A Stitch in Time

by anoceaninthesun

Kaguya was the greatest threat the world had ever known. Triumphing over her should have ushered in a new era for shinobi. And it did. Specifically for one Haruno Sakura. Time-travel and eventual polyamory romance. SakuraxKonoha Founders

71. Collateral

Picking up her pace, Rumiri managed to seize one of the cunning mujina just in the knick of time. He had been close to sticking his hand through the back of a translucent girl floating by, and okiku were known to be especially sensitive about their spectral state.

He groaned, dangling by his scruff until she tossed him onto her back with his brethren. "One…two…three…" she counted. "Where is the last?"

"Here, I have him!" Airi came trotting over proudly, carrying a mujina in her own mouth, his paws crossed and his tail fluffed indignantly. Natsume, the one with the incorrigible nose and one-track mind. Her herd member dropped him onto the street, and Rumiri pinned him with a stern look.

"You were told not to wander; you know if you find trouble here…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" He threw up his paws, rolling his eyes as he scampered up onto a barrel, then a crate, finally jumping on her back with the others. "I smell an interesting scent, my nose tells me to follow it. It's just nature."

She couldn't recall the last time she had ever dealt with such little rascals, though by volunteering to keep an eye on them, she supposed she brought it on herself. But for Hashirama to have the opportunity to speak to the girl who had caught his eye alone, she would bear it.

Yet she didn't trust the realm or the yokai who inhabited it. She saw the way some of them eyed the humans, curious. Maybe a little too curious. They circled the area of the Bazaar near the fountain they had last seen the human pair at. Once they completed the predetermined route, or the mujina got too restless to behave, whichever came first, they would go back for them and continue on.

"So, sagari huh?" One of them she believed she heard called Sōgo began playing with the hair of her mane, flipping it around idly. "Have to say, didn't think you'd be helping out a human. I thought your kind never left their sweet little meadows."

It wasn't entirely wrong. They had no need to visit the Bazaar. They found all that they needed in the wilds of The Under, carefully traversing paths from one area of their territory to another, where they were relatively safe. Even now, some of the others felt so uncomfortable in the loud, chaotic and confining markets of the Bazaar, they had chosen to wait on the outskirts.

"And you? Are you not native to Illusion Plains? That's quite far west of here. If The Under had any clear and discernible distances between two points, I would call it the other side of the realm." She countered, "Plus, forgive me for being blunt, but there are rumors your kind are quite crafty…and ruthless."

"Oh, we are, lady." Sōgo scoffed. "I can promise you that. But,"

"But we became Sakura's partners when she freed us!" Ubagabi butt in happily, flailing his paws around.

"Freed you?" Rumiri used her size to meander through the crowds, glancing at the group of mujina sitting on her back and shoulders. "You mean…you've been living on the surface world? For how long?"

"Oh not as long as we'd like, but a few earth months now at least." Natsume explained. He had gotten comfortable, sprawled out on his back, kicking his legs. "Last time Sakura came down here, we helped her get out, and she let us come with her like she promised."

"Wow," The word whistled through Airi's teeth, "you've been living on the surface! What's that like? Do they have yummy plants there? Do the ground and the sky ever switch places? Have you ever tasted a cloud?"

"We sure have. Who wastes time eating plants when you could have much more filling food? The earth and the sky stay fixed on earth, and no, clouds ain't exactly around for chomping." Sōgo finished without missing a beat.

Rumiri could see the way Airi's eyes shone, full of fascination. As much as she hated to, she had to bring her back to reality, away from the ledge she was dangerously close to. "I can't believe you've chosen to defy the gods and live above."

None of the mujina looked repentant, not even the quietest among them. If anything, the bold mujina who spoke with confidence and sass made a disapproving noise. "I can't believe you've chosen to obey like good little outcasts and stay here. I mean, I guess you didn't have a choice. None of us did. But you can't tell me that if your human friend offered you wouldn't take it."

"As important as Hashira is to us, we belong here." Rumiri said firmly. She was being honest, she told herself. Remaining where they were placed was for the good of the herd. After millennia being compliant, it wouldn't do to get selfish. Maybe the mujina were baser creatures that did what they wanted whenever the urge struck, but the sagari could control themselves better.

Still, she felt guilty at the way Airi wilted further. The normally lively filly was as full of spirit as a young foal. It made it easy to forget she wasn't one. She could imagine Airi, the whole herd, running free under an open sky, away from the dangers of The Under, maybe even alongside the human most of them had grown quite attached to. It would be nice to belong somewhere they wanted to belong. In Hashirama's world, watching over him.

"Do you now?" This time, it was Natsume who challenged her. "And how did you come to meet a human anyhow? I mean, yokai to yokai, we're not normally sentimental, right?" Natsume rubbed his ear, tilting his head innocently. "But sometimes we make exceptions…for humans we get attached to."

"Is this your way of asking me for the story behind our association with Hashira?" Rumiri lifted her leg as small, amphibious yokai scuttled under it, being careful not to squish one when she set it back down. "Judging by how much he's grown, I assume many years on earth have passed. But it started when he was just a child, one day, a human wandered into our midst. We found ourselves unexpectedly caring for him."

She huffed, growing more restless by the minute. The human was nowhere to be found. One minute he'd been right underfoot, so much so, she had worried she would trample him. The next minute he was gone, wandered off as his waning attention span dictated.

Most of the herd had no clue as to his whereabouts. Then again, quite a few were openly wary of the small child. Aoto was among the most vocal on that front, suggesting they leave him be.

But if they did that, Rumiri had no doubt he wouldn't last long on his own, and something about something so defenseless, yet foreign, being swallowed up by The Under didn't sit right.

She had no reason to help, but she found herself keeping a close watch on him anyway. Though a part of that could be attributed to the fact that he refused to leave them alone. Ever since they had found them, he followed them. Apparently small humans were very trusting. They could be leading him right into the jaws of death, and he'd come plodding along with a curiosity and eagerness that were unmatched. Though, Airi came close. Which gave her a sudden bolt of realization.

Taking off at a canter before breaking into a gallop, Rumiri traversed half the meadow where the herd had chosen to graze on strong legs, stopping on a hill that overlooked a quiet grove. She found what she had half expected down-below. Only half-expected. The human continued to surprise her.

"Rear down," Chairo said, wiggling his tail around. "Chin up, lift your leg like so."

"My leg?" The child obediently lifted his right leg into the air, but since he was already on all fours it looked quite strange.

"He means your uh, arm," Airi explained, "Forgot when it comes to legs you humans only have two of those."

"Oh," The boy corrected himself, putting his leg back on the ground and then lifting his right arm.

"Excellent, now try walking, like this." Airi began to prance around prettily to demonstrate, and Rumiri watched in bewilderment as the human did his best to keep up, albeit very clumsily. Needless to say he fell flat on his face almost immediately, but it didn't take him long to brush the dirt from his eyes and try again.

"Like this?" He inquired, tottering around on all fours.

"Not bad." Chairo nickered in approval.

"Hey, I think 'm getting it now!"

"Next, try whinnying, like this," Airi threw her head back in a hearty whinny, Chairo soon joining her. Out of the whole herd, they were by far the two that showed the least reservations about interacting with the little human. If she didn't know better, Rumiri would have thought they had accepted him as one of their own. Whatever display was currently taking place certainly seemed to give the thought credence.

The two sagari quieted, waiting expectantly as Hashira cleared his throat. He let out a soft, squeaky nicker that was probably the best his human throat could produce, and the pair with him broke into peals of laughter.

"Nice effort, but more like this…" Chairo whinnied, and Hashira again tried to copy him, making a clearer noise but still not quite right.

Airi opened her mouth to try next, only for Rumiri to let out a loud, assertive whinny of her own, drawing all their attentions to her. Hashira stared, wide eyed, wobbling and then falling over on his stomach.

The leader took her time approaching them, watching the human scuttle up, but remain on all fours. He hid shyly behind Airi, but the look on his face was embarrassment, not fear.

"You wandered off." She lowered her head to address him, looking directly into his large brown eyes.

"Sorry…" he pouted.

"It's not his fault, really." Airi quickly took over. "We told him he could join us."

"Join you doing…what exactly?"

"Well, we—"

"Learnin' to be more like you!" The human ran from behind Airi, sitting on his haunches proudly as he tried once more to produce a convincing whinny. "I can do it. I can!" he assured.

Rumiri supposed the instruction they were giving him now made sense, but aside from assuming small children were impressionable, she wasn't sure what to make of his sudden urge to adopt their ways. "And why, little one, do you wish to be like us?"

"Cause," he thought about it, Rumiri able to see his mind at work, "cause I live here now. And you're all I got," he illustrated his point by tightly hugging one of Airi's legs, the lean filly rewarding him with a gentle nuzzle to the top of his head.

It had certainly been a while since they had discovered him. The sagari had no real need to track the passage of time, and the sporadic changing of the sky in The Under made that difficult if not impossible to do regardless. If she had to attempt to estimate how long Hashira had been with them, it was nearing a month by Under standards. And, truth be told, she hadn't really known if it was possible to get him out, which meant the herd did their best to adjust to having him with them constantly. The child had evidently been trying to adapt just as much, though it wasn't like she couldn't tell before. He was an odd little beast, but not an unwelcome one. Simply…unusual.

"Hashira," he pried himself from Airi at the sound of his name, looking up at her immediately. "We will still try to get you back to your home. Your family. You want that, don't you?"

"I miss Tobi…" he said immediately. Tobi was the little one's brother, he had explained. One of the first things he had told them once they established where he came from, was that his brother was alone, and he needed to go back to him. "And…and I might be in trouble for wandering off."

Well, some things didn't change much it seemed. Rumiri suspected his curiosity about almost everything had somehow led him to fall through a rift. How the rift above had opened in the first place was something she couldn't fathom. And the child didn't know.

"Then do your best to be careful about it in the future, alright?"

Hashira slowly nodded. "Okay." Gasping, he seemed to recall something that brought a bright smile to his rounded face. "You don't have to find me stuff to eat anymore," he suddenly announced, scampering on all fours, over to a north facing rock. "Look, Rumi!"

The three sagari edged closer as the child leaned in to the rock, examining some of the moss that was growing on one side. To the sagari, the moss was a delicacy and a treasure. Eating a steady diet of it helped them strengthen and maintain their own bioluminescent properties. But of course, that did no good for small humans. It had been trial and error, finding him a suitable diet, hoping what they fed him would nourish his weak and fragile body instead of killing him.

Now, they watched as Hashira began chewing up some of the moss without hesitation, his cheeks bulging with the mouthful he was attempting to swallow. Rumiri watched hesitantly, wondering if she should make him spit it out.

"Tadaa!" Hashira opened his mouth, happily showing off his tongue. His…glowing tongue. And it didn't end there. Before their very eyes, the boy's whole head assumed a bright grassy glow, his brown eyes shifting into an earthy green.

Rumiri wasn't sure what she was seeing, but she also wasn't sure it was normal for humans.

"Isn't it neat?!" Airi exclaimed. "He's just like us!"

'Should that be possible?' Rumiri watched Chairo and Hashira shake their heads at each other playfully as Hashira continued to try whinnying and the male sagari egged him on.

The appearance of a sudden leaf, falling to graze against the latter's nose caused it to twitch. A huge sneeze roared out of the small boy, surprising everyone. The least of which was not the child that was sent tumbling backwards, his sudden glow gone.

"Well, almost like us." Airi smiled a bit.

"Alright…come here, Hashira. It's time we move on."

The child was resilient, obediently popping up, looking curious but ready for the journey. After that brief display, Rumiri briefly considered if resilience was all it was. But…any other possibility seemed too far-fetched. At least for the time being.

Knowing what he would want before he asked, Rumiri got to her knees, resting on the ground as the small human hurried to climb up her side. Even if she had remained standing, it wouldn't have stopped him. More than once he had simply started trying to climb up her leg, only to fall back down. It was the attempt that was endearing, though.

Once he was settled, she stood to her full height again, turning back the way she had came with Airi and Chairo heading up the rear. "Rumi?" Hashira murmured, curled into a comfortable ball on her broad back, with only one leg hanging down, gently brushing her side. "Are we going far today?"

She had tried correcting him about riding properly, but had quickly learned the little one napped when he burned himself out. His energy seemed nearly inexhaustible at times, and at others, it felt as though he was always curling up to sleep. She supposed that was the nature of humans.

It wasn't like she had very much experience. And since she couldn't make him stop riding while laying down, they had compromised and he grabbed fistfuls of her mane. Even gripping as tightly as he could, it still hardly registered. She was almost more aware of it when he felt the need to rub her hair against his pink cheeks, humming in contentment as the silken texture brushed his skin.

Human children liked comfort, she had discovered. Hashira was a strong, sturdy boy, but still only a boy, and he happily took in any affection he was offered, repaying it by showing his own, running up to her or some of the other sagari and hugging them, stroking with their manes, singing to them or trying to teach them games he played on earth.

"Farther than before, yes."

He shifted, laying on his stomach across her back and resting his head on his folded arms as his dangling leg kept moving against her side. "Does that mean I'll go home soon?"

Rumiri crested the hill, able to spot the herd exactly where she had left them, waiting. "That is the hope."

She hadn't quite worked out how she would get him back to earth even if she did manage to find an exit, but Rumiri was sure that if it came to it, she could consult Aoto. He would be more than willing to do his part if it meant the human he avoided was sent back to where he came from.

Some of the herd looked up when they approached, a few of them fixing the oblivious child with lingering stares.

"Rumiri," Hiru said politely, fighting down a snicker, "You seem to have a…leech on your back."

Hashira raised his head, other nearby sagari who had overheard the comment now laughing too.

Rumiri took it in stride, showing teeth just a bit in a hollow smile. She knew that while not all were as openly disdainful of her decision to keep the human around as Aoto, more than a few found it odd, distasteful, or unnecessary. After all, in The Under, humans were the unsightly creatures.

"Yes. Clingy, isn't he?" Hashira's head flopped back down as he got comfortable again. "We have a lot of ground to cover before the next rest. We should go."

The herd gathered, Rumiri taking her normal place at the lead as they started their trek. From the corner of her eye, she noted with a small amount of surprise that Hashira was still awake, waving goodbye to the valley they were leaving before situating himself on his back. It was wide enough that him rolling from it wasn't her immediate concern, and yet if he did happen to fall, from the great height between him and the ground, there would be consequences. "Are you still holding on?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"No." She heard the twins, Mizūmi and Tochi, say in unison.

"Bleh!" Amused, Rumiri observed Hashira pulling his cheeks and sticking out his tongue as he made a silly face of scorn at them, which only caused them to nicker giddily.

The two seemed to have fun making faces at the boy as they traveled, a gesture he was always happy to return, making them right back. Eventually, the twins got preoccupied in a strange and rousing discussion about if it was right for one to eat the other if one of them was ever cursed into a tasty food. As they argued, they fell behind, and without his playmates Hashira took to entertaining himself by singing.

"We all are alive," he sang, his cheek pressed to her back and his hands gripping her mane again. "We sing because we are alive! We all are alive. We're sad because we are alive…" The song was spirited, and as they went around a mountain bend, Rumiri listened. "..my blood flows deep red! The earthworm, the cricket, the water snake…everything! Everything is alive and are friends~" His voice trailed off tiredly, and when he yawned, Rumiri knew he was close to losing consciousness.

The little puffs of air she could feel as he dozed off proved her correct, giving her a moment of silent contemplation.

On the one hand, Hashira seemed like an ordinary human child, or what she assumed one would be like at least. The sagari had been banished to The Under not long after their creation, and very little of that time was spent above. Humanity had not yet been introduced, and they roamed free with the other creations that predated man. When Kuebiko had explained to them they would live in The Under, they had gone willingly, because it was what their god asked of them. Later he took a handful of them back to earth, to test them out there.

After all, sagari weren't violent yokai from the offset, unlike many others who were sealed away out of necessity to curb their destructive tendencies. If they were deemed suitable enough, Kuebiko was willing to let them return to earth permanently. Aoto was one of the few chosen. Rumiri was not.

He came back…changed, but never talked about what took place. All she knew was that since then, he held a particularly deep dislike for humans. Soon after, horses were created to take the spot they could have filled, and their hope to return to the surface faded entirely over the millennia. Kuebiko gradually became busier, visiting them less, and they adjusted to that too.

Sometimes, Rumiri felt frustrated. Abandoned. They had done nothing but be loyal to him, and yet they were cast aside like all the other misbehaving and dangerous yokai The Under contained. In her youth she had often fought with Aoto, demanding he tell her what happened, what he did to make Kuebiko change his mind so she could appeal to the god to give them another chance.

She would bring pride to the sagari again, she used to say. But, that opportunity never came. Then, time made her less hot-headed, and responsibility for the herd gave her a brand new priority to focus on. Keeping the others safe, keeping them content…that was far more important than appealing for their freedom to an absent god.

All had been well, really. They had a stable existence in The Under, all things considered. Then came the arrival of the great change. The tiny human who had dropped into their lives. A part of Rumiri distantly had considered if he was meant to be another test. Another for the human, prove they could keep him safe, and when the time came, they could all return to earth.

It seemed unlikely after so much time and no word from their god, but with that in mind, Rumiri began to watch over the boy. She searched high and low until she found suitable things for him to eat since he still required sustenance, unlike the sagari who ate to maintain their abilities. She took him to safe streams so he could bathe while the herd watched for danger. She had willing members travel to find some of the yokai who sold clothes, so he always had clean things to wear.

Aoto sneered, saying it was like she had adopted a pet without asking them. And maybe he was right…on some level. But he proved entertaining if nothing else, and at times something shone within…something even with her limited knowledge of his species, Rumiri could tell was a quality unique to him.

"Um…" Chairo came trotting up to her, glancing around uncertainly, "We're really going this way?"

"Yes." Rumiri was determined to clear a considerable distance—hard as that could be to determine in such a backwards place—before resting again, and this was the most direct route. "What are your objections?"

"I didn't say…I had any." He mumbled, refusing to meet her eyes.

"I do." Aoto surged forward, knocking Chairo aside. "You know what lies this way. Why go through almost certain peril just to aid some human? Are you putting your pet above the herd now?"

"What would you have me do, Aoto? I don't wish to take this path anymore than you. It's dangerous for all of us." She stressed, "Him most of all." Hashira slept soundly, his face puffy and small noises leaving his mouth. She didn't wish to put any of them at risk, but they had already started for those woods…it would take extra time to double back, and who knew if the sky would shift.

"Hmph…one of these days you'll make a decision that costs us all dearly. And when you do, should I survive it, I'll be there to step in."

Rumiri let him go, not in the least offended. "Should that day come, the herd will have a capable successor in you." That didn't mean that she planned to die and relinquish her position anytime soon. The Jubokko Forest was dark, intimidating, foreboding…but it wasn't going to make her turn back.

She could feel the collective tension of the herd as they passed through; everyone was clustered together, staying clear of the trees that surrounded them to the best of their abilities and keeping their ears pricked for danger. There was a quiet sort of chittering, something like the hum of ten thousand insects. It made her skin crawl.

"Mm…whassat?" Hashira began to stir, slowly waking up. "Are we there, Rumi?" He asked around a yawn, rubbing at his eyes.

"No," she whispered. "Soon. Hold tight to me. These woods hold many dangers."

The child obediently clung to her, every step she took feeling weighty under the piercing gaze that fell on them.

The chittering continued, growing louder, closing in.

She could hear his little heart beating; it sounded loud given that her ears were strained for even the smallest shift or tiniest noise. Though it could have also been the fact that his chest was pressed to her back.

Movement in the trees above made her pause. Something so thin it was almost translucent was caught in the higher branches, damp and dewy. Webbing. Her ears folded back in trepidation. Just as she thought…

One of the more clumsy sagari who must have gotten nervous nearly fell out of formation, and Aoto growled a warning. "Watch it." Given where they were, she knew he was concerned more than agitated. "Keep going."

"Sorry," the trembling sagari squeaked. "Sorry…I just don't like it here. Even the air feels…deadly."

Given what lurked deep in these woods, that was a given. But Rumiri wasn't going to bring it up and risk spooking one of the more easily startled members of the herd into running off. "Wait, do you hear that?" Hashira picked his head up, sitting up completely.

"It's alright, only some insects." Hopefully it would comfort the boy. As bold as he tended to be, even he had to be growing frightened.

"No," he began to squirm, anxious like he was when he wanted to get down. "No it's not…I can hear her voice!" He managed to tumble from her back before she could stop him, grabbing hold of her leg to shimmy the rest of the way to the ground. "It's Kaachan!"

"Hashira, stop!" She snatched at him, just narrowly missing the back of his shirt as he ran on all fours, weaving under the legs of the herd. "Stop him!"

Many sagari tried, but he was quick and on a mission. There was a figure standing up ahead, quietly observing. Rumiri had never seen a yokai with that appearance, long hair the color of the water beneath a frozen lake, pale skin, green lines curved over her cheeks and swirling near the corners of her azure eyes.

Hashira fell flat on his face, just like he had many times before, and Rumiri rushed to close in on him, placing a leg down to separate him from the unknown presence. She smiled calmly, and her thoughts, her intentions to protect the defenseless young human muddled into disorientation.

"Kaachan," Hashira repeated.

"Hashira," She crouched, opening her arms. "My boy. You're safe now that I'm here. Come to me."

When he slipped past her again, Rumiri was too distracted trying to determine if she had always been so high off the ground to stop him. Why was she tall? Should she be so tall?

The boy toddled forward, and like her, the rest of the herd watched with glazed eyes. He reached out a hand, and something flickered at the corners of the woman's mouth. Something…evil.

A pulse of imminent danger surged through her so strongly, Rumiri found the strength to break free whatever trance was holding them hostage. She raced for the boy, throwing him out of the way just as the woman's hands transformed into terrible claws, a large, terrifying set of pincers working their way from her mandible.

"Tch!" Rumiri held in a shout of pain as the talons scraped her side instead. "How did you break my hypnosis?"

"R-Rumiri?" The boy beneath her body whimpered, clutching tight to her leg.

"Hashira, get back!" She roared, rearing up on her hind legs as the rest of the yokai's transformation fell away, replacing the woman Hashira had called kaachan with a massive, ugly brown eight-legged creature.

Its four crazed eyes glared down at her, the bulbous abdomen of a spider high in the air as it jumped well over their heads, going after the boy that had already started to run. "You can't keep a rare treat like that from me! I've never smelled anything so exquisite, and I always catch my prey!"

"It's a tsuchigumo," Aoto balked, his blue sides flaring bright. As he pawed the ground, sprouts rose, growing into thick stalks that lashed out like whips, slowing the monster down. Hashira dove back behind a wall of sagari, though some had scattered in other directions, confused and scared.

Of all the arachnid yokai, the tsuchigumo was one of the strongest, and most malevolent. Not only did it have an insatiable appetite, but it preyed on the unsuspecting, befuddling them with its shapeshifting and hypnosis.

The woman it had transformed into must have been Hashira's true mother, a trick it conjured after reading his mind to take the form he would be most likely to trust. The way she briefly felt was its hypnosis at work, an ability that let it confound prey once they wandered too close so they didn't have time to react when the murderous spider began eating them alive.

"This way, quickly!" Rumiri directed, scooping up Hashirama and galloping full speed for a path to escape the yokai that had only been temporarily slowed. The branches of the jubokko trees everywhere reached down, trying to ensnare them, coming close to snatching someone away a few times.

She snapped at them with her teeth, doing her best to keep them away from the child holding onto her for dear life. Fighting the blood-sucking trees had her so distracted, when she lost her footing and went down, Rumiri hardly had time to comprehend it until she saw the sticky, barbed webbing cutting into her ankle. The tsuchigumo had shot it from a distance, reeling her back to him like a caught fly, greed and hunger in his eyes. Blinking the dirt away, the sagari searched frantically for Hashira, finding him dazedly crawling towards her.

"Let Rumi go," he demanded, beginning to tug on the webbing and cutting his hands in the process. "Let her go!" The tsuchigumo tossed her aside with just a flick of one of its powerful legs, bearing down on Hashira just as he had been preparing to try biting her free.

Two more legs crashing down near his head made him fall, trapping the human until he was nearer to its big milky eyes and rough hairy hide than anyone had any right to be. The bushy red mane growing from its head brushed Hashira's face as it leaned into him, and he batted it away angrily. Before the wicked spider could bite him, he had bitten it first, chomping down on one of its legs.

The monster snarled, smacking him with another one, giving Rumiri just enough time to stagger to her feet and tackle the brute. Some of the herd used their powers to bind him in vines, securing him firmly to the ground.

With him incapacitated, it was easier to envelop him in a casing of leaves that began to grow from her mane. Every time she shook some loose, more grew in to replace them, all of them swirling to paper the struggling tsuchigumo until he was completely covered, no part of him visible through the thick green coffin she had made for him.

They watched him struggle, muffled shouts coming from within the cocoon. When those died down and the movement stopped, Rumiri allowed herself to collapse, the adrenaline filtering right out of her.

"Hashira, are you alright?" She panted, the child looking up at her with big worried eyes.

"Rumi!" He rushed to her, hugging her neck tight until his arms trembled. She rested her head comfortingly on his back, letting him snuggle in closer. "That…that spider was kaachan! How was he kaachan? Was she always a spider?! Why'd she try to eat me? Why did…" he gasped, pulling away. "Did you get hurt?"

"My injuries are minor," she assured him. "What about you? Were you hurt anywhere?"

He looked to be on the verge of tears, his lip trembling and his face and clothes covered in dirt. Glancing down at his bloody palms, he quickly hid them behind his back. "N-No," he said bravely, sniffling.

"Hashira, show me your hands."

The rest of the herd looked on, weary but amused. Not even Aoto was sneering or scowling.

"'M fine!" He said stubbornly, "I'm really—"

She barely heard the loud rip. One leg poked through the broken cocoon, and then the tsuchigumo was surging out with pincers bared, eyes vicious and vengeful. Rumiri jumped to her feet, her body acting on its own as she shielded Hashira away from his attack, feeling white hot pain lance through her as her side was ripped to shreds. But, she thought weakly, better her than his small and fragile human body.

Her blood dripped from his pincers, just enough spacial awareness remaining to be sure she didn't crush Hashira to the ground when she tripped over her own feet and fell in the dirt. The herd cried out in shock, charging at the tsuchigumo, who hardly paid them any mind.

"Rumi," Hashira cried. "No, Rumi!" Her vision blurred, eyes fluttering as blood seeped into the ground. The jubokko rumbled, the soil eagerly sopping up the spill as fast as the wound could bleed. A hand ghosted over her neck, a broken plea falling from the boy's lips. "Please wake up, Rumi!"

"Get away from there!" Aoto's voice pierced the darkness trying to close in on her. "Do you want her sacrifice to be in vain?!"

"He…" Hashira blubbered, "He hurt Rumi. He killed Rumi….?! He…he…"

The ground trembled, the air suddenly rife with a surge of righteous wrath that had her fighting to stay awake. Her buzzing head lifted, eyes drifting to the sight of the boy surrounding in a blinding glow, similar to when he had eaten the moss, but tenfold. His hair, his eyes, the markings appearing on his face and spreading over his arms and legs…all a deep forest green.

The tsuchigumo staggered back, decidedly unsure about continuing the hunt since the first time he appeared. In contrast, Hashira showed no such indecisiveness, a mere streak of green light as he rushed at the monster, reaching up and gripping tight to one of its many legs.

"What…are you?" The yokai's question went unanswered, the incensed little boy jerking with a savage twist that wrended the limb from his body.

The tsuchigumo screamed as black blood oozed to the ground, screaming louder as the rigid leg was hefted up and rammed through one of his eyes. He stumbled away, wounded and now partially blind, trying to run away. Branches tore through the ground, gnarled and tough and coated with black ooze as they skewered the tsuchigumo's body.

Rumiri dizzily wondered if it was one of the herd, but that seemed unlikely. Kuebiko had never designed them to be warrior yokai, though they had developed ways to defend themselves over the millennia in The Under, up to and including killing. Hashira, small glowing Hashira. He stood between her and the grotesque spider, his expression fierce as he lifted a hand. "I…" the tsuchigumo coughed, "I didn't realize…I didn't know." What a mistake it would be to attack them. Rumiri suspected none of them had foreseen this twist. "Let me go and I'll never do it again. Please, I'm—"

Hashira spread his fingers wide, slowly. As he did, the branches that had stabbed through the yokai began to move, expand, stretching his body to its limits as they moved in opposite directions.

Rumiri hardly had the strength to turn her head and shield her eyes from the explosion of guts as Hashira ripped the tsuchigumo apart.

If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, the sagari wouldn't have believed the happy, active, cuddly child she had been caring for had mercilessly slaughtered a yokai ten times his size with minimal effort. She had been right all along. The boy was special.

He wasted no time once he was sure he had neutralized the threat, bounding for her and sliding to his knees as he clutched the sides of her head. It lolled as she tried to focus on him. "Hashira, you have to continue with the rest of the herd, let them take you to safety." She turned, finding Aoto's eyes. "You'll do that for me, won't you?" Her old rival said nothing, lowering his head solemnly in assent. It seemed even he respected a dying wish when he heard one. "Thank you. Lead them well."

"What…what about you?" Hashira pressed, hugging her head, "You have to come with us."

"I've lost…too much blood now. But I protected you the best I could. This is an end I don't mind…"

"You can't leave, Rumi!" The child patted at her face with his hands. She could feel the dried blood on his palms, but she didn't think he was wounded. Curious. Like he had…healed himself.

Whatever was thrumming through him had began to fade away slowly. The marks had receded, leaving only the ends of his hair green, and the glow burning in his pleading eyes. "You're my friend! Please don't…" He began to sob, "I need you."

"We match," she told him, blowing out a small breath that ruffled his hair. "We're the same." Her mane was coated in her own blood now, and her glow was fading, but the green was still there.

Hashirama shook his head, crying harder.

'In such a short time…how did I become so attached? I thought I was only keeping him close because it was my second chance. I thought he needed me…' Rumiri had to laugh at the irony. 'I needed him more.'

"…we are all alive…" she tried. "We sing because we are alive…" Hashira gaped, the tears flowing endlessly as she did her best to recall the song. "We're sad because…we are alive." Gently, she pressed her forehead to his.

"..My blood flows deep red…" he sang back, voice raw from his crying. "The earthworm, the cricket, the water snake…everything." He hugged her, stroking his hands down her neck. "Everything is alive…Rumi is alive. Everything is alive and are fri-friends…"

She closed her eyes, telling herself it would be a brief rest, a pleasant nap in the sunlight dappling her favorite meadow. If the last thing she was aware of was this moment, surrounded by her herd, knowing the love of this one human child, then her death was the best it could be.

Rumiri drifted, weightless as the song Hashira had been singing to her floated further away. It should have been the end. There was nothing more for her, the last of her life force fading away. But, the warm cradling her entire body was rejuvenating. More than that, it was life-bringing.

She cracked an eye open at the murmurs of shock, some of the cottony feeling in her mouth going away. Hashira was glowing yet again, his hands on her wounds, closing them as he concentrated. It was surreal, seeing herself laying there lifeless, the herd around them and the boy somehow miraculously healing her shredded body. She saw it all as if she were a stranger passing by, and yet she felt the warmth of his hand stroking her side encouragingly.

"Come back now, Rumi."

When she next opened her eyes again, she felt restored, strong enough to get to her feet, greeted by the exuberance of everyone around her celebrating her return from the dead.

When the herd slept later, Rumiri kept herself curled protectively around the little human sleeping peacefully beneath her mane, content to watch his chest rise and fall, knowing he was the reason hers could too.

"So, you see, the truth is that Hashira saved my life, and in doing so earned my eternal thanks…and loyalty."

"Pretty nice story." Ubagabi chirped. "But if he doesn't remember any of that, why not tell him? He's gotta be sort of lost and in the dark, right?"

"Because the truth is far more complicated." She sighed, approaching the square where they had last seen the two humans. "And it's not my place."

"Uh-huh, so…"

Rumiri glared over her shoulder. "It's not your place either." Natsume mimed shutting his mouth, while Sōgo rolled his eyes.

Ubagabi raised his paws in surrender. "Hey, don't look at me. I don't even know the guy that well."

Snorting, the sagari buried the niggling seed of guilt once again, sliding right through the occupants of the Bazaar, finding the humans together in quite the…interesting position. They had moved closer, Sakura's hand resting lightly on Hashirama's. As they spoke to each other, their words low, an air of affection and coziness surrounded them. A certain lovestruck look lit up Hashirama's eyes.

Pride overtook the worries plaguing her, Rumiri approaching slowly, almost hating to interrupt. 'Good for you, Hashira.'

"What is that about?" Ubagabi whispered to the others.

"I dunno, but twelve thousand myu says if there weren't so many scents mixed here, we'd all be drowning in the smell of arousal." Sōgo mentioned crudely.

"But…" Ubagabi sounded downright broken-hearted, "but Sakura still loves us best, right?"

"It's hard to say." Natsume mused, "Doesn't courtship and mating affect human brains? She may not be in her right mind now."

Rumiri tuned them all out, Ubagabi's sudden crying included.

"We've returned." She announced, stopping at a distance and letting the mujina slide down her neck to the ground. They rushed Sakura without a second of hesitation, the minimal space between she and Hashirama suddenly full to bursting with a pile of squirming, possessive bundles of fur.

"Welcome back," she hefted them all into her arms easily. "Did you get your fill of the Bazaar already? I know I have."

"Yeah, it got boring fast. Especially without you there!" Ubagabi sniffled.

"Let's go home already." Sōgo added.

"Right, let's do that." She set them all down, and they hopped around her feet, anxious and pushy. Airi tittered over the long glance shared between the pair of humans, Hashirama looking like he was barely holding himself back from stumbling after Sakura as she walked ahead a little.

"Point the way back, Natsume!" The mujina was all too happy to do so, though Sōgo paused to motion to Hashirama and then threateningly bare his teeth.

He paused, swallowing loudly. "It seems like they want some time with Sakura-chan." He announced to the sagari. With long steps, he was at her side in an instant, lightly touching her shoulder. Sakura stopped, staring up at him with green eyes more lush than the first sign of spring. Rumiri understood more by the minute just what must have appealed to Hashirama so. To think, he had grown so much in his time away from her. "Why don't I go with Rumi and collect the rest of the herd? We'll meet you at the other end of the Bazaar. It's where you're headed I'm guessing."

"How'd you know that?" Natsume stood on his hind legs, squinting. "You trying to take my job as navigator?"

"Me?" He pointed at himself, gaping. "No, no of course not. The tengu king placed a map in my head of how to get here, and how to get out. That's all. I still don't have the ability to get around down here that I'm sure you do."

Pacified, Natsume fluffed up proudly, brushing Sakura's ankle like a territorial cat as he walked by. "Alright, you heard 'im. They'll catch up, so let's go."

Rumiri was glad Hashira already seemed to be able to catch the unpredictable moods of the mujina and act accordingly. If he planned to be with Sakura, he would have to understand and be cautious of how possessive yokai could be. It would spare him a limb or two.

---

Sakura knew a thing or two about awkward silences and unspoken words. She knew what this was. The mujina had been sticking especially close since they had parted ways with Hashirama and the sagari. There was something on their minds, and she didn't need three guesses to know what it was.

"Alright, I thought we were better at communication with each other than this. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah!" Predictably, Ubagabi was the first one to respond, sounding aghast she could ever think otherwise. "We are! We always will be!"

"Well…" her eyes trailed to little Uzuki, who softly, shyly, stared back. "Friends are honest with each other. Mostly. So what is it you want to say?"

"What do we want to say? What do you expect us to say?" Sogo asked, cranky. "You have his smell all over you, and you also smell like…like…." He leaned in to sniff her, then reared back, offended by whatever it was he found. "I don't even know what that is."

"So that is what this is about." Sakura blushed, just recalling the kiss enough to send her heart pounding, a hand brushing her lips, wishing it was his touch again.

"It's true then?!" Ubagabi wailed, "You're gonna mate with hi—" He couldn't finish, a watery hiccup robbing him of his words. "You're gonna replace us?"

A part of her wanted to burst out laughing at his usual theatrics. At some point, she probably should address Ubagabi's attachment issues. All of the mujina's attachment issues, really. But for the time being, comforting him was the best course of action.

"How could I ever do that?" She stopped, bending down and rubbing Ubagabi between the ears. "After everything we've been through together, there's no way I'd just walk away now. You know that, don't you?"

The mujina took the time to think about it, reaching up and grasping her hand between his paws, pulling it down to hug close to him. "I guess…I do."

"Good." Sakura smiled. "Because you're all important friends to me. And no matter what happens, that's not changing." She gently took her hand back, and Ubagabi thankfully allowed it. "Besides, it's not like I was just waiting to be alone with Hashirama or anything. We were only talking in the beginning, and then…then suddenly I felt warm and uninhibited and we were kissing." She sighed, aware of the fact that she sounded as breathless and giddy as an academy student.

To think, she used to hope with all her heart of that moment being shared with Sasuke. But now, older and in the position she was in, she couldn't have imagined anything more perfect than the way it had played out, circumstances notwithstanding.

"…Warm and uninhibited huh?" Natsume moved in close, bracing his paws on her knee as he took a long sniff, then a few more for good measure. "I knew it. I knew something was off about your scent but I just couldn't place it. Before anything happened, did you happen to breathe any…anything funny in the air?"

"Like what?" Sakura stared at them as they all traded looks between each other. Ubagabi, Sōgo, and even Uzuki took turns smelling her.

"Yep. Easy to sniff away from the Bazaar." Sōgo rubbed his nose like it itched. "That's that damn dust alright."

The moment where the insectoid yokai had been dancing in a frenzy around them came to mind. Sakura rubbed her knuckles along the column of her throat, a strong feeling that she wouldn't like where the conversation was headed taking hold. "When we were at the fountain, a yokai was flapping her wings, and we breathed in a lot of the dust." None of the mujina looked surprised, only vindicated. Though Sōgo put a paw over his eyes and groaned.

"There are lots of insect yokai out there, and some have um, special properties. Their wings are coated with a powder that does weird things to your system when it's inhaled, makes you act…different. Sometimes it…"

And just like that, all things soft and happy cleared from her head. Like a bucket of icy water had been poured over her head, Sakura felt a chill seize her violently. "You mean…you mean what happened back there was because of the dust ?"

"Not entirely maybe," Ubagabi rubbed his ear. "Uh, I think?"

Sakura frowned, her mind racing in a million directions. "So you really don't know ." Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut and kept them that way, trying to block out the guilt, frustration and despair crashing against her walls. "But I do, or I should have known."

"Sakura," Uzuki stared at her with large eyes of concern. "You smell…sad."

"I mean," She stumbled to her feet, dizzy. "It's obvious, right? That kiss…it didn't mean anything. He didn't really want to…and I shouldn't have tried to…I—" She began to pace. There was room to since they had left most of the more active parts of the Bazaar behind. The way out was a lonely, forgotten dirt path with shady shops that didn't look as if they had been visited in a while. Sakura wasn't sure if they were even open, which was perfect. Her head was already about to explode under the pressure of her emotions.

"It might not be like that." Ubagabi's ears and tail drooped in response to her frantic state, "He seems…he seemed as happy as you did."

Sakura studied each of their furry little faces. Even Sōgo, her blunt, sassy rebellious soul, didn't seem inclined to make light. "You don't understand…" she tried, clearing her throat as she began to feel choked up. "Just like I'm not meant to be here in the first place, that wasn't meant to happen. He's…he's got someone else waiting for him back in the village. That's who he's supposed to be with." Tsunade-shisho flashed through her mind. How could she? How could she disrespect her mentor like that? Revulsion had her clutching herself tight, nausea rolling around in her stomach. "That's who he's going to be with."

Every step the pinkette marched forward was filled with self contempt. "Unless I ruined the timeline somehow with that…" It had to be the biggest lapse in judgment of her life. The single most selfish thing she had ever done. All the hard work and effort she'd put in after months, no, years…and she might have unraveled it just like that. With a few kisses.

"Sakura," the mujina were running after her, she vaguely registered that, but she was hardly paying attention. Natsume was supposed to be leading, wasn't he? She didn't even know where she was going. "Think about it this way…if it wasn't supposed to happen, it wouldn't have." Sōgo reassured. "It'll all turn out fine."

Sakura could feel the tell-tale pressure building behind her eyes. If there was one thing she knew well, it was when she was about to cry. "I want to say no, I won't be. But what choice do I have?" A tear slipped out, and another raced after it. "I was stupid, trying to live in some fairytale. I saw the necklace, you know? The one that'll originally be passed down to Tsunade-shisho?" While aware she was rambling, and that the mujina probably could understand better with more context, their silent attentiveness urged her to go on. "I didn't think it came from The Under. Then again, it's possible that it didn't, originally. But if that's the case it's just proof of what I already know…the timeline has a set course it's trying to travel down, and it'll find a way to correct irregularities."

"Such as…" Natsume said, trying to puzzle out the meaning of her words.

"That kiss." Sakura kicked a stray stone in her path out of the way, watching it explode into dust from the force. "It doesn't mean anything because it can't mean anything. Even if I wanted it to, the timeline wouldn't let it. I just have to get over myself and…find a way to do what I set out to do."

"Will you really be okay like that?" Uzuki asked.

Of course she wouldn't, Sakura wanted to respond. She smelled sad because she was sad. Inside, she was in shambles. Hashirama…no, the Hokage…he hadn't meant to kiss her. That was just the dust messing with both their heads, making a moment that shouldn't have been, feel right. At the end of the day she still had to save them all from divine destruction. And he still had to live the life history said he would. Marry Mito, protect the village, become a grandfather. "It's like I said, I have to be."

If her head had started to clear, his likely had too. Hopefully he wouldn't be too put off about it. They still had to work together for the foreseeable future, after all. It might take more than an apology to smooth things over, but it was at least a start.

---

He had failed.

Hashirama had probably known somewhere deep down that trying to detach himself from Sakura, to physically create and hold distance, was an exercise in futility.

When that hadn't worked, he had told himself continuing to socialize with her was okay. It just had to be an appropriate kind of socialization. A friendly kind. Nothing more. But his heart twisted in knots when she was close, his mind raced with all the things he wanted to tell her.

And when presented with the opportunity, he let his rationality fly out the window. He had failed. The softness of her body close to his, the lips he had only ever felt pressed against his cheek molded with his…

It was better than anything he could have possibly imagined. Then and there, he knew there was no turning back. All the things he had realized he wanted, and everything he had resolved to deny himself was suddenly so crystal in his mind.

More than that, what was once so complicated now felt so simple. The connection he felt rushing through that kiss was greater than negotiating with the Uzumaki. Greater than Sakura's status as a time-traveler. Possibly even greater than his mother's warning.

"Is he doing this?" The belligerent tone hit him like a smack in the face. "Tell him to stop it at once!"

All around him, the sagari had started to sprout tiny flowers in their manes and tails, their colors ranging from electric blue to a subdued salmon. The only thing they had in common was that the flowers glowed the same color as the light each sagari gave off.

It gave him pause. It'd been some time since his emotions had spontaneously caused buds to burst into bloom from thin air. It happened subconsciously more than once as a child, leaves usually sprouting from barren trees suddenly, or roots erupting from the ground.

Flowers were less frequent; those usually happened if an existing plant had them but hadn't come to maturity yet. As he was taught to temper his emotions and better control his gift, the Mokuton did it less and less. But now, it looked like the feelings that had blossomed in his heart were affecting his surroundings too.

"I didn't mean to…" Hashirama reached for the nearest sagari, who was identical to the one standing next to him. "Here, let me see if I can…help." Plucking the flower resulted in another immediately springing up to take its place.

He twirled the stem between his fingers, staring into its center contemplatively. Would Sakura like a wreath made of these? She had enjoyed the cherry blossoms so much, these were bound to make her just as thrilled. Especially if they maintained their glow. The orchard he had created still lit up every night, and would continue to do so until the petals fell from their trees.

"Hashira," Rumiri sidled up next to him, her own mane full with delicate green flowers that sparkled like polished gems. "How are you doing this?" she asked in wonder.

"I don't…I don't know." It was the truth. Actually, it was a very good question. Sakura and Tobirama had gone into great detail explaining that in The Under, all ninjutsu proved useless, as the realm and almost everything in it predated the molding of chakra into techniques. It was possible that as a kekkei genkai, his Mokuton might be some sort of exception…he really wasn't sure. "If I concentrate, I think I can reverse it." In his mind, he pictured the striking varieties of plants and flowers that only bloomed under the night sky and shrank closed in the light of day.

In The Under, there was no discernible night and day, the sky changed on a whim. But visualizing the cycle still helped him gradually reign in the burst of power. The flowers dropped to their feet, still glowing. One of the sagari carefully nudged one, picking it up with his tongue to eat a second later. "Not bad." He declared after chewing it up. "A bit zesty."

His mane and sides glowed brighter, the rouge of the flower seemingly influencing the rouge of his body. "Amazing?" He turned in circles, trying to see himself better. The other sagari gasped and murmured in astonishment as he pranced around, swishing his tail for them.

"How did you do that?" Aoto demanded, getting closer than he had ever gotten just to stare him down suspiciously. "Surely you must know you had the ability to generate organic life from nothing."

"No," Hashirama's first instinct was to deny it outright, but after giving it some thought, he wasn't entirely sure. "I mean on earth I do have…an ability. It's passed down in the blood of my family, but no one else has manifested it for generations." Scratching the side of his head, he bent to pick up a glowing pink flower that had come from Airi's mane. "It's helped me cultivate new species before, but I still splice the genes of existing plants to do it. And growing flowers on living things has never happened."

"Yeeeah," Airi hummed curiously. "You just keep getting more interesting, huh?" She galloped in place, her straight teeth showing in a horse's smile.

They passed back through the veil that led into the Bazaar, and Hashirama immediately found his senses assaulted by all the chaotic sights and sounds. "This is an…interesting place. Maybe that's why."

"Or maybe it's just you." Chairo suggested, moving closer to him as a large, burly creature that he was pretty sure was an oni walked by swinging a club. "I'd find that believable. What were you feeling when it happened? Sometimes that's important."

Unlike his explanation to Aoto, that was something Hashirama didn't really need to think about. "I felt light." He laughed at himself, "Actually, that's an understatement. I felt like I was floating, but not really. I guess that's how people describe being in—"

That was it, wasn't it? It went beyond general affection and fondness.

"What? In what?" Airi pressed, clearly not catching on.

"Love." Rumiri said simply. "Our Hashira has grown up, and experienced falling in love."

"What?!" Several of the nearby sagari said simultaneously.

Although he knew he was blushing, Hashirama could hardly deny the enormous smile that filled his whole face. "It's a bit embarrassing when you say it so bluntly, Rumi."

"Though I'm not wrong, am I?" Rumiri nickered, nudging him with her nose. "I saw the two of you together. Your faces and the way you glowed."

Had they really looked so comfortable together? Then again, spotting someone in love was quite obvious, even if they tried to hide it. Hashirama had seen the way people could get when their hearts found their match. He saw the magic and the spark of a couple so into each other the rest of the world faded away.

It was how he had come to realize over time that he didn't see that spark between his parents. Not even once. If anything, watching them interact felt more like two people who had come to an understanding, one built on mutual respect at best. His parents were husband and wife, but they weren't lovers.

"I spent so long wanting this," Hashirama reflected. "A part of me wondered if I'd ever find it, but I was stubborn about insisting it was out there…only to deny the possibility at every turn just because of who it happened to be." When had it even started? Was it one instance or many? He couldn't even say anymore. "I told myself I got along with Sakura-chan because I get along with almost everyone. And…I told myself that anything more than a friendship was too much of a gamble, so I wouldn't even entertain anything else."

"But the heart wants what it wants, right?" Airi chimed in. "I mean I think that's right…I've never been in love. Except if you count with my mane. Can we count that? Have you seen it swish?"

She nearly stomped on some smaller mice-like yokai as she splayed her legs out and shook her head wildly. Her mane bounced beautifully for her efforts.

Hashirama reached over and brushed his hand through the hair several times. They were sinfully soft. All the sagari had immaculately kept manes, so that was unsurprising. "It suits you more than you know, Airi."

"Aw, that means a lot coming from you! You know, if you were a sagari I bet—"

"Let's refocus for a minute," Rumi sighed. "Hashira, now that you've realized it, what do you plan to do?"

Hashirama continued to stroke Airi's mane as they walked, and she ate up the attention. "Wanting this and pursuing it are entirely different things, aren't they? Wanting her to stay when I know all the reasons why she can't felt selfish enough. But pursuing her, actively trying to keep her here…it's…it's worse. It'd be disastrous for all the reasons I shared with you before, and then some."

"But if you don't try, then how do you know it won't work out? What if you're resigning yourself to needless suffering?" Chairo put in. "She feels the same way about you too, doesn't she?"

"I…" The mere thought had his heart souring higher than he thought was possible. Was love supposed to feel like the greatest moment of his life stretched out to infinity, and simultaneously like he could actually die? That was terrifying, yet so exhilarating the rush he had could allow him to run hundreds of laps around the village and not feel winded. "I can't presume to know that yet." Grounded, he told himself. He had to stay grounded.

"Until you talk to her," Airi pushed.

"There'd be no turning back." There already wasn't, really. Whether he ever came out and said what he wanted to Sakura or kept it a secret—that he was liable to let slip at some point anyway—just the fact that the feelings existed changed everything. "It'd be a gamble. I'd be gambling everything."

"Well, all of us are behind you, Hashira." Many voices rang out in agreement with Rumiri's words. "Above all, you should find happiness. If the chance is right before you, that's all the more reason to take it."

"Plus, I happen to like your odds." One of the identical sagari from before added. "And that's not just because she's practically right in front of us."

The trek all the way to the other side of the Bazaar passed in no time at all, which only proved how deeply engrossed in conversation they had been. They passed through another veil that fell away to reveal the ruggedness outside the developed area, and shortly up ahead, Sakura and the mujina waiting for them.

The kunoichi was deep in discussion with her summons, but glanced up, fully alert the minute they drew nearer. They met eyes, and though there was a genuine smile on her lips, Hashirama wondered why he could read anxiousness from her body language, like there was something she was dying to get out.

What the sagari mentioned came to mind, and another heavy thump of painful hope hurt his chest.

"Okay. They're back. You're ready. Let's go." One of her mujina said, twitching impatiently.

"Actually," Sakura glanced between them, him, and the sagari. "I'm sorry, but would everyone mind waiting one more minute. I just need to talk to Hashirama. It won't take long."

The mujina that had spoken sighed heavily, but another elbowed him in the ribs, and he shrugged. "Sure, why not. Guess we got nowhere in particular we need to be."

"Thank you," she bowed graciously at the sagari, probably because she didn't know them as well. "Would you mind joining me?"

She didn't even have to ask. He would have obediently followed her anywhere, even to his destruction.

"Point the way, Sakura-cha—"

"Over there looks like a good place for a talk." Her body language was no less anxious, and if anything, she sounded distracted, but hopefully whatever was on her mind, Hashirama could help put her at ease.

They left the two groups of yokai behind, stopping once Sakura deemed them a suitable distance away for some privacy. But once they were alone, neither of them said much. Hashirama was unclear what he could say, so he waited patiently for Sakura to gather her thoughts.

"Before we go back…" she rubbed her arm, "I just wanted to say, about what happened…"

"Oh! That was…unexpected, yes, but it's alright." He assured her. "There's really no one I'd rather have ki—"

"I'm sorry." His eyes widened at her perfect, formal bow, mouth snapping closed. "I wanted to say that, first and foremost. If I'd been thinking more clearly…if I'd just been a little more careful, it wouldn't have happened."

Contrary to the sensation of floating, suddenly, the Senju felt like he was flailing, free-falling really. "I wasn't aware that was how you felt. I'm sorry if I overstepped."

"Don't apologize," Sakura said, her tone and body language suddenly changing from anxious to solemn. "It wasn't on you alone. I…I participated. And neither one of us could have controlled ourselves anyway since that dust was involved."

"Dust?" Hashirama recalled the moth, the air being saturated with the powder that scratched his throat, the feeling of warmth and the craving for touch and intimacy. "Are you saying…?"

Sakura nodded, her eyes full of remorse. "It felt good in the moment, but it probably wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been…compromised." His mind was whirling, soaking in the information that their inhibitions had evidently been removed thanks to the strange dust. Still, it didn't mean he didn't want it. It didn't mean he didn't want her . No amount of dousing had put the emotions he now realized had been there for so long in his heart.

"I think it's more than that," Hashirama hurried to say. "At least for me. Sakura-chan," He moved a hair's breadth closer, trying not to read too much into it when she took a subtle step back. "I think I—"

She took a deep breath, and he hesitated. "Could I go first?" His heartbeat was too loud, too frantic, but he nodded woodenly. "I just want you to know that there aren't any expectations from me because of, you know…it doesn't have to mean anything more than what it was." It didn't have to mean anything? To him, it meant everything. At the risk of being a hopeless romantic, it was the kiss that set him free. "We can still walk the paths we were both on."

That was a goodbye if ever there was one. "It sounds like you see a vision of the future where we go our separate ways."

"I see…the reality of the situation." Sakura winced. "And that was always going to be the case. We're from different worlds, in every sense."

"Do we have to be?" Hashirama wondered if he was already pushing too far. But he had to ask, had to know. All his life he had wanted someone he could cherish and share his dreams with. Someone he could raise a family with, dare to think about growing old with. That someone could be right in front of him. "The circumstances that allowed us to meet shouldn't have been possible," Unthinkingly he reached out and took her hand. The Senju squeezed every ounce of sincerity he could into it. "The universe allowing you to exist in this time, and allowing me to coexist at your side…that's done something I can't express in this moment, but if you give me the chance, one day I might be able to."

Her expression was unrelentingly stoic as she withdrew her hand, letting his drop limply to his side. "You don't see it now, because you don't have the benefit of being from the future. But I am. I know what you'd be giving up. And I have to use that knowledge to do what's best for…for the timeline. That dust could still be affecting you, but when it clears you'll see this differently."

"Why are you so sure it can't really be so simple?"

"Because it's never that simple!" Sakura's eyes widened, as if she'd startled herself by raising her voice. "Not with you, not with…anything I'm going through. I don't want this." Ice formed in his veins, the words ricocheting through his head. "I don't want to be the reason everything I've worked towards gets broken. It's not worth it."

It was one thing to assume that the person he wanted was unattainable, and another to get confirmation. He'd never considered it would be because his feelings were unrequited, but in hindsight, that was sheer arrogance. Simply because Sakura was the one he loved, it didn't mean she owed him any in return.

The understanding smile he tried to muster hurt before he could even finish making it. The physical pain was a vice around his heart, cutting off circulation and rupturing the organ. Instead, Hashirama settled for passive neutrality. It would be the most undignified moment of his life to cry now, of all times. But it didn't mean he didn't want to. On the inside, tears flowed heavily.

His soul was crying, and the look Sakura gave him made it all the worse. Like she could detect his pain, but wasn't sure if she should ask. He hoped she didn't. If the question fell from her lips, if she asked what was wrong, there would be no hiding anything.

It didn't matter if he couldn't convince her that his thoughts were unclouded in the moment. Later on would be a worse time to insist on confessing, because there would be no sidestepping how thoroughly ensnared he was.

And that would be miserable of him, to force his feelings onto her. Knowing her, she might be guilted into saying she returned them out of pity. To her, no…to the both of them, duty had to come first.

From this moment onward, he would be stalwart and diligent in presenting himself accordingly. He was her Hokage, and perhaps even her friend, but he was never meant to be her lover.

The last kernel of hope dissolved, impotent.

"You have a point," he said after composing himself. "We do both have our paths to walk," Sticking out a hand, he waited, unsure. "But while they're connected, we can still cooperate in our common goal of protecting the village. As friends."

Sakura's grip was a bit flimsy, almost shy, but her nod was resolute. "Thank you. Once we get out of here, I'll contact Mizuchi and find out what she wanted to tell me." That meant she would be off again, on her next grand adventure. Perhaps that was for the best.

"She keeps you busy." Hashirama let go of her hand again, but somehow it felt more final. She was right in front of him, but it felt like she was already an insurmountable distance away.

"She does." Sakura flashed a quick smile. "I take on more missions from her than I do from you, don't I?" He wasn't sure who moved first, but they began to walk back towards the group, a safe distance apart. "But I am a kunoichi of Konoha, no matter where or when I am. Don't hesitate to call on me if there's anything you need."

"Almost any mission I could assign would be beneath your caliber." he joked. "But I'm sure I could find something worth your time if you ever get bored."

'I can't do that.' he lamented. 'Not when what I need…what I want is you.'

---

Sakura never thought she would think it, but she almost preferred the unbearable pressure and constant danger of The Under. Up on the surface, it was not as easy to breathe as might have been expected. Especially not with just the two of them.

The sagari had remained behind, returning to their meadow home after bidding them both a very fond farewell. Her mujina friends also had to leave, knowing Tsubute would be impatiently waiting for an explanation about what had taken them so long. Though she suspected Sōgo wanted to rush home and brag about the great adventure they had with her in the others' absence.

Either way, without the buffer of the mujina there to guide conversation, the atmosphere quickly grew stilted…and awkward. Sakura kept her lips pressed together, afraid she might be tempted to comment on it to avoid spending one more minute in the unbearable silence.

The exit out of The Under spit them out not far from where she entered, the outskirts of Konoha. Though it wasn't exact, and since Sakura wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed, her first endeavor was going back to that spot to see if Tobirama and Madara were still waiting there. The sky was darkening, night rapidly approaching. At the very least she had been gone for hours, if not longer…

Logically, it was more probable that they had seen her off and gone home. But if one or both were waiting around, she'd feel bad about not informing them that their watch was over. Asking one of the mujina to do it seemed like asking for trouble, or a squabble, and since she had the Hokage with her, it would be better if they could see he was unharmed sooner rather than later.

She chanced a peek at him, only to find he was walking beside her, looking dead ahead. Right. What was she expecting? That they would meet eyes and share smiles or giggle like lovers sharing a secret?

Sakura wiped at her eyes as discreetly as possible the minute she felt the dewy sensation there. Of all the analogies her brain could have used, it had to be the one that made her want to curl up in a ball. It had taken everything to look him in the eyes, and harshly tell him with a straight face that she didn't want anything from him. Sure, the chances of him later regretting it regardless were high, but while the dream lasted, it was nice…

Before the weight of reality came crashing down, for one minute, for one glorious minute Sakura had dared to dream of a world where they were free to explore whatever was happening between them. More days like their brief time in Tanzaku, except very much real.

But if she started mulling over that, she'd be forced to confront the way things left off with Izuna—and Madara, since he was apparently meant to be taken seriously. And if she tried to deny that her stomach somersaulted when Tobirama graced her with one of his rare smiles, she would be outright lying. Still, to entertain inappropriate thoughts of the Hokage was greedy and terrible enough. She already had enough guilt and self disgust on her plate to last a lifetime. Adding anyone else to the mix would be…

The top of her sandal caught on a chunk of stone she'd been too distracted to notice, and she pitched forward clumsily, ready to absorb the impact of the fall by landing on her elbows. Instead, a warm hand hauled her to her feet in the nick of time. Sakura's face turned pink, awash with embarrassment at being that klutzy and oblivious, but her companion's eyes were kind. "Are you alright?"

"If I wasn't, it would have been my own fault for not paying attention." She mumbled. "Thank you."

The most strange and horrifying thing occurred as the kunoichi tried to give him an appreciative nod. The same eyes that had pulled her closer in The Under started to do it again. All he was doing was standing there, motionless, and yet she felt magnetized. Only sheer force of will kept her from making a fool of herself by trying to get closer.

She had just drawn a clear line between any closeness of the intimate kind. Sakura couldn't be caught slipping already. 'How long until this stupid dust wears off?' The heat was gone, but not the urge to hold his hand as they walked, or lean in for another kiss. What was wrong with her? It was like the floodgates had been fully opened, and every emotion she had held back before was pouring through.

"It's nothing," he continued to follow her as she made for the general direction she remembered the spot being. Thank whatever was responsible for her excellent memory. "You know, did I ever tell you about the time I was training with Madara in the woods and he nearly fell in boar dung?"

"No," Sakura couldn't help but gasp, already scandalized. Unfortunately, Hashirama had a way of drawing people in like that. "I'm guessing that wasn't part of the training."

"You could say that." He grinned slyly. "I may have…goaded him a bit about a bird's droppings getting in his lunch that day. He had to throw the whole thing out!" When he threw his head back and bellowed, some of the uneasiness lifted from her chest. "I offered to share my own food, of course, but he accused me of pitying him and refused to take it. Then he got hungry later and demanded I give him half anyway." The Senju beamed with fondness, clearly taken back to a simpler time.

Sakura could imagine Madara being indecisive and bossy, even at that age, so it wasn't hard to picture. "But how did that lead to the boar—"

"We were boys, passionate and full of energy. You know what a recipe for disaster that can be." She fixed him with a knowing stare, and he turned away with a guilty shrug. "I thought that I could bribe him into showing me how to do a katon jutsu if I bartered for it with my lunch. One thing led to another and…the next thing I knew he was chasing me through the woods."

"Until he nearly tripped."

"Until he nearly tripped." Hashirama confirmed.

Sakura tried to hide the unladylike snort behind her palm, but some of it slipped out audibly. Hashirama began snickering too, both of them picturing a young red-faced Madara nearly go flailing into a heaping pile of dung.

Somehow, his stories were always so easy to get sucked into like that, as random as they tended to be.

Though, Sakura considered if he might have had an ulterior motive this time around. 'Did he tell me that because he noticed I was uncomfortable?' It worked like a charm. There was a lingering awkwardness still from the knowledge of what had transpired earlier, but it was minimal compared to before. Nothing she couldn't deal with.

Sakura melted at his sensitivity, then forced herself to snap out of it when she thought about where that road could lead her. It was a slippery slope between admiring his thoughtfulness and fantasizing about being in his arms again.

"Hmm…it seems like we kept them waiting." Hashirama tilted his head.

Two very familiar men came into view as they pushed through the treeline, Madara sitting up in the higher branches of a tree while Tobirama leaned against it. Both of them abandoned their posts to come greet them.

"Hashirama!"

"Anija."

"You must have both been concerned to put aside your differences and come looking for me." Hashirama lit up. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Fine?" Madara huffed. "What you are is infuriating. Covering for you from not only the Uzumaki, but the entirety of the village has been no easy feat. Consider that you now owe me a great debt." He paused. "Several debts."

"Or, I could promise not to tell anyone about that 'special' endurance training I caught you doing once and we can consider it squared." The pinkette had no idea what Hashirama was referencing, but knowing the two of them, and seeing the way Madara's face reddened angrily in response to his friend's sweet smile, she had a feeling she was witnessing blackmail.

"You two-faced bastard—" The Uchiha swore. "Obviously a near death experience didn't diminish your cheekiness." Madara roughly jerked Hashirama closer by the front of his clothes, which only got the Senju cracking a grin. "Should we push you back in and see if the second time's the charm?"

"Enough," Tobirama sighed, arms folded in finality. "Anija, it looks like The Under has been good to you. You're in high spirits, which means you're in the right shape to speak to the Uzumaki and deal with the mess you made."

Hashirama bowed his head, expression shifting to a more appropriately serious one. "How long…have I been gone?"

"Sakura left to retrieve you yesterday." Madara explained, also having decided to put his desire to throttle the Hokage aside for the time being. "It's now approaching nightfall, so it might as well be rounded to three days."

"Right. I'll speak to Ashina immediately. Where is he?"

Tobirama brought a heavy hand down on his brother's shoulder. "At the Hokage Tower. I had no choice but to tell them the 'theory' of how you may have fallen into an enemy trap in order to quell his irritation. Mei-san and I eventually convinced them to return to their quarters in the Tower and let them know the minute the situation was resolved, or if it wasn't."

"Now would be the time to tell them you aren't dead, if you want to salvage any negotiations you may have had with them," Madara's smirk informed Sakura that he hoped there were some repercussions in Hashirama's future. Maybe even an earful.

Hashirama sighed. "Let's go, Tobirama."

The younger Senju nodded, but instead of whisking them away, he turned to her for the first time since they had returned. "I hope you've shown Sakura the proper gratitude for risking life and limb to come after you."

"Tobirama," Hashirama whined, "I'm not rude enough to just ignore that."

"He has." Sakura's eyes stayed focused on him. Looking at the Hokage would be too embarrassing. "And it's fine. I wanted to help."

The minute Tobirama mentioned 'proper gratitude' her mind flashed back to their tongues moving against each other and the difficult conversation that had followed.

Her head felt completely clear again, and there was no raging fire threatening to consume her moving up from her stomach. So the torment of torturing herself with what could have been and the guilt of what shouldn't have been was hers to keep for the foreseeable future. Excellent.

She couldn't quite read the look in the depths of those carmine eyes, but when he surged closer, Sakura was so caught off guard she almost stumbled back. "I want to offer my gratitude as well."

The pinkette didn't know what to make of Tobirama being so close. Yes, it had become a quirk of his that she'd noticed. He didn't seem to have full awareness of how close he could stand since they had become closer. But with his body heat radiating off him and the intensity of his eyes, it was…different.

"Who knows how long anija would have been trapped there or if he could return without you."

"It was my fault to begin with," Sakura admitted, "I'm the one who…"

The peck feathered across her cheek didn't last long, but it felt so meaningful Sakura instinctively cradled her hand there. "Thank you."

The brothers were gone before she even had time to question it. Tobirama kissed her? Tobirama kissed her. Chaste as that had been, and as much as they had experienced together, that had still never happened. Not intentionally.

And now her heart had exploded into fireworks, and her brain was fuzzing after a simple cheek kiss.

'Did you already forget how entertaining things with his brother went? Pull your head out of your ass, Sakura.' Self chastisement was the only way to go. Tobirama was just as off the table as Hashirama.

What had been a faint crack fissured into a full fault line across her heart. She couldn't keep doing this to herself. At the rate she was going, the jumbled thoughts in her head were going to tear her apart.

"I knew a Senju would get in the way. Hashirama more so, but it's surprisingly unsurprising that Tobirama seems keen to try his luck."

Of course, then there was Madara to deal with… Even though night had fallen around them while they stood and talked, she could tell he was leering at her.

"Madara," she tried, already tired. "Not now. Please?"

"Not now then." He agreed. Sakura was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get him to agree to drop it, until he kept on talking. "But this changes nothing, I assure you."

"I didn't expect it to." Sakura halfheartedly covered a yawn. "I can't even begin to explain all the ways I'm tired. It's dark, so I'm heading home."

A hand on her wrist stopped her before she could get too far. "I'll walk with you."

"I'm going directly to the village," Sakura shook her head. "I'll be fine."

"Sakura," Madara's voice was flat. "I don't care. I'll come along."

Strange as it was, the kunoichi was too tired to waste time fighting him on it. "If that's what you want."

"It is." He didn't relinquish his grip on her wrist, speeding them past the village gates.

---

"Isn't this quaint…" Ashina eyed his untouched tea like there was a bug floating in it. "I hear a welcome home is in order."

"I can't apologize sincerely enough for the inconvenience and disrespect I must have caused you." Hashirama gave his deepest bow, knowing the Uzumaki patriarch's face would be unshifted from its stoic neutrality when he straightened up. "I'd like to explain, though I know it may come across a bit…fantastical."

He could practically sense Tobirama's admonishment, but it wasn't exactly easy to avoid telling the truth in this matter. He only hoped he could convince them to believe it.

"Fantastical?" Orino's eyes narrowed into slits. By the time she had said the last syllable of the word, it had risen to shrill disbelief. "Just what do you take us for, Lord Hokage? Are you telling us outright you plan to feed us some farfetched tale?"

"I'm only aiming to provide transparency," Hashirama replied, "I feel like I owe you all that much. If you hear me out and want to end this whole visit, sever all ties to the Senju or Konoha, I would accept it."

Mito's eyes were full of curiosity, but her brother and younger cousin traded bewildered stares.

"Now, hold on." Ashina cleared his throat, finally taking a small sip of tea. "That's a hasty bit of conjecturing. I'd like to hear what you have to say for yourself. Regale us all with this fantastical tale."

He ignored the patronizing edge to the older man's words, settling in to reveal a story that would either save the negotiations or get him laughed out of his own office.

"Tobirama might have told you I fell into hostile territory. That wasn't entirely wrong…I was out for a walk, and the earth shook hard. It ended up opening a rift into a place called The Under."

"I do recall the tremors," Ashina acknowledged. "The most violent ones I've ever felt. But I assumed it was some natural phenomenon on the mainland."

"Not exactly," Hashirama would spare them the explanation of what caused them. Sakura's godslayer status was hers to reveal when and if she chose, to whoever she deemed worthy of knowing. He wouldn't presume to have the authority to take that away from her. "Nothing like that's ever happened here, to my knowledge. But we are familiar with The Under. It could be thought of as a realm between the world we know and the uh, the afterlife?" He turned to Tobirama, who nodded subtly in confirmation.

"Hold on," Ashina's grandson looked understandably skeptical. "Are you trying to tell us you think there's another world beneath this one?"

"We don't think it. We've both experienced it." Tobirama interrupted, "The Under is very real, and very dangerous. Every manner of nightmare dwells there. Creatures that defy the imagination and obstacles that will cause your senses to fail you. Jutsu is largely useless, and escaping is difficult to impossible without the correct means."

The Uzumaki took a moment to digest that information, "Well…you certainly weren't exaggerating when you promised us something fantastical." Lady Orino sniffed. All of their faces showing varying degrees of bafflement or vexation, except one.

"I believe them." Lady Mito's quiet assertion brought all eyes to her. She sat poised, as regal as the rest of her family, nothing but sureness in her eyes. In that moment, Hashirama felt a certain level of fondness developing right then and there.

"Wait, you're seriously entertaining this?" Her younger brother asked, reproachfully. "They just said there's another realm below earth, where there—"

"Yes, I heard." Mito said simply. "But it makes perfect sense when you think about it. Where else would the nekomata and the narikama come from?"

"You're always talking about the spirits in the well or the monsters in the furnace, but how do you know they're there?" Ayumu challenged. "How do you—" Ashina laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, quieting him down.

"You know your sister has always been incredibly spiritually attuned. In a clan such as ours, taking superstitions to heart isn't too unusual, or it wasn't in my day."

Hashirama had surmised Mito was a bit…unlike her family. Unlike most people he could think of. She seemed to be on a wavelength not many could follow, and he wondered if she ever got frustrated or lonely at being looked down on. Remembering what it was like for him growing up, the Hokage certainly thought it was a feeling he could relate to. "Mito-neesan may be right." Her cousin added. "Our clan has a patron deity. To spurn any and all accounts of the heavens because it doesn't fully align with what we can comprehend would be to spurn Fūjin-sama, wouldn't it?"

"That's not fair…" Ayumu said under his breath.

"Assume for the time being we're all willing to suspend our disbelief," Lady Orino said. "Please continue on with this,"

Silently thanking Mito for her show of goodwill, Hashirama hurried on with the explanation. "As I was saying, the truth is that I found myself in The Under and it took until now to find my way back."

"That is…it?" Orino almost looked ruffled that he had stuck to the cut and dry version of events. "Surely there's a bit more than that."

"Well yes," he admitted, "But…" Telling them every detail seemed…ill-advised. They would hardly be titillated to continue any closer negotiations for long term partnership if he revealed his heart had already been captured—and broken—by someone else. Plus, it just wasn't information they needed to be privy to. "That's the long and short of it."

"I respect a concise story ending," Ashina produced a pipe and began rummaging around in a tobacco pouch Hashirama hadn't really noticed before. "But given that you mentioned escape from this…Under realm is difficult, you'll have to forgive my curiosity on how you managed."

"Truthfully, I had help." Hashirama didn't see the harm in telling them that much. "While there are many hostile creatures living in The Under, a few are more tolerant of humans. I ran into some willing to guide me towards an exit."

Ashina took the end of his now lit pipe from his mouth, as if he were considering whether or not he liked the taste as much as the explanation. Pursing his lips, he blew out a perfect smoke ring and sighed. "Is that satisfactory enough for you?" he asked, "Is this an inexcusable transgression or isn't it?"

"I think—"

"I was only asking Mito." Ashina grunted, causing Ayumu's mouth to snap shut.

For her part, Mito looked like she had already moved on to more important matters, absently opening and closing a small fan until she noticed everyone waiting on her to speak again. "Even if I was upset, I'd see no reason to be now. It's clear the Hokage's been through a great and troubling ordeal." She moved a hair that had come out of her neat hairstyle back with her index finger. "I'm glad to see you back and safe." Again, her words rang true with sincerity.

Hashirama smiled at her, and she slowly smiled back.

"Then all is well." Ashina concluded. "I'd now like to retire. We'll discuss matters further over breakfast tomorrow morning."

The Uzumaki flocked around their patriarch. When he stood, so did they, all of them clearly ready to retire for the night.

"Lord Ashina," Tobirama's call stopped the man right before he left the room. Hashirama glanced at his brother, trying to get a read on what Tobirama could be about to say. As far as he was concerned, they should take the Uzumaki settling down as a good sign and let it be for the time being.

"Yes?"

"It goes without saying, I suppose, but what we've shared with you is still highly confidential for obvious reasons."

Ah, so that was it.

Orino's brow furrowed, a quiet "tsk" dropping from her mouth. "You think we'll tell others what was just discussed here? We aren't nearly so simple." She said, affronted. "Realms beneath the earth that hold terrible things, even travelers from the distant future…these are in no way normal things anyone of sound mind goes around disclosing on a whim. None of us wish to be labeled raving lunatics just because of the eccentricities of the lives you lead."

"Would you like me to walk you all to your quarters?" The Uzumaki clan turned as one, all with the same deadpan expressions. Hashirama inwardly shrank into himself a bit. Right. Leave well enough be.

"We're accustomed enough with the layout to find them ourselves, thank you." Orino said. "Good night to you both."

The brothers waited a beat for the Uzumaki to make their way down the hall and gave it another second for good measure. Enough time for them to ascend to the personal living quarters of the Hokage (and guests).

"That wrapped up much more…amicably than I was expecting." Hashirama slouched, beginning to collect the mostly untouched tea he had poured for them all. Though he hated for it to go to waste, so he quickly downed what was in his cup, and poured more. He offered Tobirama some too, handing him a cup silently.

"They let you off easy."

"I know." He acknowledged. If they had wanted to, the Uzumaki could have raised much more of a fuss than they did. It was a good thing Mito's unique views held sway with her family, but even more of a good thing that evidently, Ashina Uzumaki still wanted something.

Otherwise, he could have easily dismissed Hashirama as wandering off due to cold feet and taken it as an insult. Packed his family and his things and headed back to Uzushio.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" His face was calm but expectant, "Or do I also only get to hear the 'long and short' of it."

"First, how much do you remember about a time when I disappeared many years ago? You would've been young at the time."

Tobirama remained quiet, thinking back. "It's never come up again, but I remember. You vanished out of the blue. Gone for three days. The clan searched everywhere. I was the last one to see you. Of course, Father was furious…but no matter how much he questioned me, I couldn't think of where you'd gone."

"Tobirama…" He couldn't imagine the way Butsuma must have behaved, agitated and impatient for answers. He never did well when he wasn't quickly given what he wanted to know. "I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"What would you have done if you did?" Tobirama gave him the brow of scrutiny. "You were five."

"And you were three!"

"Still," Tobirama shrugged. "I survived his ire. We all did. You made it back, eventually. But I'm assuming there's a point to this…something to do with what happened this time around."

"You could say that…" Hashirama brought all the tea things he'd collected and set them down on his desk, rubbing his face tiredly before speaking. "It turns out, I've been there before."

"How?" Tobirama's eyes widened. "How would you have escaped? How would you have survived ?"

"A group of friendly yokai passing by when I appeared found me, and kept me safe. They're called sagari. It's not to say I didn't have a close call or two, but I only made it because of them. Although…" His lips turned down. "Try and try, as much as I think back, I don't know how I did it. Escaped the first time, I mean."

"Well, you were young," Tobirama reasoned, "A gap in your memory would be expected."

"Yes…" It was the natural assumption, that his age caused his memory to fade over time. But Hashirama couldn't help but ponder over the perfectly blank white space in his mind between that time in The Under and returning home. Like a…wall of constructed emptiness. "Rumiri and the others, they were adamant it wasn't something I should know about for the time being, and after everything else they did for me, I didn't press for answers."

"Given where yokai come from, I find it easier to assume they're dodgy by nature."

"…Hm? Oh, you're probably right."

"Anija," Tobirama pressed, "What else happened down there?"

"What?" He blinked, snapping out of his distracted thoughts. "Wh-what else…nothing important."

"You're going to try lying to me?" Tobirama stepped closer, glaring. "When I can feel it?"

What better way was there to agitate Tobirama further than to double down when he'd been caught? "It's not a lie, really."

"Are you playing the omission of the truth angle?" He scoffed. "Out with it, while I'm feeling patient."

He could have called Tobirama out on the fact that his 'patient' questioning could use some…work. But, in the interest of not seeing his 'impatient' side, he only sighed. "The truth is that I tried selfishness. And it was…it was everything I could have wanted." The rush, the emotion, the way everything fell perfectly into place. Until it didn't. "For that fleeting moment that is. Then, I saw that what I originally thought was right." A selfish need borne of a selfish desire could only ever amount to one thing.

"Anija…" Tobirama rubbed at his forehead. "I suspect you already know it, but I can't read between the lines of your vague, cryptic explanations."

"I tried it your way, Tobirama. I reached for something I was never meant to grasp." He sat down heavily behind his desk, shoulders slouched. He could already predict what the reaction to his next words would be, but he had thought them over. It had to be done. "If the rest of the visit with the Uzumaki goes well, I think we can both guess at what Ashina's proposal will be. All the aid Konoha could ever need from the Uzumaki…in exchange for a contractual marriage binding the Senju and Uzumaki clans."

"You?" Tobirama squinted. "You're going to offer yourself up and submit to a political marriage? The very thing you've spent most of your life avoiding at all costs?"

Hashirama stared into the wood grain of his desk, trying to find a meaning that wasn't there in it. "I talked to Sakura. She's…not interested in this, Tobirama. Any of it. She has a duty to the future, and I have a duty to this village."

"So she leaves, and your faith leaves with her?" His brother slammed his palms against the desk, eyes blazing. "What sullen thoughts have taken over your head this time?"

"It's…not that." Hashirama swallowed down the urge to tell him exactly what was bothering him. "It's just reality, and I'm trying to prepare for it to the best of my ability."

His mother's warning echoed in his head again, as fresh as the day she had given it to him. The lonely ache had dimensions he never could have dreamed of. She had never told him it felt like being swept up in a vicious current and crashing against every rock in the river until finally, tiredly, there was no choice but to surrender to the pull of despair waiting to drown anyone too weak to resist.

---

Several people spilled out the door, everyone talking all at once before she could even get her bearings. In all the excitement, it was easy to forget her house had become an encampment. Times like these made her long for the quiet of just her and Usamaro. As much as she enjoyed the liveliness her friends brought, for the moment it was plain overwhelming.

"Wait," Sakura held up her hands in hopes of a pause, a brief moment of respite. "Everybody wait!"

In their frantic desperation to question her, none of them seemed to heed, or even hear, her request for calm. It wasn't until she felt the blazing heat at her back and the heavy presence lurking over her shoulder that she remembered Madara had followed her home, and evidently hadn't left yet.

"What do you all hope to accomplish, talking over each other, honking like a pack of belligerent geese?" He chided. Everyone instantly silenced themselves, perhaps as much out of shock that he was there as shock they had been admonished. "Better. Sakura?"

Realizing he was giving her the floor, the kunoichi straightened, taking note of all her friends. Naruto, Ino, even Yurine? 'Huh. Attack of the Blondes.'

"I'm back," she said lamely, holding out her arms.

"Yeah, we can see that. But what's he doing here?" Naruto jabbed a finger in the Uchiha's direction, moving closer protectively.

Sakura could have rolled her eyes, but she was too tired. "Just walking me home."

Her friend folded his arms, "Huh, well you're home now, so he can go."

"I don't suggest pointing fingers you don't want to lose at me." Madara scoffed, unruffled. "Anyway, I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon, Sakura."

"See you later." She waved, watching him streak off into the night.

"Alright." Ino moved aside, "c'mon, you look dead on your feet."

She was ushered in, not bothering to fight it when they helped her take off her backpack as she bent to remove her shoes.

"We've got food, if you want some." Karin walked by slurping down a bowl of soba noodles, the steam fogging up her glasses.

As tired as she was, the pinkette wasn't going to say no to a quick bite. She found Kakashi, Sai, and Sasuke in the kitchen, divvying out their own shares. Her former looked up sheepishly when he spotted her, scratching his cheek. "It's just takeout."

"No one could decide what they wanted to eat, and Naruto tried cooking to disastrous results." Sai informed her, taking a big bite of his food.

"Hey," Naruto steered her into a seat by the shoulders, presenting her with a heaping bowl of noodles topped with some vegetables and an egg. "Big mouth…" He sat beside her with his own food and dug in without preamble, immediately splashing broth on the table.

Sakura broke her chopsticks, inwardly cringing. Some things never changed.

"So, mission accomplished, right?" Kakashi held his chopsticks, poised to eat, but had yet to peel down his mask. Same old sensei there too.

"Mission accomplished," Sakura confirmed, chewing slowly. The broth was tasty and the noodles were the perfect texture. She had a good hunch where they had bought the food from. It was doing a good job of making her a bit more alert. Alert enough to notice things.

There was a prickling sensation along her back, like she was being watched. When she turned, she found Yurine standing there awkwardly, quickly averting her eyes. "Uh, don't mind me…I kind of just…showed up unannounced. I didn't know you were out of the village, so I came by to talk. Well, I came by earlier. I've been here a while, talking to them," she gestured vaguely to the two blondes eating. "Ino and Naruto mostly, but everyone else has been great too, and well…" she took a deep breath. "Sorry for intruding." The girl bowed clumsily, brushing by everyone on her way to the door, "I guess I'll just…come back at a better time. I-If that's alright—"

Sakura put down her bowl, as reluctant as she was to part with the deliciousness on her tastebuds, "Yurine, wait…" The way the other kunoichi was acting was telling enough. Something was on her mind, something she had been dying to get out. "It's alright. We can talk now if you want. If you came all the way here, it's probably better not to delay it, right?"

Her face visibly relaxed, a slow, relieved grin appearing. "Thank you," she breathed. "Yeah, that'd be…nice."

Sakura scooped up the remainder of her meal, motioning for her friend to follow as she led the way towards her bedroom. Of course, she wasn't the only one who came. Ino walked behind them after briefly bickering with Naruto about why he couldn't also join them. "Can't you read the mood?" She heard her hiss. "This is girl time, so back off."

The door was summarily shut in Naruto's face, Ino hurrying to take some pillows and settle on the floor, waiting for she and Yurine to get comfortable.

Usamaro, who had been dozing on her bed, immediately woke up, greeting her with all the fervor she had come to expect. He meowed loudly, leaping at her to shower her with headbutts under the chin.

Melting, she indulged the cat's quest to scent her properly, eventually putting him down when he settled. He sprang onto her pillow near where she chose to sit. "I'm sorry I was gone for a while, but I'm glad you stopped by." Sakura patted the spot near herself, and Yurine tentatively sat down. Yeah, something was definitely up. "I uh, went back to The Under. To get the Hokage."

"What?" She gasped, nearly knocking into Sakura's knee with her own. "You went there? From everything you told us that's…that's a pretty—"

"Terrible place to be?" Sakura munched her soba, thinking. "It still is, but when the Hokage's in trouble, what can you do? It was my fault anyway, I opened a rift accidentally while I was training."

"Wow," Yurine whispered, staring at her lap for a minute. "No matter how hard I try to keep up, I guess I'm always going to be outclassed here."

"Yurine," Sakura sat her bowl down, placing her hand on the kunoichi's arm. "Something big's on your mind, isn't it?"

"You could…say that." She worried her lip, her eyes darting around unsurely. "It's just, you can do all these amazing things, just by being you. You're so strong, and cool, and confident. Ever since we became friends, I've been in awe. Then, I find out you're from the future…a whole other time. It's kind of mind-boggling. Guess I never fully processed as much as I told myself I did."

"First of all," Ino slurped up the last bit of noodles in her bowl. "Let me put your mind at ease by assuring you that you're every bit as fierce and competent as anyone else. I mean, when we talked about genjutsu earlier I can tell you know your stuff."

Sakura watched as Yurine blushed. "Well, just a thing or two, but—"

"And you do active duty while teaching at the academy?" Ino pressed, "Not exactly easy, trust me. Most people would lose it. So you're great at multitasking too."

"I just do what I can where I can," Yurine replied bashfully.

"Exactly," Sakura squeezed her arm, "We all do. And there's no need to downplay the fact that you're pretty amazing in your own right. Never feel like you're falling behind. Especially not behind me," Sakura laughed at the notion. "I can barely keep up with my own life these days, and I'm living it."

Yurine smiled softly, "Thank you both. I don't know why I was being dumb about this, but I figured it was better to talk than to keep it in. Surprisingly, it was Kureno of all people who helped me realize that." Although she sounded reluctant to admit it, Sakura could sense her gratitude. "But, Ino and Naruto were telling me a little about the future. Not much," she added quickly, "but I see now why you'd be anxious to get back. It sounds…convenient there."

Go back…

That was what she stressed to Hashirama, wasn't it? She'd been stressing the same to herself. She had to go back. Wanted to. The only issue was "I don't think it's going to be as simple for me as I used think, actually. This time has its own charms."

"Oh," Yurine drummed her fingers against her leg. "Like the…uh, well I'm not sure off the top of my head, but I'm sure we've got something."

"The atmosphere, the connections, the…self discovery." It would have been an understatement to say she had taken some time to carefully ponder over what she would miss most. In truth, that was the most abridged version of the list. She was going to miss a lot of things…a lot of people.

The circumstances that had dragged her into the past would always be suspect, but the life she had created in it was still a chapter she had gradually grown reluctant to turn the page on, for all its dangers.

"Sakura…" Yurine reached across, offering her a handkerchief. "You're crying…"

Sakura touched a finger to the corner of her eye, staring at the tear she'd wiped away. "I didn't even notice…"

"Does this have anything to do with what we talked about before," Ino moved from the floor to the bed, near the foot of it. "About your parents?"

"It's not just that anymore, Ino," Sakura sniffled, sounding miserable even to her own ears. "It's just that I'm realizing that no matter what I told myself all this time, I still set myself up…" Madara's fire, Izuna's supportiveness, Hashirama's charisma, Tobirama's intelligence. Sakura dropped her head into her hands, bending until the ends of her hair brushed her lap. "I don't know how I didn't see it before. How couldn't I see it…?"

Did she really fool herself into thinking she could safely admire them from a distance? Notice they were attractive and leave it at that? It had been more than that for so long, the fear keeping the truth at bay.

"What…no, who is this really about?" Ino asked cautiously.

"Them," Sakura lifted her head with a gasp. "It's about them, which is stupid. I know it's stupid. They're the Founders, and I'm someone from another time, and none of this is making sense anymore."

"Sakura," Yurine patted her back. "Just take your time."

Sakura clamped her mouth shut, breathed in deeply through her nose, thought about all the signs that were in front of her the whole time, and promptly broke down. The sob that tumbled out first startled even her, but she couldn't stop it once it started.

Exactly what she had been running from had come to pass. A crush on Sasuke had nothing on juggling the feelings she had right now, for four different people. "What…are we?" She hiccuped, leaning into Yurine's supportive hug. "What was I ever hoping we would be?"

"This would probably be a good time to lay out all the context I'm definitely missing." Ino mumbled. "You know, just to save time later."

Sakura composed herself enough to peer over at Ino, who wore a discerning look. "Do you remember that conversation we had the first night you were here? About…about the friends I made here? I told you they were just friends to me, and…"

"Sakura, how long have I known you? Think about it. When I came here…and you told us about what you'd been up to, who you'd gotten close to….of course I was taken aback." Ino snatched up the pillows from the floor and flopped onto her stomach at the foot of the bed. "We were worried sick and you were out fulfilling some big destiny? On top of that, there's clearly something between you and…them. Whether you wanted to admit that or not. So tell me the full story this time."

The pinkette obediently backtracked, all the way to the beginning, recounting every encounter worth noting to Ino, who hung on the edge of her seat. She spoke about how Izuna had caught her off guard, and that initially, a part of her was wary of getting closer to him due to his resemblance to Sasuke. But the easygoing connection they found didn't feel worth fighting, and in time she had come to see him as his own person.

She spoke about the way things were with Tobirama, who obviously distrusted her from the beginning. Yet in spite of her frustration over all the suspicion she had done nothing to earn, she understood it and respected him. Though it took time, and an occasion of being trapped together, they came away with not just a deeper understanding, but a friendship. There was a lot of trust she had placed in the man, trust he had earned after having her back. And, she understood him much better, why he insisted on keeping up walls.

Her face grew warm as she recalled every time she and Madara had shared physical proximity and the atmosphere turned heated. He had always been the most direct about his desires, but given that he was…Madara, Sakura never took that to mean anything other than he was operating on lust. In the beginning, she was sure of it, but as of late he had gone out of his way to insist it was more than that. Izuna had confessed, and Hashirama too. Was Madara going to next? Had he been trying to, in his own way?

Then, there was the trickiest of all. Hashirama was the Hokage, her mentor's grandfather, and she had met his wife. His future wife. Yet they had still kissed, and she'd…she'd enjoyed it. Even long before that, it was a slippery slope with him. The charade in Tanzaku felt so natural, comfortable. So did that moment in the cherry blossom grove.

But it was all the little things too, wasn't it? The way his large personality made him an excellent storyteller, their conversation under the stars, even just the way he smiled so brightly and praised her so openly. Gradually, she had been getting pulled deeper into his orbit, until now she was left adrift, forced to detach belatedly and let all the feelings she had built come crashing down around her ears.

Ino and Yurine might not have interrupted before, but they were clearly having difficulty holding back. Yurine had been there for some of it, but not even she had all the context. Not even she knew as much as she was spilling out now.

"It's no wonder I've been picking up all those heavy undertones." Ino ran her hands through her hair. "I…you…I don't even know where to start!" She admitted, "Sakura, you've been inside the Nidaime's body? And he's been in yours."

Leave it to Ino to make it sound so distasteful. "You…don't have to make that sound so dirty." She wrinkled her nose. "It wasn't like that—"

"And he nursed you back to health while you were unconscious and vulnerable." Yurine put in helpfully.

"Izuna confessed to you?" Ino shrieked. "Madara Uchiha's been trying to seduce you for almost a full year, and now you're telling me you kissed the Hokage. And…that only scratches the surface, apparently, because in our first conversation you neglected to mention sharing sleeping quarters with two of them at the same time, or the fact that Madara breaks in whenever he wants to and you just let him—"

"He's persistent," Sakura defended stubbornly.

"Don't give me that." Ino wagged a finger under her nose. "I've seen you toss grown shinobi three times your size down on their asses when they don't want to go through examinations at the hospital. If you wanted him out, you'd toss his ass out."

"And you said that Tobirama-san brought you to his quiet place by the koi pond, and no one else is allowed there," Yurine trailed off. "Doesn't that…seem like a pretty strong indicator you're special?"

"We're good friends." Sakura muttered, "I mean, that's all they see me as, I'm sure." Izuna aside—and in time he would come to understand and accept she wasn't going to be right for him anyway—the other three definitely didn't hold those feelings.

Madara might have been adamant that what he felt was more than skin deep lust, but the man had all but invented how to be vexing. Much like the raptors he worked with, the Uchiha enjoyed the thrill of a chase. Sakura was sure that if she ever returned interest, whatever the short term results would be, he would grow bored, and that would be that.

And that was Madara, the most consistently vocal about his desires. For a man such as Tobirama, who gave his full trust to few and his friendship to fewer, entertaining thoughts that there might be something deeper was absurd. She was content and flattered just to count herself as his friend and confidant.

The younger of the Senju brothers had never given her reason to believe he viewed her in any romantic light, and given his preference for rational thinking, her status as a time-traveler destined to return to her own present would serve as a deterrent. He wouldn't do something as reckless as become involved with her, and she couldn't blame him for that.

Lastly and most especially, there was Hashirama. As enthusiastic as he had seemed about the kiss back in The Under, he was still under the influence of the dust. It might have even possibly taken longer to wear off in his case. There was no telling, but acknowledging that it could last for varying lengths of time depending on the person seemed prudent.

Regardless, he was well on his way to fulfilling the destiny the future had in store for him. Mito was here now, the woman destined to be by his side. Furthermore, before he had fallen into The Under, they had only recently talked through the awkwardness and trepidation that came with the reveal that she was from the future.

As upset as he had initially been about all that, there was no way that he'd put all of it aside, and moved on to harboring genuine feelings for her. It was the dust. All the dust. It had to be.

"The Hokage told everyone in Tanzaku you were his wife!" Ino began to pace. "Sakura…I think it's time to face the fact that you're in this mess pretty deep."

Her thoughts were a mess, words tumbling over each other inside her head before she could coherently voice them. "Ino…" she broke down in Yurine's arms again, "I thought I'd be fine." The minute she had come to the conclusion that there was a chance her feelings for any of them might deepen, she had resolved to simply lock such thoughts away. In hindsight, it was so naive.

She hadn't done anything to actually create distance from them, and now she was facing the consequences. "I thought I could bear it and step aside. T-This is the way it's supposed to be." In this time, there was never meant to be a Sakura Haruno. There was no her and them, ever. "But why does it hurt so much…?" The sharp pain that overtook her chest had her doubling in on herself. "I'm…so selfish."

"This is a bad time to ask, but what are you going to do?" Ino's blue eyes were so calm, it was a small comfort to cling to someone else's control for the time being. "Now that I have the full picture, I have to say, I don't envy you. I know I joked before but I do have concerns, Forehead." She tossed some hair out of her eyes, pacing a hole in the center of the room. "I knew how you'd get if I just came out and voiced my concerns openly, so I decided to take a different approach; play it supportive and see how you responded."

The pinkette probably should have been a bit more put out that Ino hadn't come at getting information from her in a more straightforward manner, but she couldn't bring herself to be. Until extremely recently, she had no understanding of the depths of her own feelings, and even if she had, it would have hard to come out and say it.

Plus, Ino might have come across shallow and frivolous at times, but her father hadn't raised a slouch. She was highly perceptive, able to read others and piece together a mental profile with alarming accuracy. Ibiki's training was probably only sharpening that skill.

While her kekkei genkai allowed her to mercilessly plunder someone's head and pick through their most private thoughts, Ino didn't need to resort to that tactic from the beginning, when she was naturally gifted with the charm to be a lot more subtle. "Just because there was mutual interest it didn't mean it would go anywhere." She reasoned out loud. "Again, this is you we're talking about." In other words, Ino didn't think she would ever act on anything anyway, which would have been a safe bet. In the beginning. "But now? This?"

"I learned my lesson, alright? I know I have to…to end this." Even if that meant losing all the joy she got from being around them, even if it meant letting history to play out as it was meant to, let Hashirama marry and start a family; let Tobirama invent jutsu that had terrible repercussions; let Madara become the deserter and later megalomaniacal maniac time would prove he could be; let Izuna…die.

"Can you?" The question wasn't meant to be an accusation, but it still stung like one. "You'll try," Ino conceded, plopping down and rubbing her temples. "I know you will, but you just can't give up on love that easily. It's not in you, Sakura."

"I didn't ask for this." She grit out, "I'd do anything not to feel as conflicted as I do right now. I didn't even have a say in being here!"

"I'm trying to understand Sakura." Ino seemed to have calmed down, her tone gentler, "And I'm not blaming you for…following your heart, even if it landed you in a pretty sticky situation. You wouldn't be you if it didn't." Yurine scooted over, allowing Ino to come and join them, taking Sakura's hand, laying it in her lap. "That aside, I'm on your side as much as I know how to be. That's why I'm telling you this. It's obvious you're already way over your head with this."

Sakura gave her a watery glare, "Is this your idea of comforting?"

The Yamanaka's exasperated sigh ended in an outright scoff. "This is my idea of getting you to ask yourself the right questions. How far are you willing to let this go? Look at how far it's gone already."

Her friend's face was grave, but her touch was soft as she reached out and placed the pad of her thumb against the damp skin beneath Sakura's eye, wiping away the remaining tears. "I lost my father in that war. I'm just trying to be sure whatever happens, I don't lose my best friend too."

They embraced, a hug that soothed the scared, frantic feelings for the time being. Another pair of arms wrapped around them, Yurine snuggling in alongside them. "I'm here too," she reminded them, "I'll offer whatever help I can. But you know when it comes to boys I'm pretty hopeless myself."

"Fair enough," Sakura patted her arm.

"I don't know if you can avoid this completely," Ino said, thoughtful, "At least not now. But you can avoid this getting any worse. You just have to learn to appreciate from a distance, you know?"

"By cutting them out?" Her lips soured over the very words, and her shoulders sagged at the futility.

"Please," Ino snorted behind her hand as she pulled back from the hug. "Whatever you might think they feel or don't feel about you, I'm willing to bet that wouldn't work."

"So you're saying she should start trying to phase the feelings out gradually. Acknowledge them as a crush but then just…do nothing?" Yurine summarized. "Will that work?"

"Crushes get boring after a while when they don't go anywhere." Ino shrugged. "I've had enough of them to know. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a start."

"True, the problem was she was suppressing the possibility of having feelings entirely before, right?" Yurine nodded, rubbing her chin. "So giving yourself just enough room to get bored…might work!"

Sakura smiled weakly. She wasn't so sure about any of it, but since she was going to suffer through heartache regardless, it was worth a try. "This has been a much needed conversation. I don't know what I would have done without either of you to help me sort through my thoughts."

"Sure, fine, thank me later though." Ino rubbed at her eye. "I want to get enough beauty sleep, or my skin's bound to get puffy."

"I didn't realize how late it was," Yurine chanced a peek out the window. "I've been here for hours."

"Stay the night," Sakura suggested, starting to slip from her clothes. "It's better than walking home through the dark. You can borrow a spare shift or something, so you'll be more comfortable."

"Ooh," Yurine got up, stretching her back with a crack that sounded satisfying. "I can't argue with that. Kureno should be fine for one night."

Usamaro bounced right onto her stomach the minute she laid down, and Sakura idly petted his warm, soft fur until her eyes grew heavy enough for her to drift off into a well-earned sleep.

---

Senses coming to life, Sakura jolted forward in bed, fists raised.

"Very good." Mizuchi sat on the other side of it, holding Usamaro in her lap and vigorously petting his head. "You're not growing dull at least."

"What?" Sakura didn't bother hiding her open-mouthed yawned, clutching the sheets against her chest. "What are you doing here so early?" Ino and Yurine were nowhere to be found, having chosen to spread out on the floor the previous night.

"You slept in, I'm afraid." Mizuchi allowed Usamaro to slink away, and the cat took the opportunity to run across the floor and bat away the curtains. A beam of sunlight struck her directly across the face. Defeated, Sakura laid back with a groan. "Did you forget our previous tabled conversation?"

"No…" Sakura mumbled into the pillow she stuck over her face. "I don't think you'd let me."

"How astute, and good. That saves a bit of time." Mizuchi extended her arm, something falling from her sleeve and into her palm. Sakura stared at the two ripe persimmons she was being offered, and pictured them with pruny features gazing up at her.

"Er, no. I'm fine." She held up a palm.

"You'll need your strength, I assure you."

"Right, and I have a kitchen for that." Sakura countered, getting out of bed.

"Then be quick about it, so we can get on with this," Mizuchi returned the rejected fruit to the depths of her kimono. "We have much to discuss."

"Are you just not a morning person?" Sakura grumbled, smoothing a hand over her bed head and then giving up when it sprang out of place again. "You're acting awfully impatient. And a little relief that I survived another trip to The Under might be nice."

"Oh, honestly, Sakura," the goddess tutted. "By now I would think that would be no more concerning for you than running a milk errand. You are my godslayer, after all. Of course you would survive."

"Did you just compliment me by complimenting yourself?"

She was rewarded with a shooing motion, making her way down the hall with Usamaro following along, unwilling to let her from his sight. He was always clingy when she left him behind, so it was to be expected.

The house was mostly deserted, she discovered. Evidently almost everyone had left to go about their activities for the day, save for Sasuke (surprisingly) and Naruto. Those two bickered in the kitchen, or rather, Naruto was fussing about something the Uchiha didn't seem to be paying the faintest bit of attention to.

Both were dressed for the day, and she felt only a prick of self-consciousness before waving at them and scooping up what leftover rice porridge and plum there was.

They paused to acknowledge her, then Naruto went right back to ranting as she padded down the hall. Usamaro, content with the grilled fish he had snagged when the blonde was preoccupied, bounded after her.

Mizuchi was still in her bedroom, and still watching her with eerie attentiveness as she ate. "Okay," Sakura stirred her spoon around, then plopped it into the bowl with a sigh. "This is getting kind of weird." How was she supposed to eat with the woman just…staring her down so pointedly? Unless making her uncomfortable enough to talk was deliberate.

"To recap what you mentioned before. There's yet another out of control god on the loose, I have to stop it, and you're going to leave the legwork of figuring out what their deal is to me. Standard procedure at this point, right?"

"Wrong." The deity held up a finger. "It would almost be correct, save for the fact that I've come to the determination that you'll soon need to consolidate your forces. Mighty and formidable as you are, you are but one mortal against the machinations of stronger beings. And, you're outnumbered."

Sakura took a bite of the lukewarm porridge, getting use to the texture before swallowing a second bite. "You're only just now noticing?"

"Hush," Mizuchi placed her hands in her lap, crossing her legs. "None of that. I've already taken preparations. I've made contact with a young god, but time will tell if he'll be worth calling an ally. Others too, for that matter. You're growing a bit of a reputation in the Heavens of course, foiling them as you have been."

"At your direction!"

"You should carry on doing that as always," Mizuchi continued, ignoring her outburst, "And in the meantime, I will look for discontented gods. Those will become your new allies."

"Uh…" Sakura paused, wanting to be sure she sought clarity without offending the fickle being. "Your new plan is for…me to continue making trouble, but while I'm doing that, you'll be looking for deities who…don't hate me? And hope they want to switch sides? Mizuchi…that's…"

"It might sound outlandish at this juncture, but I'm sure this is the way." She insisted, "Deities are not a monolith. I was hoping we could exploit the disarray and willfulness some have shown. Not all of them have the same motivations, you see."

"Still," Sakura played with the spoon, frowning into the porridge. "Not being motivated to go along with what they're told and being motivated to help me dismantle whatever the Heavens are scheming are two different things. That's a lot riding on how persuasive you are, and how much you think we can trust whoever you persuade."

"We both have our roles, Sakura. Let me play mine." She rose, as graceful as ever, looking down at her with something unreadable in those bewitching eyes. "Until now, I've guided you, letting you get through the trials with coaching but largely without my direct help. Now, I'm offering it."

'Sure…' Sakura thought, licking the back of her spoon. 'That would have been nice earlier.'

"I'm sure you feel it would have been nice earlier." Mizuchi correctly guessed, "But I had my reasons for being discreet at the time. All would be for naught if I was captured early."

"Okay, let's say we move forward with this strategy," Sakura trailed off. "In your own words, it'll take a while. I mean you have to see who's interested and if they're trustworthy. In the meantime…I guess I'll be going it alone like usual?"

Mizuchi met her quirked brow with a wide smile, tilting her head curiously. "Have you ever truly been alone through your trials?" she asked. "You have allies willing to march into battle with you, the last I checked."

Sakura ate a few more spoonfuls of her breakfast, reminiscing. She was right. In every big confrontation she had against the celestial forces of the Heavens, her friends had risked their lives fighting alongside her. Without special gifts, without special weapons, just based on their faith in her and their desire to help.

It had been unintentional most of the time, dragging them into so much danger, but they had managed to get through every obstacle presented thus far because they trusted each other, and worked well together. It wasn't just her future she was fighting for, and they had the right to fight for it as well.

It was the plan—as long as she was in the past, she would continue to work together with everyone else. Even if that meant spending more time with them…

"I don't really like involving them, but I guess it wouldn't be fair not to let them know what's going on when they've been helping so far. Plus they're really adamant about it, too…" The pinkette set her bowl aside, full enough for the time being. "Now that my friends are here from the future, they'll want in on this as well." Of course, taking all of them into a fight against a deity might wind up ill-advised.

Team 7 alone accomplished a lot when they cooperated with each other, but that was when. She hadn't fought alongside Naruto or Sasuke since the war, and while she was certain they would get the job done if she needed them to, there was also the matter of how they'd react to how…different she now was once they saw it up close.

It might take some getting used to, letting her call the shots while they both took point, given they wouldn't be able to harm the enemy directly like she could.

That, coupled with the fact that her new friend group and old friend group seemed to contain some clashing personalities meant she would have to decide carefully who was coming with her.

She thought it over while she readied herself for the day, taking her time in the bathroom and letting some half-baked strategies take hold while she rinsed the suds from her hair. It was hard to really plan when she didn't know what she was up against just yet. Although it wouldn't be the first time she went in blind, so she was pretty used to it.

Since her male teammates might still be around, and she wasn't keen on them spotting her walking down the hall in a towel—there were definitely things she was starting to miss about living alone—she dressed where she was after drying off.

Her battle attire had been cleaned and put away, and she wondered if that was also Mizuchi's doing. 'How long am I going to be away this time? That'll help determine what I'll pack.'

She brushed her hair to a gloss with that in mind, managing to hold in a yelp when Mizuchi peered at her through the spot in the mirror she rubbed free of condensation. Instead, she sucked in a deep breath, cutting her eyes at the goddess. "I can't emphasize enough how creepy your entrances have been today. You really need to work on that."

"I'll put it under advisement." If Sakura knew better—and she did— she wasn't going to change a single thing about the intrusive nature of her pop ups. If anything, she reveled in it. Some twisted sense of humor, maybe? "Have you made your decision?"

"Actually…" Sakura put her brush down. "I have. But, how long do you think this would take? I mean, it started with one of your followers going, er, insane?"

Her passive expression didn't falter. "That is correct."

Blowing out a long breath, Sakura fluffed out her hair around her shoulders, returning to her bedroom in search of a rucksack. "Then it's off to speak to the witnesses first," she mumbled. "I should also ask the others I have in mind if they're free to come with me, they'll need to—" Realizing she was speaking to an empty room, Sakura stopped in exasperation. It wasn't like she was talking or anything.

She continued getting her necessary items prepared, Usamaro creeping from a corner with a rubber toy in his mouth to watch. She hadn't recalled that being around when she left. Was it a part of his hidden treasure collection, or had someone been kind enough to give it to him?

"Wait, what's going on—"

Cat and woman both jumped, completely taken off guard by Mizuchi's sudden re-entrance, and the three people she had in tow. Sai, Ino and Izuna fell unceremoniously to the floor on their hands and knees, the artist knocking into both of them and sending everyone crashing in a pile of limbs.

"What…the hell is going on?" Sakura gaped. "What did you just do?"

"Did you forget our mental link?" Mizuchi hummed, perching on her bed again and sitting like a noblewoman, dainty and proud. "I read your thoughts. You were going to ask these three to accompany you, were you not?"

"Yes!" Sakura exclaimed. " Ask being the operative word!"

"Ow…I hate that more and more every time." Ino complained, getting back on her hands and knees before carefully getting up. "You don't just yank someone out of window shopping like that." She complained. " Rude ."

"I believe you startled Sumiya-kun." Sai put in, also getting up. "I disappeared quite abruptly." Sai had told them about a young village boy he had met the day he wandered off. They had formed something of an unexpected acquaintanceship, and the kunoichi assumed he had run into and was talking to him again before being pulled away.

"Sakura…?" Izuna rubbed his head, wincing as he glanced at her in bemusement. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"H-hi," She waved before she could stop herself, blushing all the way up to her ears automatically. Ever since realizing how she felt, she couldn't exactly look at any of them the same. Ino glanced her way pointedly, so she did her best to get it together. "I um, yeah!" So much for that… "Well I was gone for a few days. Godslayer stuff, you know."

"Is this…" he looked over at Mizuchi. "Also more 'godslayer stuff'?"

"Unfortunately." She admitted. "I'm sorry. I understand if it's short notice or you don't want to be dragged into it. It's just, I think I need to leave again, and I was hoping all of you would come with me, but now that Mizuchi's gone and made it weird—"

"Hmm?" The goddess clicked her tongue. "I made it convenient."

"I understand if you're, you know, not interested in—"

"Stop." Ino said firmly. Sakura obeyed. "Stop doing it, that thing where you ramble and second guess yourself too much. That's what makes it weird. And I'm in."

Sakura perked up, "Really?" It had been a while since she'd had any sort of mission with Ino.

"Um, yeah ," Ino huffed, crossing her arms and blowing some hair from her eyes. "I've been climbing the walls the last few days, and it's not exactly like I've got anything better to do."

"I'm also willing to go along with you." Sai nodded, "But please, allow me to tell both Naruto and Sasuke they're going to be left behind." His smile was, well, the same as always. But it had such a smug undertone, Sakura had to wonder.

"You know I'll go," Izuna readily agreed. "It's abrupt, but I think that just comes with the territory."

"See," Mizuchi clapped cheerfully, "Was that so difficult?"

"You," Sakura pointed, "Do not get to in any way pretend you helped with this."

Still, Mizuchi's fanged grin was cheeky.

"I suppose some packing is in order." Izuna pondered aloud, "I'm not going to enjoy being the one to tell Madara I'm leaving."

Uchiha sure had a lot that made them huffy, Sakura contemplated. But then, she had never personally met very many. It was probably just a Madara thing.

"Alright, you can meet us back here when you're done."

"I'll try to be fast." Izuna promised, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Sai turned to the girls as soon as he left, "Are Naruto and Sasuke still here?"

"Yeah," Sakura said slowly, "As far as I know. I last saw them in the kitchen."

"I'm going to tell them they won't be needed on the mission because their penchant for irrational thinking would be a hindrance."

"Oh, I'd like to witness this." Mizuchi crooned, "Allow me to join you."

Sakura's eyes widened belatedly, "I never said that!" She called after them. "Don't go telling them I said that!"

"Is it just me, or has Sai developed a devious side?" Sakura turned to Ino, "I mean given how socially inept he is most of the time, it's kind of hard to tell, but…what? What are you looking at me like that for?"

Ino shrugged, letting her head fall lazily onto her shoulder as she continued to study her with observant blue eyes. "Oh nothing, it's just…you handle all this so nonchalantly. I'm kind of looking forward to watching you work." The statement was accompanied by a good-natured punch to the shoulder, "But don't think I'm just going to sit back and let you outclass me."

Sakura pushed the blonde, "Yeah, well try and keep up then." It was a bigger comfort than she could express to have gotten everything off her chest last night. It didn't mean the choices looming ahead would be easy ones, but it was nice to know after spilling her guts, her friends still had her back.

---

The song Hashirama was singing is a real one, commonly sung by elementary school children in Japan.
The tsuchigumo is a large monster of lore that has some characteristics of a spider. Think of It's true form. It's an arachnid yokai and it's known to have a pretty vicious nature. It can make illusions and shapeshift to deceive victims before overpowering them with brute force. Then there are the creepy jubokko trees, known to spring up on battlefields or wherever lots of blood has seeped into the soil, so normally where bad things have happened.

They are somewhat sentient and when people come too close they snatch them up and use their branches to poke holes in victims and drain them of blood, then their lifeless carcasses are left for everything else to pick apart. Lore says if you could get close enough you'd see the mounds of bones their roots grow over. So….more fun times in The Under, in short.
Also I'm really sorry to everyone who got so excited about that kiss. But you guys know I can't make it too easy. There's still so much potential for angst and political intrigue. And politically intriguing angst. Can't do the happily ever after and roll credits too soon. If you like romangst though…you're about to be very well fed. Anyway, the arc continues with Sakura and co on yet another quest and I hope everyone is as excited as I am because things only heat up.