never coming back. She read them so many times that she was no longer sure if the images she had of her parents were from her own memories or from their words.

And their pictures. Hundreds of black and white photographs of the village when they first arrived, of Yugao as she was growing up. They took a portrait of her every year on her birthday, and it was for this reason that Yugao had brought out the old camera once again.

Today, November third, was her sixteenth birthday.

Ten years ago, on her sixth birthday, the first without her parents, Yugao had balanced the old camera on the kitchen table to try to take a self-portrait. She couldn't remember now exactly why she did it, just that it felt strange not to, and she kept the tradition ever since. When she entered her teen years, self-portraits had started to feel a little awkward, so she had gotten into the habit of photographing random things that seemed to encapsulate that day – her hitai-ate the year she became a genin, a new pair of shoes at the door when her feet went up a size, and the like.

She looked around her small apartment for something to photograph – the same two-bedroom apartment her parents had been given when they first arrived in Konoha. The smaller bedroom was supposed to be for Yugao, but she had never outgrown the habit of sleeping with her parents when they were alive, and once they were gone she had seen no reason to move. The room was now used to store all the boxes and albums and clothing her parents had left behind, and she rarely ever went into it anymore.

Not finding a compelling enough subject within the apartment, she went to the window in her living room. The sky was surprisingly clear and blue for a November morning, although Yugao knew a winter chill would already be in the air outside. A bird entered her line of vision, gliding peacefully along the cool breeze. She raised her camera and took a few shots. She'd have to take them to the photo shop to get them developed on her next day off.

Instead of flying past her window, as Yugao had assumed it would, the bird seemed to be coming closer. There was something more purposeful about the way it was flying than she had previously noticed, and that's when she realized, it wasn't just any regular bird. It was a summons for a mission – and it landed at her window.

…

Yugao had known this day would come. Kaya had warned her that it would. But she didn't expect it to be so soon.

Her first solo mission.

A mission only a kunoichi could complete.

'Don't try to grow up so fast,' Kaya had told her. She had reacted with anger then, but gods did she wish that she had listened, that she could turn back time and make herself listen, that she could tell them she was still a child even though she knew it wasn't true.

If she was grown enough to kill, she was grown enough to do this.

Kneeling in front of the Hokage in his office, the tightness in her throat prevented any words from escaping – and then they came out all at once.

"Why not an assassination? If this man is trafficking young girls, wouldn't it make more sense to get rid of him? Wouldn't that set them free? Shouldn't we–"

"This is an under cover intelligence gathering mission, not an assassination," the Hokage cut her off, pronouncing each word with utmost clarity. "The target is a relative of the Daimyo. All we need is enough evidence to open a legal investigation with the ruling family's approval, lest we want to incite civil unrest."

Yugao knew he was right. The last thing they needed was for rumors to spread that Konoha had sent operatives to assassinate the Daimyo's relative without awaiting a trial. Knowing that the country's military force could target you at any moment would not make them favorable with civilians.

"Your mission is only to retrieve solid evidence proving the existence of and tying Shijimi Kato to the alleged human trafficking network and prostitution ring. Understood?"

But how long would an investigation take? How many people will be hurt during that time? If they could stop people from suffering, shouldn't they?

"Yes."

"You leave in an hour. Dismissed."

…

She knew for this mission that she'd have to appear as a civilian, meaning plain, un-armored clothing, no visible weapons, and no visible scars or tattoos. She wore a plain dress, one she didn't care much about, and sealed what little weapons she was allowed into a band on her wrist, disguised to look like a bracelet. A slight henge took care of the rest – besides hiding her scars and ANBU tattoo, she made her eyes a little bigger and darker, her nose a little higher, and changed her hair from purple to a dark blue. She had seen the look in a magazine once. It was different enough from how she normally looked, but not drastic enough to consume a large amount of chakra. She'd have to keep it up until she completed her mission after all, and who knew when that would be.

In exactly an hour she met two male ANBU who she had never seen before at the A-Un gates. They were plain-clothed and mask-less, and likely under a transformation as well. They were to act as her captors.

The plan was to escort her to an agreed upon meeting point where they would find one of Kato's middlemen and exchange her for an agreed upon amount of money. The middlemen dealt only in cash, with no receipts or proof of transaction. (But there must be financial records somewhere, the Hokage had told her, and those would count as evidence.) Her new captor would then escort her to the casino resort that Kato used as a front for his illicit business.

Even though she knew it was all fake, even though she knew it was just a mission, Yugao still didn't like the feeling of being sold, and she definitely didn't like the measly wad of cash that had been determined to be her "worth".

They arrived at the casino just as the sun finished settling behind the tree line. The casino was part of a much larger resort town in the mountains only about a day's journey north of Konoha. Bright multicolored lights nestled in the middle of a lush green forest, where the rich – and those who wanted to be rich – came to play.

And where young girls were brought to be slaves.

Before they entered the town proper, to her dismay, Yugao was blindfolded, forcing her to helplessly follow her captor through back streets and alleyways. She felt powerless.

No. Not powerless. She was still a kunoichi. Her sense of sight was not the only thing she had to rely on. Pushing out her chakra ever so slightly so as to not be easily detected, she used her sensory skills to get a grasp of her surroundings. She couldn't sense any people, meaning he must have been taking her through hidden passageways. Cool air and echoing footsteps meant a tunnel. The ground softened, she sensed small traces of wildlife – the forest.

Only then was the blindfold removed to reveal a small complex of wooden structures hidden among the trees.

Her new prison.

The buildings were old but structurally sound, arranged in a rectangle likely with a courtyard in the middle, the few windows narrow and set high in the walls. To prevent any escape.

She was brought to a side door and immediately given to an older woman in a gray uniform with orders to "make her presentable." Being handed off from person to person like this made Yugao feel like a doll, like a thing. But she assumed that was the point.

The woman didn't talk to her; she barely even looked at her. Inside the building was a complex network of narrow, dimly lit hallways lined with closed (and presumably locked) doors. Each room she was taken to was unlocked with a master key that the woman kept hidden in an inner pocket of her uniform. Yugao made a mental note to steal one when she had the chance.

The first room was occupied by a tub, some buckets of water, and an array of scented soaps and shampoos. Two other stone-faced gray-uniformed women came in to assist the first. She was told to strip and her body was inspected for bruises and scars, of which, thanks to her transformation jutsu, she had none. One woman tugged wordlessly at the bracelet on her wrist, and Yugao's free hand came to clamp down over it.

"Not this, it's a family heirloom," she lied, knowing that if she lost her weapons now she would likely never get them back. "Please." The woman conceded and let go.

Ushered into the tub she was assaulted with bucket after bucket of ice cold water, shivering as her skin was scrubbed raw and her hair pulled straight.

In the second room she was gotten into hair and makeup; In the third room she was given a gorgeous deep blue and pale pink silk kimono to wear – probably the most luxurious thing she had ever worn; In the fourth she was served tea and sprayed with sickly sweet perfume. If she hadn't known what it was all for, she might have felt like she was being pampered.

The entire time, none of the maids would speak to her, until she was brought to the fifth and final room in the southernmost building of the compound.

"Wait here," she was instructed.

"For what?" she called out desperately, before the woman had a chance to close the door.

The woman hesitated, keeping her eyes on the floor. "The boss always goes first." The door quickly slid shut and Yugao heard the lock click; and, she knew that – in more ways than one – she was completely, utterly alone.

The boss. Undoubtedly that meant Kato. And he always goes first, for what? Every reason Yugao could think of sent a shiver down her spine.

But worrying over it would get her nowhere. She decided to inspect the room as she waited. This one was much larger than all the previous ones, the floor heated and the woodwork ornate and elegant. It was lit only by gas lamps positioned on the floor around the room, their flames flickering against the windowless walls, but they were not the only source of light. She shifted her gaze upwards. Set into the high ceiling was a skylight, just big enough that she would be able to squeeze through if she tried.

But as much as she wanted to escape, she couldn't. She still had a mission to complete, and so far, she was unable to gather any information. She gazed at what little she could see of the sky. The light pollution from the nearby casino and resorts blocked out the starts, but if she tilted her head far enough, she could just make out the moon. That always seemed to calm her down.

She settled into a seated position. Seeing the boss first may end up being a blessing, she decided. If she could get him to speak during their first meeting, this mission could be finished sooner than she expected.

Meeting. She knew that wasn't the right term, but any other word made her stomach turn. She had to be strong, she couldn't let this break her.

She fingered the soft fabric of her kimono. It was wrapped much more loosely than she would have liked, but the pattern was oddly mesmerizing. It was almost pretty.

Suddenly she sensed three presences coming down the hall towards her room. Three male presences. They stopped outside the door. Her heartbeat quickened, senses sharpening as if she were about to enter into combat. The lock clicked. The door slid.

And there he stood. The man she had seen only in pictures during her mission briefing. Beady eyes and greasy slicked back hair. The monster at the head of this entire operation: Shijimi Kato.

Yugao fought back a look of disgust.

Sliding the door shut behind him, he hid away his keys, and silence stretched out over his long, lingering look.

"A bit old, but you'll do."

With each step he took towards her, Yugao had to will herself not to move back. She had to fight against every single survival instinct that had been ingrained in her since she was a child. When he grabbed her arm and yanked her into a standing position it took all her energy not to put up any resistance.

"When they told me you were arriving today, I was quite pleased," he droned on, his voice low and rough like gravel, as he lifted one of her arms to his face and pushed back the sleeve. He began to inspect her much like the maids had before, but this time felt much more rough, more sinister. "You see, I've had a very long day."

Yugao forced her mouth to move. If he was going to talk, she needed to squeeze as much information out of him as possible. She had to gain his favor. "Why is that?"

His eyes continued their inspection, barely registering her voice. "Why is that? Well let's just say not everyone is pleased with the success of my casino." He moved on to her other arm.

"Is this your casino?"

He snorted. "Goodness no, you'll never have to set foot in that awful place. That is a place of business, This…" He moved around to her back, pulling her hair out of its elaborate coiffure and inhaling deeply, "…is a place of entertainment."

What she had been hoping for was the location of the casino in relation to where they were now, in order to get some type of grasp on her surroundings. What he had unknowingly given her was so much more. First, she deduced, if she was to "never step foot" in the casino then that meant all the girls were being kept in this building complex, meaning second, all his clients – for lack of a better term – would have to come here as well, so the casino resort was within walking distance, and third, any documents or evidence relating to his "business" would be in the casino as well.

She was snapped out of her calculating thoughts by a rough hand grabbing at her chin, forcing her face to meet his. "That's enough talk."

With her jaw forced shut, she flicked her gaze over to the closed door behind him, where the two men he arrived with still stood, hoping he'd catch her inquiry. She needed to know who they were, what they were capable of.

"Them? They're just security. Don't worry," he added with a sickening grin, "they won't hear a thing."

He made it clear then that she wouldn't be getting any more information out of him tonight.

Yugao wasn't sure whether to keep her eyes open or closed. She tried to force her mind to go blank, to dull her senses, to become numb. If she could just focus on one thing, on keeping up her transformation, then she would be able to ignore everything else. That's all it was, just an exercise in chakra control.

Shinobi were those who endured. She had endured much in her sixteen years, other kunoichi had probably endured more. They had endured situations much like this one, probably more than once. All she had to do was be brave like them, be strong like them. All she had to do was endure, and eventually, broken or not, she'd make it out the other side. This was just a mission after all, a mission she had to complete whatever it takes, because there were other women counting on her, other girls who had endured for much, much longer. She was going to set them free. She just had to endure.

But she didn't like where his hands were going, where his mouth was going. She didn't like the way the layers of her kimono peeled off like torn flower petals. She didn't like the sound of his heavy breathing, or the scent of alcohol on his breath. She didn't like the possessiveness of his greedy touches or the marks they would undoubtedly leave.

"Now, let's see what's under – "

But his sentence was cut off by the hair senbon lodged in his throat.

…

Shit. Shit.

Now she'd done it. Now she'd really done it.

Intelligence, not assassination. The Hokage's words rang in her head, over and over again. She had disobeyed a direct order. She had jeopardized the mission. She had killed her target. Once the Daimyo caught wind that his relative had been murdered by a shinobi he'd have her tracked down and arrested. He'd ask for her head. For the sake of maintaining civil relations Konoha would readily give her up, brand her as a traitor who went rogue and didn't follow the directives of the mission. She'd be stripped of her rank, spend the rest of her life in jail, or even sentenced to death.

Or she could run. She could make herself disappear, make it appear as though it was simply an attack by a foreign or rogue ninja. But that could cause problems on an international scale. She'd be written off as a missing-nin. Her own comrades would be sent to dispose of her.

Not to mention, both options left the girls unaccounted for. The trafficked victims would never be found. Someone else would just take over the operations, keeping the evidence hidden.

Idiot. Why did she have to give in to her instincts? Why couldn't she just sit still? Why couldn't she just endure like a goddamn shinobi?

She looked over at the man laying at her feet, the feeling of his sick hot touch still lingering on her skin.

No. She didn't regret her actions. This man was a criminal, a monster. She was smart. She could fix this. All she had to do was think.

There had to be a way she could complete the mission.

With a deep breath she closed her eyes and ran her mind through everything that had occurred since arriving at the compound. Any evidence she could find would be in the casino, that she had already deduced. But how could she get there? She knew it couldn't be far. Of course she could enter the resort town blindly, listen for gossip, find the right casino and search it inside out without being detected, but that would take too much time. Time she didn't have.

So who could get her where she needed to go? The other girls were trapped somewhere in the building complex, unable to set foot in the casino. She couldn't involve the two guards at the door in case they caught wind of what was going on and managed to contact their cronies. Clients must get from the casino to the complex somehow. Did they all just know the secret path by habit? But what about new clients? Someone had to show them the way at least the first time…

The maids. They had master keys of the entire complex, meaning they must have free range of the resort to some extent.

Keys.

She patted down Kato's corpse to find the keys he had hidden earlier. There were four keys of various sizes hung on a silver ring. One Yugao recognized as the master key of the compound, the same one the maids had used. There was another medium-sized key for an average door – his house or office maybe? The other two were smaller, possibly magnetized – a safe. Perfect.

Now she knew where to get the evidence she needed and how to get there, but…

The corpse.

First she had to do something about the blood bubbling up Kato's throat, threatening to spill out of his mouth. Her medical ninjutsu ought to do the trick. Close up the puncture wounds, force the blood back into the arteries, heal the arteries from the inside, leave no trace. Easy. Simple. It was almost mechanical, just like training with Kaya. When she was done, she shut his eyelids and rolled him onto his side, his back facing the door. From afar, it looked as though he was sleeping. It was a risk, but she'd have to leave him that way while she completed her mission.

Good. That's good. What's next?

Next, she had to find out where the rest of the girls were being kept. She hadn't sensed any presence of a group of people since entering the complex, but she had only been taken through two of the buildings. If she had only trained as much to improve her sensory skills as she had her medical ninjutsu, she would have a much easier time of this next step, but she didn't have time to waste on thinking about that now. She needed a plan.

…

Outside the room, the two guards stood quietly, long practiced in minding their own business. When they felt a timid knock on the other side of the door, they looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to open it. Yugao met them with her head hanging down, whispering in her smallest, sweetest voice, "He just fell asleep. I wasn't sure what to do, so…"

One of the guards sighed. "I'll take her."

The other looked into the room at his boss's reclining back. Yugao held her breath. "Should we…?"

"Never disturb the boss. Just let him be."

Phew.

The first guard grabbed Yugao by the arm and led her down the hall while the other quietly closed the door. He dragged her through a covered passageway to a new building, as she had assumed, yet she found it odd that all the rooms they passed seemed empty. Of course, until the last. He unlocked a room at the end of a hallway and shoved her inside, locking the door again behind her.

Thirty-three pairs of eyes stared up at her as she stumbled into the dark room. Her eyes adjusted to the new, dim moonlight streaming in from two narrow horizontal windows on the far wall near the ceiling. For a few seconds the air was still as they all took in her presence, then, just like puppets whose strings had been cut, they all looked away.

The room was incredibly sparse, large, but not large enough to fit thirty-three girls and young women comfortably. Some laid out on the bare meager mats on the ground, others sat against the walls, still others only clung to each other for support. Some were dressed in fineries like herself and others in drab brown sacks. They were of varying ages and sizes but one thing they all had in common. Yugao recognized the look in their eyes, almost too well. It was the look of a shinobi who had just returned from a particularly grueling mission, who had survived war, and yet these girls had experienced something much worse than death.

She turned first towards the door, running a hand along its side, trying to find a cylinder in which to insert a key.

"It won't work. The door only locks from the outside." Yugao stopped and turned to find the source of the voice. A few eyes stared at her, many did not. "We've tried."

The comment came from one of the older girls, probably around Yugao's age, with long, would-be stunningly red hair that instead hung limp and dull. Her arms wrapped protectively around two younger girls nestled into her sides, both dressed in fine robes, and it didn't take long for Yugao to figure out why. And it wasn't fair. Nothing was fair.

"Is this everyone?" Yugao asked, her voice hushed. She had to focus. "I mean, are all the girls here in this room?"

The red-headed girl answered again, and it seemed to Yugao that she was like their unofficial leader, their mother. "Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"The boss doesn't let any clients in while he's in the building."

That explained the guards and all the empty rooms.

"Good. Make sure nobody leaves this room." More eyes fell on her.

"But now that the boss is finished, we'll – "

"Don't worry. He's not leaving this building any time soon."

And with one last glance around the room, Yugao disappeared in a puff of smoke.

…

Back on the roof, Yugao registered her shadow clone's findings. She now knew in which room the girls were being held and had the key to open it. While her clone had been gathering that information, her real self had escaped through the skylight in the boss's room and remained crouched down on the roof. She felt a little bad about leaving the girls in such a hurry, and undoubtedly in much confusion, but she had to move quickly. It was only a matter of time before someone realized the boss had been asleep for too long, and judging by the position of the moon, it was already past midnight.

What she needed now was to find one of the grey-clad maids. She sensed someone moving through the building towards the exit. Not recognizing it as one of the guards, she knew she had found a target. She let out a short, quick breath; she was not proud of what she was about to do.

Within seconds of exiting the compound the maid felt a cold sharp object poised at her back. She froze.

"Scream and it's the last sound you'll ever make."

Yugao could sense the maid's shoulders tense, but she didn't make a sound. She knew the woman didn't deserve this, but without knowing exactly where her loyalties lie, Yugao couldn't take any chances.

"Take me to the boss's office in the casino," the kunoichi ordered in her most intimidating voice, though she figured the kunai in her hand was already doing enough talking.

As she was led through an unmarked forest path, Yugao recalled the glimpse of the maid's face she had caught before taking her hostage. The woman was younger than Yugao had previously thought, yet her face was prematurely lined and her hair had streaks of grey. Underneath the premature signs of aging, she was almost pretty. It was her eyes, though, that caught her attention most – dull, empty, and dead to the world. Not a genjutsu, no, just too many lifetimes of experience carried in one fragile, broken body.

So that's what happened when the girls grew up.

Instead of entering the town through a road Yugao was led into a system of underground tunnels paved with stones. She recognized the sound and scent from when she was first brought to the compound blindfolded. She focused on memorizing every turn so that she could make her way back.

Turning sharply down a narrow portion of tunnel, the maid led Yugao to some steep stairs ending in what looked like a trap door. As they approached it, Yugao began to hear muffled voices. Two men, she sensed, were sitting and chatting in the room above them. The maid knocked on the door three times, then proceeded to unlock it with her keys.

The voices stopped, presumably listening to the click of the lock.

One said something like, "That's strange. I didn't even order yet."

Yugao followed the maid up and into the room. Before the men could register her presence she subdued them with a quick hit to their pressure points using her hair senbon. She made sure not to hurt them, only put them to sleep. The two men were slumped over the table at which they had been sitting in the center of the small room, bottoms firmly planted onto cushioned seats.

"The office?" she asked, turning to the shocked maid beside her. The woman pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "If you tell anyone what you just saw, I will find you and I will end you. Get every maid out of that building complex and never return if you value your life. Now go."

The woman did as she was told.

Noticing the men's alcoholic drinks sitting on the table, Yugao took a minute to pour them over their faces and clothes. Now when they woke or if they were found, they would likely just assume they had passed out from drunkenness. While setting the glasses back down on the table she noticed the edge of something that looked like a book tucked under one man's arm. The other man had one too. Nudging it out from under him, she took a glance at the pages. It was formatted like a menu, but instead of food or drinks, what was listed on the pages were…

…the names and pictures of the girls in the compound. Yugao flipped through. All thirty-three were there, herself not yet included. Scowling, she took both copies, sealing one into her wrist scroll-turned-bracelet. This was evidence, but still not enough.

The door to the office was locked, but easily opened by the second key on Yugao's stolen key ring. Cabinets, files, a large desk – it looked like any other regular office, but Yugao couldn't waste time looking through all the papers laying in plain sight. If her hunch was correct, there should be a safe somewhere in the room hiding much more valuable information. She began feeling along the walls, looking behind cabinets, testing the ground. Finally along the wall behind the desk she felt something hollow. Crouching onto her knees to get a better look she noticed small lines in the wall where the wallpaper was split. Gathering her chakra into her fingertips for suction, she pulled off a portion of the wall to reveal a small silver safe, much too small to actually be holding any of the casino's fortune. It had a combination lock but she was able to bypass it using the third key on the ring.

And inside, she nearly laughed in relief, was a thick file of documents. Not wasting any time she grabbed them and splayed them across the floor behind the desk. Taking only a second to check if anyone was near and sensing no presence, her eyes poured over the numerous financial documents.

She knew that somewhere mixed in with the casino's earnings listed on the reports where those of Kato's illicit business as well, but where? Summary of assets…expenses…income statements…there! A listing of revenue from each of the resort's subsidiary divisions: the casino, hotel rooms, restaurants, performance venues, spa, and entertainment.

That was what Kato had called her, entertainment.

Following the cash flow she noticed that the exact amount collected in revenue under 'entertainment' was always transferred to the same employee: Kobayashi Enoki.

Shit.

Yugao knew in her gut that Kobayashi Enoki was just an alias for Kato, but she needed proof. Without finding a link, investigators would just end up chasing a ghost.

Her eyes slid over to the last key in the key ring, much smaller than all the others. Maybe.

Searching the inside of the empty safe once more, her hands felt something shift – a false bottom. Underneath it – a slim rectangular metal box with a miniature lock.

She opened it, trying not to let desperation get the best of her. She just wanted this to be over.

Inside were the full financial records of Kobayashi Enoki. Kobayashi Enoki gave a lot of money to a lot of people for apparently no reason, the most recent being two days ago. Yugao recognized the amount – it was the amount used to buy her. She shivered. The entire secondary business was being run out of Kobayashi's account. But the person he gave the most money to was none other than Shijimi Kato.

Got him.

Yugao gathered every document that led down this trail. Where there were copies she sealed them into her bracelet scroll. Carefully replacing the metal box, false bottom, and large file, she locked the safe and re-sealed the wall. She arranged the incriminating documents visibly on the desk, adding to them the "menu" of girls she had taken before.

And then she left.

…

A click of a lock and thirty-three pairs of eyes turned towards the door. Yugao's own henge'd dark eyes met the blank stares as she closed the door again behind her. She took a moment to catch her breath. The next few minutes would be crucial.

"See, I told you she'd come back!"

Yugao met the eyes of a girl so small, so impossibly small, she didn't even want to imagine what she was doing there.

"Yes, I'm back, and I'm here to get you out. But you have to do exactly as I say." Yugao's mind and voice were all business.

"You're a shinobi," said the red-headed girl – the spokeswoman, the mother – half as a question but half as an accusation.

There was no denying this fact at this point. Yugao had already sent a clone into their midst after all. She nodded.

"Why should we trust you?"

"Because…" Yugao hadn't thought this part through. She had expected the girls to be happy that she was there, or at least relieved. To see her as – what? A hero? That was going too far, but she had expected some positive reaction at least.

But she couldn't say that she blamed them, either. They had every right to be skeptical. Trust had likely never gotten them very far in this world. Hope was likely something they thought better abandoned.

"Because I am a shinobi…but I'm a girl too."

She had never been great with words, with saying what she meant and getting that meaning across. She wanted them to know that she felt pain too, that she felt loss too, that she felt powerless too, sometimes. And she wanted them to see that none of that could stop her or them, if she could just get her words to make sense.

But something must have gotten through because all thirty-three pairs of eyes were staring at her now with a bit more spark.

"I need you to listen carefully. I'm going to leave this door unlocked. After I leave, wait ten minutes, then get out of the building. Run to the town, just south of here through the forest. Find an official and tell them who you are. Tell them to search Shijimi Kato's office in his casino. They'll believe you, and if they don't…know that Konoha is on your side." She waited for a moment for her words to sink in before asking, just like every captain who had ever briefed her for a mission, "Understood?"

All thirty-three heads gave a nod.

Yugao turned to leave. She had one final thing to do.

"Wait!"

She stopped, hand on the door. It was the little girl's voice. "Who are you?"

Yugao gave one final look at the girls in the room, girls whose bravery and strength rivaled that of every shinobi she had ever known.

"I'm no one. I was never here."

…

Yugao's lithe figure dropped from the skylight into the room she felt she had vacated days ago, when it had really only been less than two hours. The two guards never shifted from their post, didn't show any indication that they sensed another presence in the room. Another of her deductions was likely correct – the room was soundproof.

Kato's body still lay on the floor where she had left it, looking to the world as though he were asleep. Yugao had told the girls to wait ten minutes, so she had to work quickly. The medic nin double checked for any signs of blood or injury before replacing Kato's keys in his pocket. She placed a palm on the ground. Earth style jutsu had never been her forte, but even she could shift the earth under the building ever so slightly that the guards would feel a tremor and likely assume it was a natural occurrence. That was all she needed to make it appear as though the gas lamps in the room fell over on their own.

Greedy flames reached towards wooden beams and Yugao knew her time was limited. With the wooden structure of the room quickly catching fire from the lamps, Yugao added one final touch. Pinching Kato's nose she used her fire release to breath smoke into his lungs before exiting through the skylight. In minutes, the entire building would be ablaze.

The rest was up to chance, but if everything went according to plan, the chances were in her favor.

Yugao ran. Using the trees as cover, she took the long way around the entire town, towards the direction of Konoha. She stopped only once, hidden in the forest on the other side of the town, to see the flames rising from the trees across the distance. By now the girls had escaped and made it to the town. The maids, having heeded their comrade's warning or smelled the smoke, abandoned the compound as well. The guards pulled their boss's body out of the burning room, and an autopsy would later reveal that he had died from smoke inhalation while in his sleep. The local authorities, those "none too happy about the success of the casino", would find the evidence in Kato's office and launch an investigation.

Yes. It will all work. It has to.

Ignoring her fatigue, ignoring her tears of relief and her aching head and her soiled clothes, Yugao ran all the way back to Konoha, hoping, praying that she hadn't missed a single detail.

…

It was well past dawn by the time Yugao made it back to the village, the light hurting her strained, puffy eyes. Sneaking back in through the ANBU gates, she tried to stick to the shadows as much as possible as she made her way to the kunoichi locker room in the basement of the Hokage mansion. She had gone to retrieve her mask before reporting in to the Hokage, wanting to maintain some semblance of dignity as she confessed to her crimes. It was only then that she realized she was still wearing the blue and pink kimono that had been given to her, though it was now covered in stains, singes, and drenched in sweat. She peeled it off, opting for her full ANBU gear, and stuffed it into her locker for the time being. Undoing her henge, she focused on balancing her breathing.

Even though all she wanted to do was crawl home and sleep, she knew she had to face the Hokage.

When she entered his office she saw that his attention was already consumed by a scroll on his desk. His new aid, a young man named Raido, stood diligently by his side.

The scroll bore the mark of the capital – official news. One look at the Hokage's face told her that he already knew about everything. Yugao chose to kneel, head held low, and waited for the Hokage to speak first. In the silence that stretched seemingly for minutes, she forced her limbs not to shake.

"Thirty-three trafficking victims escaped from a hidden compound in the woods, evidence of their imprisonment and exploitation in a prostitution ring found in a casino, and the man behind it all conveniently dead in an accidental fire." He paused and she could feel his glare on the top of her bowed head. "What have you done?"

After a few deep breaths she stood, placed the documents she had stolen on his desk, and knelt back down, keeping her eyes on the ground the entire time. "Here is the evidence I gath – "

"And what good would this do us now? This is the same evidence you recklessly handed over to local authorities I presume after assassinating the Daimyo's relative. That was not your mission, Yugao."

"All the girls are free. They're all safe – "

"That was not your mission, Yugao."

She fell silent. In her heart she knew that she didn't regret what she had done, and yet the Hokage's words still managed to strike shame. Every word was coated not with anger – anger she could handle – but disappointment, distrust. She felt like a child being scolded by her grandfather. She hated that feeling.

The Hokage let out a long, weary sigh. "I don't know if you are incredibly clever or incredibly lucky. The local authorities who found the evidence just so happened not to be the ones under Kato's payroll, and all the witnesses to whom the authorities have spoken have claimed that the events of last night were purely coincidence."

So the girls had covered for her. Even the maids. She was grateful.

"But," the aging man continued, "you disobeyed direct orders, Yugao. I cannot leave that unpunished."

She knew. She had been prepared for this when she had chosen to return to the village. To be stripped of her rank, put on house arrest, sent to prison – she was prepared for all of it. Silently, she awaited the Hokage's judgment, but instead, he only sighed once more.

"Go home. Get some rest. Come back tomorrow when I've figured out what to do with you."

Yugao was thankful for her ANBU mask for hiding what must have been a ridiculous look on her face. She was surprised, confused, exhausted, still bitter about being shamed, yet grateful. Knowing better than to overstay her welcome, she bowed and left.

By the time she got home that morning it felt as though much more than a day had passed since she set foot in her apartment. It felt odd to be back. The apartment was exactly the same as she had left it; she was the one who had changed. Suddenly all the exhaustion and hunger that had plagued her on her return journey faded away.

Before she could rest she needed a shower. She needed to wash away the feeling of that casino, that compound, that man's sickening touch because if she closed her eyes it was all still there. Hot water scalded her skin long after all the soap had been washed away.

And then there was the kimono. The luxurious blue and pink silk-spun garment she had taken from her locker and dumped onto her floor. It was well-crafted, exquisitely designed. If she had it cleaned it would be beautiful, it would be the finest piece of clothing she ever owned.

A metal bucket. A few fire style hand signs. She tossed the kimono in and watched it burn.

…

"It seems your luck still hasn't managed to run out, Yugao."

The old Hokage's voice was calmer now than it had been the day before, still disappointed, but it had lost its edge. She had returned as promised the next morning to receive her punishment. Still, Yugao kept her eyes trained on the floor.

"You see," the old man continued, "my son recently came back to Konoha while you were gone. It seems a failed coup has taken up much of the Daimyo's attention, and left him without the protection of the twelve ninja guardians."

Yugao had never paid much attention to the goings-on at the Capital, but it really did seem like some miracle coincidence that the scandal she uncovered was not front page news. But why was the Hokage telling her this?

She quickly received her answer. "The Daimyo is looking to implement a new system of protection. He is requesting ANBU to act as his new guardians. I am assigning this mission to you."

"Me? But it was the Daimyo's relative that I – "

"That you what? As far as anyone is concerned, you were never there."

Right. Of course. That mission had been top secret. Outside of sealed records, no one would ever know it had happened. At first glance it would seem as though Yugao's disobedience was going unpunished, but she saw this assignment for what it really was: exile. She was being forced to leave Konoha, barred from taking on any regular missions. Still, it was better than anything she could have hoped for.

"You'll be sent as part of a team with four other ANBU. The other guards will rotate every four months. You, however, are to remain until further notice."

She understood his intentions, loud and clear. It was a test, a kind of probation. No doubt the other ANBU would be reporting back on her progress. She wouldn't be allowed back into the village until she could prove that she could follow orders, until she could gain back the Hokage's trust. She was, in the eyes of the village government at least, a traitor.

The Hokage had given her only a day to prepare what few belongings she would be able to take with her. Among them, an old black and white film camera. The rest could be placed in storage or discarded. Her home – her parents' home – would be put up for sale. That alone told her that she wouldn't be back in the village for a long, long time.

But she still didn't regret what she did. She had followed her gut. She had done what she believed to be the right thing, and she was able to help people because of it. Isn't that what Tenzou or Kakashi would have done? Isn't that the way she had vowed to live her life? To follow her instincts. To make the world a little better for someone else. She had done that, right?

And as she headed out the village gates for what she assumed would be the last time in a long time, the strangest thought made its way into her head. She thought of the boy from the wildflower fields, the one from the pastry shop, and a single regret did manage to come to mind: she had just been starting to make a friend.