DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe. I guess this Mito is mine, though.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to the Kyuubi in her mindscape," etc .)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Mito almost gasped but recognized that she was regaining consciousness, and stopped the obvious signs of her accelerated breathing, also reducing her heart rate as much as she could. She was on her back and… immediately up, ripping the steel infirmary bed out of the floor and flinging it toward the chakra signatures she didn't recognize.

"Mito! Mito-hime," Kakashi said insistently, pulling off his Hound mask and allowing Raido to check on Iwashi who was down, having had an object that had to easily weigh over 100 kilos put him through a wall. Raido had barely dodged it.

He should have remembered, and sensei should have reminded them all of how dangerous and strong his daughter was.

Kakashi kept his hands in the air. "Do you remember me?" Mito was breathing hard and somehow even more of a beaten-looking mess now that she was up and awake.

Mito slowly nodded her head and looked around, reflexively moving to touch her reopened back but stopped. She was in the infirmary. She closed her eyes and attempted to get her wits about her for a moment, making sure she was properly covered (and was incredibly thankful that she had two hospital gowns on: one facing forward, one backward) before moving to aid the shinobi she'd injured. Understandably the downed man flinched and his comrade moved to guard him, so Mito slowly lifted her hands. "At ease, Konoha-nin. My name is Namikaze Mito and I'm an ally. Forgive me for not recognizing you."

It was really unlike her to react without thinking, and she'd done it twice now, hadn't she?

"Maa, maa," Kakashi said, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere. He stepped toward the three but stopped after seeing the look on Mito-hime's face. Swollen and disfigured or not, Mito's eyes promised pain and she looked like she might attack him, too. "You're more than an ally: you're a comrade, hime-sama."

Mito clicked her tongue. "Yeah." Her hands lit up in the green hue of iryo-ninjutsu as she moved to see what kind of damage she'd caused now. Looking down at the shinobi, she sighed and began healing him. "I'm sorry."

"That's - um, okay," Iwashi said as soon as he was able to speak, trying not to react as he looked at Hokage-sama's daughter. He'd seen pictures of her, but those were taken when she was much younger. She'd been a strikingly pretty little girl, but now she was missing teeth, probably couldn't see out of one of her eyes, and…

"What?" Mito asked, her eyebrow painfully lifted in silent challenge.

"Nothing! Nothing, nothing," Iwashi sang, plastering on a grin that she didn't seem to appreciate. Kakashi had told him that the girl was "something else" and now he was beginning to see why. A Second Tsunade. Wasn't that terrifying? "Are you sure you should be up and using your chakra, hime-sama? I'm sure I can recover…"

Mito stepped backward a few paces when he was healed enough and stood with her back to the corner of the room, glaring at the three men. "The next person to call me 'hime-sama' goes on an extended click-long trip, courtesy of my fist, right through the walls, got it?" She cleared her throat when her words were met with silence and gawking. "Did you hear me?"

"Hai!"

"Okay," Mito said, gulping hard. "So does this mean he's here?"

"You weren't expected to wake up until tomorrow at the earliest, even with your accelerated healing," Kakashi said in a quiet voice. "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"Ah," Mito responded, not quite knowing what to do. She didn't want to see her father. Her demeanor changed entirely when she felt Asuma and Chiriku's chakra signatures approaching. "Guys," she grinned in a whisper as they quietly entered the room. Asuma took a step to run to her but stopped himself, remembering getting punched well into a concrete wall the last time he tried.

"You are so troublesome! Scared the fuck out of me," Asuma said in exasperation as he raked his nails over one of his arms to keep his emotions under control. He almost felt like crying again at seeing her up like this. And was that wound bleeding again?!

"It is very good to see you up, Mito-hime," Chiriku added.

"Dumbass," Asuma hotly added, unable to help himself. "You coulda fucking died!"

Mito nodded and looked away. "Sorry 'bout that." Asuma had lost enough people.

Chiriku took Asuma's arm when he tried to approach her again. "There is no need to apologize, Mito." Mito looked up at him again and grinned at him genuinely, (although sadly;) he was sure it was in appreciation for him finally dropping the honorific in front of others or holding her brother figure back. "What can we do for you?"

Mito thought about it, not realizing that she was shuffling back and forth. She was still drugged and definitely in pain. "I'd like to see 'Ruto-chan if he doesn't mind," she said as she turned her head, blinking and really trying to open her right eye. "I need my uniform and Guardian waistcloth."

She intended to stay at the Capital. It was already making her incredibly anxious to be around these shinobis she didn't know, let alone an entire village of them. Well, she'd met Kakashi and been around him for a short time, but that was it. She looked into his rather lazy-looking dark eye, remembering the time he spent with her family (he was shorter and lankier then.) – Back when her mother was alive, back when she'd finally and happily moved to Konoha, supposedly to stay. Kakashi tilted his head slightly, doing it quite as a dog might, she thought, before looking away. "Sorry."

"How is your back?" Asuma finally asked.

"Hurts like an absolute bitch, really. Plus, I opened it up…" No sooner than Mito had the words out of her mouth and her mentor/godmother stormed in, blonde ponytails flying behind her.

"YOU!" Tsunade yelled before grabbing her into a hug. When Mito let out a pained cry, she apologized and began running a diagnostic on her. "EVERYONE OUT!"

Mito wasn't quite sure why she was so relieved when everyone did leave, but she slouched onto the other bed that was still in place and against the wall. "I'm tired." She cried out again and Tsunade asked her to lay on her belly. "Will you guard my back?" she asked in a quiet voice before she agreed to move.

"Of course, I will," Tsunade said genuinely, feeling terrible for her. Mito was so uncharacteristically (but understandably) guarded and it made Tsunade sick. She'd heard what Inoichi had found in the kidnappers' minds and was so incredibly OUTRAGED, furious, and concerned for her goddaughter. "Your back's a mess, kid. You're going to have a hell of a scar."

Not to mention the mental scars from what that Elder did to you.

"Yeah," Mito said, biting the inside of her cheek. "I kinda figured it would happen when that bastard peeled me like a fucking potato. ...Tsunade? I… don't want to see Tou-san." she admitted after a minute, ashamed.

Had her voice always sounded so small?

"I don't think you're going to have a choice about that, kid. We just need to heal you enough to transfer you to Konoha and…"

"No," Mito said firmly, turning slightly on her good side to face the blonde. "I'm - well, I don't know how many of us survived or…" She blew out a snarl. "I don't know what I can say. What's classified or not about what happened: forgive me, Tsunade-hime."

Tsunade clicked her tongue. "Since when do you call me that?" she whispered. She couldn't believe that she actually wanted to hear Mito rudely call her "grandma" again. "I know all about the coup, by the way. The Daimyo's always been a real piece of work. He's pretty excited and vocal about his 'Guardian Angels' holding the fort against an army of shinobi."

Mito snorted, which actually made Tsunade feel slightly better about the teen's state of mind. Minato flashed into the room and Tsunade cursed, having to hold her goddaughter back from instantly moving to attack him. She applied more iryo-ninjutsu to the girl's head and Mito slowly collapsed.

"What was that about?" Minato asked as he looked at his poor, sweet daughter. He took her hand and rubbed little circles into it. "Kakashi said she was up and fine."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You know what happened to her, Minato; she is NOT fine. And how do you or your brat student explain that?" She pointed to the wrecked wall.

"She did that?" Minato asked as he momentarily looked away from his daughter. She looked so small in the bed she was in now. And yet so grown up! …Not to mention, she looked so terrible.

She'd been so beautiful! And now she looked so…

Looking painfully away and around the room, he saw that the bed she'd been in earlier had been damaged. Observing it for a moment, he saw that the metal looked like it had been dented from where it hit the wall - and Iwashi-kun: that's why he was limping, he realized - and… Mito's hands had dented the metal when she'd thrown it. "She threw it," he said more than asked, not really waiting for an answer.

Tsunade sighed. "She wants to stay here."

"WHAT? You can't be serious!"

"She also didn't want to see you."

Minato felt like all of the air went out of him again. Taking an oddly taxing breath, he shook his head. "She hates me."

"This isn't about you!"

"I - you're right. You're right," Minato agreed, scolding himself for saying that. He was so damn tired and had been beside himself and running on empty for days. "You know, her reports on suspicious activity here recently have only been reports. No notes, just a few occasional questions about Naruto now and then… It's not like her."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she continued to heal her goddaughter but didn't say anything. What was she supposed to say? Until Minato recently found his balls, he'd been the Elders' and Council's little bitch in her humble opinion.

First off, the man had let Mito get exiled for far too long, whether that was partially for the protection of Konoha against a badly sealed fox or not. Tsunade understood that Mito had to be punished for her "grievous crimes" of saving her father, the fucking Hokage, and allowing her life to be sacrificed instead of her brother's, but it didn't have to be for so damn long. Now she'd gotten kidnapped and abused because of a moron's quest for power - which again, led back to Minato. "Fucking Hokage BULLSHIT," she snarled to herself.

Glaring at Minato, Tsunade felt herself only slightly soften when he saw his longing, miserable expression as he gazed at his broken daughter. Mito was strong, though, she reminded herself. Hell, she'd already gotten up and thrown a bed attached to a steel cabinet and the floor at Minato's bozos! "This is going to take a while. As I explained before, I'll have to stagger the healing sessions to give her natural healing a better chance to kick in and she'll need to do therapy to ever be at 100%. Her back will be a real bitch to deal with. I intended to teach her how to deal with this type of injury, although I never wanted it to be on herself…"

"When she comes home, she can work with the Yamanakas, too."

Tsunade pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at him. "Mito is stubborn," she nearly hissed. "And have you received approval for her to return home from the council or Danzo's flunkees?"

"I don't care what they say," Minato growled.

"Don't make her life any harder, Minato," Tsunade argued. "Let her stay here if that's what she really wants. –At least listen to her." Minato was about to argue but a gentle knock on the door ended their conversation for now. Asuma let himself in and was followed by a young monk that, although bald, looked to be around the kids' age, too.

"Chiriku-san and Asuma-kun. Once again: thank you. Oh! What is this?" Minato asked in a degree of amused disbelief.

"This is 'Ruto-chan," Chiriku explained after turning back to fit the birdcage through the doorway. He set his travel birdcage down on the messy spare bed - something (or someone, more likely,) had obviously happened to it - and the wall. He'd noticed the Konoha Jonins trying to pick the bed up earlier, but hadn't asked about what had happened then. He would never worry about material things when so overwhelmingly concerned about a comrade and friend.

"You can't bring a bird into the infirmary," Tsunade scolded.

"Mito asked for him, and now she's the lead medic here at the palace," Asuma said stubbornly even as the bird began to squawk. "'Ruto-chan is the bird Mito caught Kiko using to run messages back and forth to Danzo." He couldn't remember if Mito told her father that she kept it or not. He laid Mito's carefully folded uniform down next to the birdcage and absently ran his hand over it before giving it up and patting her on the head.

'Ruto-chan had been busy spouting off about how pretty he was but had begun freaking out when he saw Mito. "Mito Mito! Get the fuck outta here, Asuma!"

Asuma glared at him. "Stupid bird." Talk about humiliation. Tsunade-hime seemed to find the bird funny enough to keep around now. He placed Mito's folded Guardian 12 sash in her hand, wondering how the organization was either going to build or if it was to continue to exist after what had happened.

Tsunade watched him and hummed. "I thought you each received one and only one of those," she asked, wondering if Mito had been put on their elite team. The Guardian 12's waistcloths were much like hitai-ates, she thought. Usually, one kept his or her forehead protector for a lifetime, just as the Guardians always wore theirs. It was easy enough to replace the fabric on the hitai-ates. She knew it could be different for the Guardian's bandana things but she'd always seen them treated as if they were precious.

"Daimyo-sama promoted Mito-hime to Jonin after the attack," Chiriku explained, not knowing whether this was new information to them or not, "but formally asked her to join the Guardians before we defended the capital."

Tsunade shot a look at Minato but it seemed that he had already been made aware of it if his grim expression was anything to go by. It made sense that the Daimyo would have told the Hokage, and she'd bet - well, not with money because that was just asking for a loss as Mito always said - that the Daimyo would go along with whatever Mito wanted.

"You and your comrades were very brave that night. Thank you again for your excellent work," Minato said almost robotically. "You defended Hi no Kuni with a Will of Fire that will long be remembered."

Chiriku thanked the Hokage but bowed out of the room. Asuma stayed. Crossing his arms over his chest, the Sarutobi shook his shaggy hair back and waited until he had the Hokage's attention. "Mito was a real force to be reckoned with that night, Hokage-sama. I'm sure word will get out about her."

The Hokage nodded and closed his eyes as he considered it more.

In fact, Namikaze Mito's profile began popping up, in one bingo book after another, only weeks later. She would be given the moniker "The Reaper" for her actions at the Fire Nation's capital and deemed to be an A to S-classed threat.

"Kushi and I only wanted to make sure she could take care of herself," Minato lamented.

His duties during the war had meant that he didn't get to spend a fraction of the amount of time a child needed with her father. The same could be said for his beloved Kushina, but Kushina found ways around her sporadic mission assignments to see their daughter, even if it was only for a few hours at a time. Speaking to his unconscious daughter, he didn't think about the others in the room. "I want you to come home. Naruto's waiting to meet you," not that he knows that or remembers he has a sister. Tsunade shot him an understandably dirty look.

"'Ruto-chan! 'Ruto-chan," the black parrot called. "Get out of here, Asuma!"

Asuma took his leave, feeling another terrible pang of guilt for not having checked on his little sister that terrible night. He should've gone back after they walked back to their "homes" together. He wanted to stay even now but figured that she and the Hokage would have a lot to talk about.

.

.

Mito forced herself to grin at her father but nearly snarled at him when he hugged her. Curling into herself, she cursed. This wasn't like her. "Maybe it's the drugs."

"Talk to me, Mito," Minato begged.

Mito blinked up at him. Her right eye was already a little less puffy. She sent out a word of thanks to Kyuubi-sama whom she owed her survival and probably much of her improvement. "What do you want me to say?"

"I'd like you to say that you want to come home, but really… I just want to hear your voice."

Mito nodded, a small grin appearing on her battered face although she didn't realize it. "What do you think of 'Ruto-chan?"

Minato huffed out a chuckle. Asuma was right: Mito was a little crazy about that bird, wasn't she? And his name? Oh, that was something else! "He seems very intelligent."

"Right?! I haven't had him all that long, at all, and he learns words and phrases so quickly." She lifted her hand to interrupt what her father might be thinking. "Don't worry. If Asuma and I have to talk about anything remotely classified or sensitive, I use a silencing seal."

"And you always have? That's very smart."

Mito shrugged, glad that her back was otherwise numb. "When I caught him, I could tell that he was intelligent." She sighed and tried to bite her lips but quickly realized that wasn't a good idea. Not that she cared, but she was definitely going to have a scar on her upper lip. "I actually thought he might be a summons when he began chatting. OH! Shimura Kiko…"

"I was able to get through your seals," Minato assured her, "although they were very impressive. She was transferred to T&I."

"That's good, that's good. When I locked her in the Temple, I hadn't intended to starve her there or anything, 'ttebane." Mito's breath caught. "Gomennasai." She looked up at her father and saw a fondness and surprise in his eyes over that verbal tic she'd almost defeated that made her uncomfortable. She forced herself to smile at him anyway. "So how are you, Tou-san?"

Minato hummed. "If you're okay, I'm okay."

Mito scratched her head and nodded, not knowing what else to say about that. "That's good. Um, how is Naruto-chan?" That, as always, made 'Ruto-chan began repeatedly calling out his own name.

Minato stretched his back, running his grip down his thighs, and let out a long sigh of fond exasperation. "He's good: he wants to learn to use a sword and has made some new friends." Yes, that was one way of putting it. Until Mito came home, she didn't need to hear about her brother's abduction.

"He's too little for a sword! Oww… Hang on."

Minato watched as his daughter's hands lit up in iryo-ninjutsu which she applied to her face and jaw. He moved to aid her, but when she stopped and crammed her fingers into her mouth, he wondered what in the world she was doing.

"Kyuubi-sama, do you know how I have another set of teeth coming in?" Those teeth definitely were NOT there before.

"Ninja magic," he snarked without opening an eye. Kurama thought about it again, ensuring he wasn't being nice to her: that would be embarrassing. No, his vessel had to have ugly human teeth to protect herself.

Meh, maybe he'd try to give her a couple of fangs just for kicks.

"I think it's fox or bijuu magic," Mito said, wanting to reach through the cage and pet him. Or to hug him, really. "Thank you for that, too, Kyuubi-sama. Once again, thank you for saving me."

"Go away, Ningen."

"Alright," she said gently and bowed. "As you wish. Oh! But there's one more thing!" The opening of one big red eye was the fox's only reaction. "This seal. Kyuubi-sama, will you be honest with me? I don't want you sealed further. I mean, it's kinda nice being so physically close to you." Mito wanted to cover her face and die for admitting that out loud - even if it was just in her messed-up mindscape - but the fox looked so disgusted that it made her feel better; his reaction was comical. "This is safe, right? For both of us?"

"I could break through it," Kurama said, (sort of) wishing he could do it without being sent to the Shinigami. He wasn't sure whether his entire being would be sent away, as so much of him had been sealed by the girl herself. The old monkey had only truly sealed half of his fate, but Kurama loved his entire, fantastical self a LOT. His life might suck - or it did before… Growling, there was only one thing he could say to save his reputation. "Go away!"

"Aw," Mito whimpered rather pathetically as she left.

"Are you alright?" Minato asked when her eyes met his again.

Not really, Mito thought but sighed distractedly. "I apparently have another, partial set of permanent teeth coming in." Her father looked bewildered so she shrugged: what else could she do? He chuckled at her response and Mito kicked her legs at the end of the bed a few times before she realized what she was doing.

She looked like a kid, didn't she? Internally, she groaned.

"Tou-san, I've been thinking. I… want to stay here, for at least a little while." She couldn't look up at her father; she could feel sadness rolling off of him and sharp pain at what she'd just said. "I've got a good thing going here; it's… familiar, and to be honest, when your ninjas were here earlier, they freaked me out."

"It will get better," Minato soothed, hoping it would.

"I'm sure it will," Mito blankly agreed. "Please. I know that you've had to put up with too much, not having my help with Naru-chan and me asking for more time is just unforgivable…"

"That's not it at all, Mito," Minato insisted. "I wasn't aware that you were thinking along those lines." Mito gave him an unimpressed glare that was all Kushina which made him laugh. "Maa, I suppose it's not fair to want you home just for my comfort - and that's beside what you're saying about Naruto. He's actually a really good little boy; he's just especially rambunctious. But I do miss you."

"Of course what you're feeling is fair. And I've missed you, too." It was a true statement, but for some reason, Mito felt disassociated from it - and she might have been feeling that way for a while now. She didn't find herself caring about her thoughts too much and tried to get comfortable in her bed. Tsunade, she guessed, had taken a chunk out of the mattress so that it wouldn't rub on her wound. Honestly, there were other ways to deal with such a thing, but her godmother could be very "practically savage" when she came up with an idea or was ticked off. Now, though, she was going to have to requisition a new hospital mattress for her comrades here. "Can you tell me a story about Naruto-chan?"

Minato smiled and held back tears when Mito allowed him to tuck her in. "I can do that. But first, why don't you tell me about these jungle cats?"

Mito groaned and covered her face.

"I'm guarding you," Asuma said from his post at the infirmary door the next time she woke up. "And I'll do a better job of it this time."

"Asuma-kun," Mito scolded, "stop thinking like that! One: I can take care of myself! And two: we were all exhausted that night…"

"The last thing I need is for you to try to make me feel better!"

Mito yawned and grimaced, then hit the button that would give her more morphine. "Well, the last thing I need is for you to be an idiot! …Are you seriously guarding me?"

"Hai."

"Man that's so uncool," she complained but knew she wasn't exactly in fighting shape. "So is he gone?"

"Hokage-sama?"

"Yeah-ep."

"He had to go back, but insists that he'll return as soon as possible." Asuma knew that Mito would roll her eyes and he understood her frustration - at least the frustration she felt with her Hokage father as much as anyone could. Minato-sama hadn't laid eyes on his daughter once in almost two years! He, at least, had seen his father although the man never had any time for him.

Granted, Hokage-sama wasn't supposed to see Mito at all, but still…

Even before, Minato-sama barely had time for Mito - although he had tried to do his best until she was exiled. His father had CONSTANTLY sent his successor on missions before he'd been named Hokage. And the Hokage position was a nightmare for those with a family. His thoughts on that were ended in disbelief when a toad popped up, carrying vast amounts of ramen. Mito was ridiculously thrilled.

"Tou-san's alright, ya know!"

Asuma shook his head and passed out the bowls and utensils. "Whatever floats your boat, kiddo."

After they finished eating and talked for a while, Mito fell asleep again. Asuma was surprised to open the door and find the Daimyo outside. He rarely came to their side of the grounds without huge fanfare. "Daimyo-sama!"

"Relax, Guardian," the Daimyo insisted, grimacing again when he saw Mito's bruised form. "How is she?"

"She is better," Asuma said, "Tsunade-hime can probably give you a more thorough report."

"I just wanted to check on each of my Guardian Angels!"

Asuma wanted to roll his eyes. The Daimyo had really been on about calling them that since everything happened.

"Will she be staying at the Capital?"

"That is what she wishes," Asuma admitted. If he had to stay here, he would support Mito in remaining here, too. He wouldn't let anyone get their dirty hands on her again, and so far, no one had said anything to him about two of the Elders being murdered. By Mito, Asuma figured. He had erased the very little evidence Mito may have left and hoped that it would never come back to haunt them.

"Very good! I'll make it so. Guardian Asuma," the Daimyo said as he thought more about it. "You and Chiriku-san are close to Mito-hime, are you not?"

"Yes, sir. We've… actually arranged to each move next door to her." Chiriku was in charge of and most likely moving their things right now. Mito's flat - if one could call it that - would soon be between theirs. Both thought it best not to make her move closer to them.

"Excellent! You are one step ahead of me, as expected. As you were," he praised then left.

Asuma resealed the room and groaned. "You lucked out on missing that, Mito." Dealing with the goofy Daimyo was always a drag.

Mito was released from Tsunade's care over a week later. Before leaving, she ensured that her goddaughter knew how to care for the wounds that remained and gave her a huge list of terrible things to practice once she was feeling better. Everyone was incredibly worried about what would happen when the Jungle Cats called her back for a challenge.

"If you get eaten, I'll kill you."

"Yes," Mito had drawled, "thank you for that baa-chan. Very helpful; that means a lot to me."

Honestly, the additional scrolls Tsunade had given her would prove (and were) very valuable if she just had enough time to practice them before she was called back to deal with the big cats. The Slug Sannin had left some of Lord Second's scrolls and her father had sent more wind techniques that either he or someone came up with that should be a real bitch to go up against.

I don't want to hurt those cats, though!

Well… She wasn't going to be caught unprepared again. "A ninja must always be prepared," she reminded herself - as if she had to. She didn't particularly care for most of the "Ninja Rules," but that one was pretty good.

The remaining Guardians and some of the monks gave her a little "welcome home party" which made her feel almost giddy. What made her feel relatively safe was that now the Guardians would all be living in the same building. Asuma and Chiriku were her next-door neighbors, living on either side of her. Tou lived right upstairs, and Seito lived next door to her. Seito was said to have nearly died in the battle they'd been in, and Mito wondered why they hadn't been together in the infirmary.

It was probably some bullshit about me being a "princess." Man, that ticked her off!

"What's wrong, Mito? Did you take your medicine and have you had enough water?" Asuma asked when they were walking back to their flats. Chiriku, as usual, had gone home early.

Mito gave him a look of disbelief. "Yes, I did, Kaa-chan," she said sarcastically.

"No: it's something else," she admitted when they reached their building. It was something on the edge of her senses, and it wasn't good. She looked toward the Palace and prayed that everything was alright. "We need to check on Daimyo-sama."

Asuma nodded, trusting Mito's judgment. Currently, the Daimyo only had the older ninja monks with him; they were all still at least of Chunin level. "Seal yourself in your room. I'll grab Chiriku."

Mito clicked her tongue but agreed. "You've got your kunai, right?" All of Mito's friends (and the Guardians who were quickly becoming her most-trusted friends) had one of her special three-pronged kunai. It's not like she could fight well right now, but she'd sure as fuck be there to do the best she could in order to help them if they needed her.

"Yeah," Asuma said, knowing he wouldn't use it. He knocked on Chiriku's door and they both lambasted Mito into sealing herself in before they left.

What they found was fine - sweet, even - although it made both men uncomfortable.

"Chiriku-san and Asuma-san: what a nice surprise," the Daimyo said, standing up fully from where he'd been talking to a small boy. "I'd like you to meet Sora-kun."