A/N: Thanks for your interest thus far! I'm intending the story to progress through time with each chapter rotating through the storyline of the three female protagonists. There will be scenes (and possibly full chapters) where they're all together again, like the first chapter. There will also be scenes (and possibly full chapters) written from the perspective of the three male protagonists. It's all currently a work-in-progress. You've been warned.

Without further ado, first up: Namiashi Yuna, my badass little blacksmith.

Chapter 2: The Bladesmith and the Soldier

In which Yuna reconsiders a childhood crush.

Yuna was polishing several kunai when the door to Namiashi Weapons & Blacksmith opened. She glanced up, finding her older brother, Raido, and his best friend Genma walking through the door. These two had been fixtures in Yuna's life for forever. Even though she and Raido were ten years apart and had different mothers, they were closer than most half-siblings. Raido assumed care of Yuna after her mother died, when their father all but disappeared in his grief over losing the second love of his life. Raido and Yuna shared the ache that came with the loss of a mother's love, and she'd latched on to him ever since.

Yuna, in return, was Raido's biggest cheerleader. She was just three when he'd achieved the rank of chunin, but she remembered in crisp detail when he'd become a jonin, just three years later. Her small, six year old self had swelled with pride as she watched her teenage brother enter the ranks of Konoha's elite. As she grew older, she'd supported him at his best and encouraged him at his lowest. His twenties had been a particularly vulnerable time, but he'd come through the other side as one of the best assassins Konoha had to offer. Highly respected among the other shinobi, to Yuna, he was the perfect older brother.

Today, it was Genma who addressed her first. "What's up, pipsqueak?" This was the nickname he had given her when she was little, annoyed by the fact that she always followed him and Raido around and tried to copy what they did. Now, he used the moniker as a sign of endearment.

"Do you want your weapons or not, Genma? I could just let you do this yourself, you know." She expertly twirled one of the polished and oiled kunai on her pointer finger before throwing it at him without so much as a glance. He caught it with ease and grinned at her, his trademark senbon wiggling up and down as he moved his teeth.

"You wouldn't do that to your favorite shinobi, would you?" he asked, walking over to her station and inspecting her work. "Besides, you get them so shiny."

"You're just lazy," she said, glancing up at him with a smirk on her face. "And Raido's my favorite shinobi."

"Lazy!" He said with mock innocence. "Raido, can you believe this?"

"That you're lazy? Or that I'm her favorite shinobi?" He was distracted, flipping through a stack of letters he'd collected from the mailbox out front. "Because both are true." His eyes settled on his sister. "Everyone in the village is lazy compared to Yuna, though. She's the hardest working woman I know, now that Tsunade's not acting Hokage anymore."

Yuna perked up, interested in this piece of news. "Kakashi finally took office?"

"Sometime last week, he started sitting behind the desk. There's a private reception planned for next month. Looks like you and dad are invited." He held up an official looking letter, and then set the stack down on the table and changed the subject. "Hey, you have time to look at Kokuto?"

"What'd you do?" Yuna threw her rag down and wiped her hands on her work apron.

"Last mission had some complications…there's a scratch and a chip in the blade, close to the hilt."

"A chip?" Yuna frowned. Her brother's black blade, Kokuto, was made from a special high carbon steel that was proprietary to their family. It was the strongest material the Namiashi clan could forge, and her father had made it for him when he'd been promoted to chunin. Raido was skilled in kenjutsu, and he was one of Konoha's top swordsmen. This blade made him lethal. He pulled out the sword and handed it to her. She immediately inspected the damage and ran a bare finger across the surface.

"Hey, hey!" Raido said, "Careful with that! There's–"

"Poison, I know," Yuna replied. The blade's black color was in part due to a special surface treatment, a coating that adsorbed poisons and released them on contact. If the blade so much as grazed the epidermis of someone's skin, it would be deadly, even without drawing blood.

"Here," her brother said, tossing her a small bag. "Antidotes, just in case. Shizune made me a new concoction, so the antidotes you have won't work."

"Shizune-san is making you poisons now?" Yuna asked lightly. She smiled at the faint pink color that spread across Raido's face. It was asymmetrical, because his scarred side no longer had the delicate blood vessel structure required for the response. "You're so cute when you blush," she teased. "When are you going to ask her out?"

"When he grows a pair of balls," Genma surmised, causing Yuna to titter.

"Shut up, Genma!"

"You know it's true!"

Yuna let the two men bicker while she took a closer look at the nick in the blade. She pulled out a magnifying lens, examining the edges of the cut and the scratch along the surface. She'd never seen damage like this on Namiashi carbon steel before.

"What kind of trouble did you get into, Raido?" she asked.

"I clashed with another weapon, and after the battle, when I was cleaning the blade, I saw the chip."

"He clashed with a chakra blade," Genma corrected.

Yuna frowned. "What nature?" She wasn't aware that any chakra nature could cause a cut like this, save maybe a kekkei genkai.

"I'm not sure, the mercenary I was fighting didn't use any ninjutsu. Why?"

"It's not a chip," she said carefully, looking up at the two men. "It's like the metal was burned clean through."

Raido and Genma exchanged a furtive glance. "Can you fix it?" Raido asked.

"Of course," Yuna replied. "I'm just curious what caused this. This metal is tough, Raido. If I had to guess from the damage, it looks like you went up against the Mizukage's lava release."

"Well we're not at war against Kirigakure, I can tell you that for sure. How soon can you fix it?"

Yuna smiled deviously. "How much are you willing to pay?"

Raido crossed his arms and stared at her, floored that she would pull this kind of move on him. "Namiashi discount."

"Not for something like this," she said, shaking her head. "It's gonna require a complete reforge."

"Fine. What do you want?"

Yuna held back a smile. "A couple training sessions…and information."

"Yuna," Raido said carefully, "You know no matter how much training you get, you'll never be able to hold your own against another ninja."

Yuna pursed her lips. This was a constant argument between the two of them. She knew Raido was reluctant to train her because he worried that one day, she'd grow overconfident and it would get her into trouble. But her desire to be recognized stood at odds with his concern. "Throwing and swordplay, that's it. I promise. I need the skills to test the weapons I make." To ease her brother's concern, she added, "I know I'll never be a kunoichi. You don't have to worry about that."

"Fine," he said after a moment's thought. "But only to support your work. Now, what kind of intel do you want?"

Yuna bit her lip as her smile grew devious. "I want you to tell me…why you have THIS in your movie stash!" She slammed the VHS of Icha Icha Paradise on the counter.

"Damn, Raido," Genma said, peering at the cover. "Does Shizune know you're into this kind of stuff?"

"You went through my movie stash?!"

She shrugged. "Last weekend was girls' night."

"You didn't…watch it, did you?"

"We did. Surprisingly good plot, but so much nudity."

"We meaning…"

"Myself, Ayame, and Hana. And yes, they know where I found it."

He sighed and then gave her a serious look. "Yuna, I have a reputation to keep up. No one else finds out, okay?"

"You mean, 'don't tell Shizune?'"

Raido turned pink again. "Dad either."

"Three training sessions," Yuna told him. She wouldn't pass up the opportunity to barter.

"That wasn't part of the deal."

"It is now."

Brother and sister stared each other down, neither willing to budge. Genma couldn't take it anymore. He didn't have siblings of his own, but watching these two go at it made him glad he didn't. Literally no one could get under Raido's skin like Yuna could, and it actually stressed him out to see Raido's personality devolve into that of a prepubescent thirteen year old boy. The man was freaking thirty-six. He could own whatever movie he damn well pleased. Kakashi read the books in public, for crying out loud, and the village still made him Hokage. "Fix the blade, pipsqueak. I'll give you that third training session, and I'll throw in an extra for free."

Yuna beamed at him. "Promise?"

The grateful look on her face was so sincere, and he couldn't help but flash a smile back at her. "Promise."

She pulled the video back out of sight and turned to Raido. "Then it's our secret. I'll have your blade finished by Monday."

Raido clapped his hand on Genma's shoulder as a gesture of thanks, but muttered, "You shouldn't humor her."

"She'll regret it when I make her run laps."

Yuna tucked the polished kunai neatly into a pouch and handed it to Genma. "Just remember who maintains your weapons," she said, meeting his eyes.

Genma's golden brown irises were watching her with a glowing intensity she'd never seen before. His eyes caught her like a trap. Three long seconds ticked by, and yet his gaze did not break away. In the fourth second, an eruption of adrenaline warmed Yuna's stomach and spread outwards across her body. Her cheeks immediately began to warm, and she tore her eyes from Genma, averting her attention back to Raido's sword. She had gone hot all over, and now she was flustered. She hoped neither of them had noticed her reaction.

"Yuna, are you okay?" her brother asked. "Your heart rate just increased."

Damn it, Raido! She silently cursed the shinobi ability to sense vitals. There was little she could hide from these two.

"I just got really hot all of a sudden. I turned the furnace on earlier, and you know how the heat rises into the shop." Thank goodness that wasn't a lie, but she certainly wasn't hot because of the environment.

"It is a little warm in here," Genma said. Yuna glanced back at him and noticed he was still intently watching her. Far from being uncomfortable, he looked calm and collected, with something like a smirk on his face. He rolled his senbon back and forth in his mouth, exhibiting extreme control over the sharp weapon with a subtle and continuous flick of his tongue. Her mouth went dry, and her heart responded yet again by pounding more quickly.

"Geez," Raido said. "If I didn't know you any better, I'd be worried about your heart health. Maybe drink some water, okay?"

Yuna just nodded.

"Let's go, Raido. Give her some space. If the furnace is hot, she's got work to do."

"Right," Raido told his friend. "Time is money, after all."

Genma followed Raido out the door. Right before he left, he flipped the pouch of kunai around in his hand, glanced back at her one more time, and said, "Thanks, pipsqueak," with that curious grin still plastered on his face.

The door closed with a jingle of the bell. Yuna leaned backwards, letting out a huge breath. What. The hell. Was that? Genma had flustered her. Not with banter, not through teasing, not by a prank, not through any of the regular methods that boys used to annoy girls. No…he had flustered her with a single look. A look she certainly hadn't been ready for.

As a teenager, Yuna had crushed on Genma hard…a natural outcome for younger sisters with older brothers' best friends…but there was an eight year difference between them, and Genma was not interested in little girls. He made that very clear to her when she awkwardly confessed her feelings at age fourteen, her first time experiencing a teenaged broken heart. She shook her head and smiled at how silly she'd been. Genma maintained his distance from her after that, and she moved well past that crush by the time she hit her twenties.

In her early twenties and up until the war, Yuna dated a number of civilian men. Genma, too, had a mild reputation with a number of civilian women. In that period, she and Genma established their own friendship of sorts, beyond being connected by Raido's existence. They teased each other about the strange dates they went on and had a consoling ritual consisting of ice cream, shuriken, and target practice whenever one of them experienced a break up…which was fairly often. They joked about the fact that many of Yuna's exes happened to date Genma's exes…weirdly enough, despite their age difference, they shared the same dating pool. In all that time, however, she'd never seen a look like that in Genma's eyes, least of all directed at her.

It was nothing. Just a weird moment.

She ignored the desire to think about Genma and turned her attention back to Raido's sword. She'd promised it by Monday, and fixing the damage would take some time. The cut in the blade was small, but even so, it wasn't an easy process. She would have to cleave the sword and billet it, essentially reforging at least half of the blade, followed by hardening, tempering, and then the painstaking process of polishing. She groaned, realizing she'd have to grind down iron to recoat the blade, too. Raido could go through the process of preparing the poison himself. She didn't deal with that aspect of sword making.

"I should have asked for more training sessions," she grumbled to herself, before considering another problem. The blade looked like it had been melted. It took a lot to melt high carbon steel. Namiashi steel earned its reputation as the best because it had the ability to cut through a sustained fire release. If another weapon could cause this type of damage, then Namiashi steel was no longer the premier metal for sword making.

She grabbed Kokuto and trudged down to the forge, staring in longing at her other billets. She was experimenting with combining different types of steel alloys, and she wanted to draw these pieces out into blades so she could actually see the results. Those would have to wait, now that Kokuto was the priority.

She pulled out the pouch that Raido had given her and popped one of the antidote pills into her mouth. Then, she donned heavy duty gloves and got to work scraping off the poisonous coating that covered the steel. She soon broke into a sweat from the hard work, and all other thoughts melted away with the heat of the workshop as she poured herself into the craft that she loved.

Yuna finished the blade on Sunday evening. She sheathed it, took off her heavy leather work apron, and walked up to the roof, where she knew Raido was hanging out with his friends. She heard laughter as she climbed the steps, and as the roof came into view, she saw a handful of people seated around enjoying the sunset. Genma was there, along with Yamashira Aoba, and surprisingly, Shizune.

"You finished it!" Raido said when he saw her with the weapon. Yuna smiled at his expression. For as stoic of a ninja as he was, he had a childlike excitement anytime he got to play around with sharp objects. He hopped up from his seat and took it from her, pulling the sword out of its sheath.

"Don't sound so surprised," she told him with a laugh.

"I just thought you said it was going to take a lot of work."

Yuna crossed her arms. "It did. What you have there is essentially a new blade."

"Really?" He swung it, making a 'swoosh' noise as it sliced through the air. "Hey, Aoba, throw some kunai at me."

Aoba didn't even hesitate, but pulled three knives out of his bag and threw them full speed towards Raido. He swung the blade in a single arch, and six pieces of metal fell out of the sky, hitting the roof with tiny 'clinks.' Raido had cut the three kunai clean through.

Genma whistled, impressed. He picked up one of the kunai shards and inspected it.

"Wow, Raido," Shizune added. "Your little sister's work is good."

"Damn, Yuna," Raido agreed. "This is as good as dad's work. And just in time. I'm leaving on another mission tomorrow. I was afraid I might have to go without Kokuto."

"Just don't damage it again. I worked my ass off this week for you." Indeed, Yuna was exhausted. It was hard physical labor to forge a sword, and she'd stayed up late every night that week, plus through the weekend, to finish it. She walked over and picked up a cold beer, popping the cap off on a cinder block.

Aoba frowned at her. "Are you old enough to drink?"

Asshole, she thought. "If I'm old enough to forge weapons that kill people, I'm old enough to drink." That got a smile out of Genma and a solid laugh from Shizune.

"Fair enough."

Yuna took out the pouch of antidotes and tossed it back to Raido. "Thanks for these. They were helpful. You'll want to reapply the poison before you leave tomorrow."

"Oh, right!" Shizune said, turning to Raido as well. "I have a new batch ready for you, but it's at the laboratory. We can go there now, if you want."

Yuna watched her brother's face light up at the idea of going somewhere alone with Shizune. "That would be great!"

Aoba stood up and stretched. "I should get going, too. I still need to pack."

The three said goodbye and leapt off the rooftop and into the fading light of the evening. "Are you going to jet, too?" Yuna asked Genma. He was still seated and made no attempt to move.

"Naw, I wasn't called in for this mission. Besides, you just got here, and it's no fun drinking alone."

Yuna sat next to Genma and looked at the beer in her hand. "I'm actually not sure why I opened this. I don't really like beer."

"It goes with the image," he told her. At her inquisitive look, he added, "You know, the badass blacksmith vibe?" He reached out his hand for her beverage and she gave it to him. He removed the senbon from his mouth and took a swig, but Yuna just stared down at her hands. They still looked like they were covered in soot, even though she'd scrubbed them multiple times. She had a fresh burn mark near her wrist, where she'd slipped up while tempering the steel. All of this contrasted with her manicure from girls' night the week before, which had miraculously held up through the pounding she'd given the blade.

"Sometimes I feel like everyone assumes so much about me," she said quietly.

Genma glanced at her, one eyebrow raised. "What do they assume?"

"That I'm one thing or another. I just never seem to fit." Shinobi often assumed she couldn't do what her father did, and while that was true in some respects, she always felt underestimated when it came to her craft. And then there were civilians who were intimidated by her line of work and the fact that she had to go toe-to-toe with those who manifested chakra. Had she been a shinobi who could forge, the image would fit. Had she been a civilian in any other line of work, the image would fit. For some reason though, her femininity and her strength couldn't go hand-in-hand, unless she had chakra to mold. "I feel like I'm constantly trying to prove myself, and I can't strike the right balance."

"Yuna," he said, setting the bottle on the ground, "you don't need to prove yourself. All you need to do is be you, and you'll prove them all wrong."

These were kind words coming from Genma. He was looking out towards the horizon. The sun had set, so it was growing difficult to see his expression, but she could tell his face held the same intensity she'd seen earlier that week, the one that made her blush.

"Has everything been okay with you, Genma?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just seem different lately. Like, more introspective, I guess. Less…nonchalant. More resolute, maybe?" None of that was exactly right, but it was the best Yuna could do to describe this change.

"Strange," he said. "I'm surrounded by shinobi all day, and you're the one who notices. I've just been reflecting on a lot of things since the war."

"What made this war different for you from the other ones?" Yuna knew that the Third Shinobi War and Minato's death the year after had been particularly hard on Genma and Raido. She was curious what made a war different for someone who had fought in so many.

"Pass," he said.

"No fair!" She watched his senbon shift up and down. He was grinding his teeth. He often did that when he was deep in thought. She wondered if he would open up in response to her own thoughts. "I'll tell you why this one was different for me," she said. "It was waking up from the Infinite Tsukuyomi and realizing that I had desires that would never be met."

He just grunted.

"I bet you could guess what I saw," she told him. "It's the one thing I've desired since I was a kid. The ability to manifest chakra. I was a kunoichi. I felt what it was like, and it was better than I could have imagined."

"Being a ninja isn't something to romanticize," Genma said. "That's the thing about genjutsu. It can show you what you desire, but it's all just a lie. It won't show you the truth."

"I think you're wrong," Yuna said quietly. "The truth is just buried a layer deeper. See, I don't think my desire is truly to be a ninja, or even to use chakra. But you know why my dream felt so great? It's because I finally felt strong, and powerful, and beautiful, and sure of myself. That's my unmet desire. The only lie is that I have to be a kunoichi to be those things."

He grunted again. "When did you get so smart?"

"I've just had a lot of time to think," she deflected. She tried again. "Was it the Infinite Tsukuyomi for you, too?"

"Pass," he said, smiling when she groaned at him. He stood up and stretched, changing the subject. "You hungry after spilling your guts?" Yuna's stomach took that opportunity to grumble, making him chuckle. "I'll take that as a 'yes.' Is Ichiraku still open?"

"They close early on Sundays, but if Ayame is there, she'll still cook for us."

Genma fell into step with Yuna as they walked down the streets of Konoha, keeping with her slow pace. Slow to him, at least. He considered what she told him about her time in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. He had completely forgotten that civilians would have fallen under the genjutsu as well…all human beings had chakra that the tree would have sucked dry, even the ones who didn't physically manifest it. Everyone he interacted with, save babies born after the war, would have shared the experience of seeing their greatest desires made real, and then having them ripped away. What a crazy world they lived in.

The truth was, he felt complacent. Ever since the end of the war, his missions had not had the same kind of luster they used to have. He was lucky to be alive, but spending a twenty-five year career doing missions that were life and death, and then being plunged into a period of peace…well…it made him feel out of place. Like he didn't belong in this new era.

Normally, this kind of stuff didn't bother him. He wasn't the existential kind of guy…that was more up Kakashi's alley. But recently, he couldn't shake the feeling that if he didn't make a change, he'd be left with a mind full of bad memories and regrets. The generation of ninja after him didn't have this same history…they were still young enough to have avoided forming the poor habits that came with a career full of blood and gore. Most of them had partnered up, gotten married, or at least found someone they wanted to settle with. Not him, and not his generation. His generation hadn't had time for romance. And those that had just ended up in pain, like Kurenai and Yugao.

He would have been fine with all of this…in fact, he had been fine with all of it…except for now, he had memories from his own dream world. There, despite anything he could have ever predicted, he had a son.

Genma pushed back the hanging cloth that marked the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen, trying to clear these unwelcome thoughts from his head. He wanted to convince himself that it was all a lie, but with this genjutsu, it was hard. What he'd seen confused him. How could a shinobi like himself, perfectly fine with being a bachelor, and with no desire to procreate, see his greatest wants manifested into a family? Maybe it was the fact that he was growing older. But maybe Yuna was also right. Maybe there was a thread of truth that ran through that dream. He just didn't know what it was yet. But the way he felt with that little boy in his dream…it was a fulfillment of his heart he never experienced before. Now, in real life, his worry was that he'd never be able to achieve it. And he still truly questioned whether or not that was something he even wanted.

"We're closed!" called a voice from the back room.

"Even for me, Ayame?" called Yuna.

Ayame popped through the doorway. "Yuna!" And then she saw Genma and said, "Oh!"

Yuna looked at her apologetically. "I know, you're closed, but I was hoping you might make an exception?"

Ayame glanced back and forth between the two, and then grinned. "Sure. I've only got shoyu left though, is that okay?"

Both nodded and took seats while Ayame busied herself in the back.

"Perks of having friends in high places," Genma mused.

"You're one to talk. Don't you know the Hokage?"

"Doesn't get me the same kind of treatment." He took his senbon out of his mouth and rolled it between his fingers, once again becoming more introspective. "Truth is, pipsqueak, I saw things in the Infinite Tsukuyomi that I don't understand, and I don't know what the underlying truth might be. It's making me question everything."

"What did you see?"

Genma remained quiet. He hadn't shared this with Raido, and he wasn't sure he could share it with Yuna, either. "I saw something I didn't know I wanted. And I'm still not sure I want it."

"How is that possible?"

"Heck if I know."

"Was it related to your work?" she asked

Here comes the barrage of questions… "No," he replied.

"Was it…related to your hobbies?"

"Next."

"Was it a lady?"

He looked at her critically. "When have I ever been unsure about women?"

"Ugh, you know what I mean, like, marriage."

"No." At least, not truly. He only remembered the face of his child. He didn't even know where the mother was…she was less important than the boy.

"So there wasn't a lady in your Tsukuyomi?"

"If there was, I don't remember her."

"Pfft, that's so like you. The women you date are forgettable, even in your most intimate dreams."

Genma shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Yuna wasn't wrong, but she still didn't need to call it out like that. It made him seem heartless. "I'm not romantic. Next."

"Hmm…were you powerful? Or did you have fame? Or recognition?"

"No, no, and no. Besides, I have all those things now." He grinned when she rolled her eyes at him. He was being facetious.

"What about control? I feel like most people desire more control than they actually have."

That was astute of her. Described most of the issues leading up to most of the wars. "Next," he said.

"Ummm…what about approval? Or comfort?"

She was really hitting deep. Most people strove for comfort and approval, but those things weren't at the root of his dream. "Next."

"What about your legacy? Did it have anything to do with that?"

My legacy? Where did Yuna come up with these things? Before he could say anything else, Ayame popped back out with two hot bowls of ramen.

"Late night Ichiraku special!" she said merrily. "I found some extra chashu for both of you. Yuna, seaweed and crispy garlic for you, and of course, extra corn for Genma."

"You're the best, Ayame!"

Yuna and Genma pulled their wooden chopsticks apart and began to eat as Ayame disappeared to continue her end-of-shift tasks.

"So…your legacy?" Yuna asked, sipping a spoonful of broth.

"Hmm." He didn't answer her. Genma was deep in thought again, chewing noodles methodically. Yuna might have hit the nail on the head. What, in his current state of being, was he leaving behind? He survived this war, but eventually he would just be a name on a grave, or a memorial, and that would be all of his life. In the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he had a son. Someone to carry on and remember him, like Guy remembered his father, Duy, an otherwise forgettable person whose true contributions were unknown to anyone but those closest to him. Duy was a legend, and his legacy lived on through his son. Who would remember Genma after he passed on?

"Genma?"

He glanced up at the sound of his name, not realizing how long he'd been silent. "Sorry, pipsqueak. There's just a lot on my mind." He met Yuna's eyes. They were bright, inquisitive, and willful, and they watched him now with concern. The other day, in the weapons shop, he'd noticed for the first time how pretty her eyes were. They were hazel, riddled with flecks of green and gold. Her eyes were a gift from her late mother; everyone knew the story of the civilian who seduced old man Namiashi with her green eyes.

A lot on his mind, indeed. He briefly considered that Yuna had grown rather pretty in her mid-twenties. Her chocolate brown hair was the same color as Raido's, today pulled back into a braid that settled between her shoulder blades. She had the same facial structure as her brother as well, sans the scarring. Thank goodness she didn't have Raido's beady eyes though, the classic trait of the Namiashi family.

Yuna would have a greater legacy than him, he was sure of that. Her legacy would be greater than Raido's as well. Genma and Raido were shinobi. They did their duty, and then they would disappear, only to be remembered as one of many who served to protect the village. One amidst a sea of faces. If Yuna became the blacksmith she desired to be, she would be remembered long after she was gone. Her will was strong, and she would prove to the village that she was not to be underestimated.

He sensed her heart rate increase, just like it had in the weapons shop, and he was pulled once again from his silent introspection. They'd been making eye contact for a long time. He nearly smiled, but at that moment, a hawk flew in and landed on the empty seat next to him.

"Shit," he said, wiping his fingers with a napkin and untying the message attached to the bird's leg. "I'm being summoned." He pulled out his wallet and handed a series of bills to Yuna. "Dinner's on me. Leave a good tip and keep the change. Sorry to cut this one short. We'll have to continue this later."

"Just come back safely."

He grinned at her, standing up and putting his senbon back in the corner of his mouth. "I always do. When I'm back, we'll train."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He stepped outside and disappeared in a 'poof.'

Yuna stared at the place where he'd just been.

"'We'll have to continue this later,'" Ayame said, imitating Genma's voice. "Did he mean dinner…or that really intense eye contact you were both having?"

Yuna whirled around in her seat and found Ayame staring at her, a stupid grin on her face. "How much of that did you see?"

"Oh, everything. It's not like this entryway is soundproof, you know. Sooooo, since when did Genma come back into the picture?"

"He's not," Yuna said. "He's just been off." She told Ayame about what happened at the shop earlier that week and how Genma's personality was just…different.

"Everyone has been off since the war," Ayame said. "It wouldn't surprise me if the Tsukuyomi changed a lot of people's perspectives about a lot of things. But you're not getting away from this so easily, Yuna. Do you have a thing for Genma?"

Yuna just stared at her, her brows furrowed in confusion over how she felt about her brother's best friend. She still placed Genma squarely in the category of eye candy, but as a dating prospect? She wasn't so sure. "Truthfully? I don't know."

Ayame sighed. "You're worthless," she joked. "Come on, help me clean up, and we'll pop in on Hana. I'm sure she'll have some thoughts about this, too. She always asks the best questions."

Yuna finished her bowl of ramen and helped Ayame close up shop, all the while saying silent prayers for Genma and Raido's safe return.