Naruto hurled what felt like about a gallon of bloody red bile into the snow two steps after Sakura set him down. He'd held it together for the ride, at least. Also, he was alive, which was a small bonus too; that's certainly what it felt like with the intense agony stirring in his guts. Three heavy, deep breaths preceded him lifting his head, seeing Sasuki kneeled down beside him with concern open in her eyes.

That forced a smile.

"I'm good, I'm good," he assured, pulling himself upright and coughing, embarrassed, at the small mob of horrified serving folk who'd witnessed the scene. Of all the fucking times too, winter, when the ground was pristine white and fluids took an eternity to soak into the dirt. Still, he found his words before Sasuki. "Hello!" he called out to the masses. "B-bad news, I'm afraid, your employer seems to have hired an assassin to kill the local mayor, that redheaded man, Hinata's fiancé?"

A few gasps.

Mostly whispers and hushed conversation as the twenty odd people seemed to huddle together yet further. He looked back at his two companions. Neither said anything until he fell into a coughing fit, spitting another disgusting red splotch onto the snow.

"Y-yes that's correct; the assassin was caught in act, he tried violently to escape rather then face an inspection. Who among you is righteous enough to testify to that man's association with your employer?" she asked, her voice full of fire and judgement!

It made the silence that followed all the more uncomfortable.

"I will," one said, finally.

"Hancho what?! You- Damn it all. I will too then, I suppose,"

Nobody else said a damn word for a full minute. Though many a guilty look were collected as the mob averted their eyes from the two young men who stepped forward. With nothing else to offer, Naruto gave his most welcoming smile, Sasuki just stared at the mob with murder in her eyes.

"W-well, Hanabi and Hinata's testimony is the really important part anyway, right? Let's go deal-"

"-WHAT IN ALL HELLS IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" the crowd parted like split with a spell to make room for the man moving forward. Three men with him wore swords, though no armor, keeping a subservient three steps back as they came to a halt. "Where's my daughter? Why did you stupid sellswords leave?"

"Your daughters are still in the house; you're on trial for murder because we went back to stop your little plot. The ghost told us everything," Sasuki revealed plainly. Their eyes remained locked, equally hard, black against white, neither trying to hide their disgust. Their little staring contest lasted nearly a minute before he formed an answer.

"Under whose authority?" he growled out.

"Acting regent, was it? I don't know, I'm just a stupid sellsword," she continued snidely. "We're going to go collect your daughters for testimony then, both of them," she said strolling off toward the house. Naruto lagged only a couple seconds behind.

"I'll just keep an eye on these ones then, I suppose," Sakura added, punctuating with a heavy slam as she dropped her cudgel to rest on the dirt like a cane. Two of the swordsmen cowered. Not that he would blame them for that, draped up in that chainmail cloak, with just a slit for those giant green eyes, Sakura made a damn intimidating figure.

Speaking of fear.

"So…. your friends with the ghost now, right?" Sasuki asked, casually reaching for but not touching the pristine silver handle on the front door.

"I mean, we spoke once, and she let us go to try and stop the assassin, even when we didn't even know for sure he'd left. For whatever it's worth, I think she's a good person,"

"Yeah… for whatever that's worth," she took a deep breath and stepped inside. Naruto stuck close. The parlor was the same as before, that is, empty of anyone, unfortunately. "Hello? We're just here to talk; we've no intention of destroying you or anything,"

The lack of an answer put a rock in the young man's gut.

Getting poked on the shoulder from behind about one minute later had him yelp like a scared child. It didn't comfort him that he seemed to be struck either deaf or mute, as one might imagine. Judging by Sasuki's unflinching form inches in front of him, it was the latter. Still, Hinata clarified with a a quick shh! Even given like it was a request, and looking utterly terrified herself, it took a moment for our hero to get his heart slowed. A moment more to see what exactly it was Hinata was looking at, so frightened of, and it was about the worst thing she could have taken note of.

The dagger.

She knew Sasuki's fancy noble dagger was dangerous, and it had her terrified already. He looked back, pointing at his open mouth and asking with his eyes. Gods it was a relief to hear his sigh after her short nod. A smile seemed to put her the slightest bit at ease, at least.

"Sasuki won't hurt you Hinata, I promise!"

"Wh-oh fuck!" his raven added, turning around and seeing the woman, just barely poking her head out from behind his form. "H-hello," she offered, as friendly as she could make her quivering voice.

"What do you want?" the voice seemed to echo in the air and hang in their minds in a way that was hard to articulate. Dominating. Loud, but… gentle? Her tone was certainly gentle, scared even.

"Are you bound to this place? The local law has agreed to accept you as a witness in this whole mess,"

"Witness?"

"Yes! Don't you want to see your father answer for his evils? For the deaths he's caused?"

"Caused? No no no they did it?" she asked, voice growing distorted and louder. "Oh no no nothing nothing for nothing NOTHING NOTHING!" The house seemed to shake violently! Then Sasuki reached for her dagger and it seemed to lurch a full 90 degrees! Naruto hit an end table on his way to the wall that was now a floor, cracked his jaw along the way, he didn't even see Sasuki after she tumbled through a doorway no more gently.

"W-we saved most of them!" he declared. The screaming switched to a hard, heavy sobbing at that. Was that a good sign? Fuck it hurt to talk! "A-and now Hanabi's safe! Hanabi's safe now; she'll never have to marry him! He's dead!" he assured, calming down as the house grew stable. "Hanabi's safe," he repeated, feeling the house finally go still of the scary dead lady's tantrum. "She's safe, but we do need to take her to testify, especially if you can't,"

"Your going to take Hanabi?!"

"Not if.. nope, no. No. We won't take her out of your reach; we'll figure something else out, but she has to testify. We're actually getting ownership of the estate and everything; she won't even have to move! We're just trying to make sure Hiashi goes away, that he can't hurt her, or anyone anymore," he poured everything he could into the words, all the desperation and sympathy, all the sincerity he could display.

A moment of silence passed as she wiped her eyes and looked at him.

"You're taking this place?" she asked, voice once again echoing but not entirely unpleasant. Her eyes were now dry, but far from happy. When no better option came to mind, he told the truth.

"Y-yeah, we have a deal with the mayor. We'll have to pay, but that doesn't matter; what matters is we can take care of your sister. Hell, I don't even see why you can't keep watching over her!" he added. What was the problem? Why did she still look so nervous and afraid? What more could they possibly offer her?

"What about the others? The branch family?" she asked softly, averting her eyes from him.

"Who?"

"The servants, the bastards and concubine sons and such, the ones with our blood who aren't really part of the family,"

"Oh. Yeah, we'll take care of them too. Better care than that old ba- dad, better than your dad did, I'm sure,"

"Really?" she asked, a flicker of a fraction of a smile struggling to grow on her face; looking at him like her was the strange appiration. Gods even that was unnerving. Still, he smiled brightly at her and that seemed to push her own grin up over the edge, forming a full smile on her face. Sweet fuck that caused such a wash of relief that he had to wonder if it was legitimately magical in nature. Do ghosts count as magic? Whatever.

"Why not? We'll need people to work the land anyway, and I'm sure it'd make your sister more comfortable to not have a change of staff,"

"It would...thank you... Thank you so much," she remarked, her eyes beginning to water once more as her grin remained wide. It could have been projection or a trick of the mind, but her color seemed to have changed. The robe and skin had gone from that sickly, chalky white to something soft, alluring. A color like cream or a fine cheese, her hair which had been almost black in the shadows, was now vibrant purple as she came up closer. He didn't even worry when a hand came up to grip his cheek, though it surprised him to feel it.

Much more so that it was so warm.

Warm and soft.

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Thansk for reading!