A/N at bottom

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Warnings: T for swearing, violence, and a cliffhanger~

Beta-ed by the awesome MadameGuillotineTheSeraph

Chap 11 Suna be Good, Suna be Bad

As it turns out, six years old was the minimum age for a person to be 'legally' allowed to work and earn an income in my clan. This included small missions which involved me venturing out the relative safety of the clan's compound, which were also thankfully financially a step up from those tedious tasks I did before. All those errands I completed, many of which included passing along messages, sharpening of weapons and the copying of scrolls (eventually becoming so repetitive that even Orochi ends up nodding off on my shoulder, despite how much it's good practice and overall pretty informative).

Honestly, I'm unsure what to think after Kaa-chan suddenly ditched me on the doorstep of the clan's merchant sector. Barely even a 'good look' was given as she shot down the corridor with two limp midgets carried under her arms, both seeming to imitate a sack of shocked potatoes with the ease of practiced pros The traitors.... Still slightly reeling, I remained speechless as she shunshin'ed out of sight.

Orochi's going to be sad that I couldn't help him with his reading, I thought absentmindedly. He was so invested in those old fairy tales I had jotted down within my notebook. Veering off the previous train of thought, I hoped no one would be able to decipher the odd symbols it contains or assume it's another language, thankfully it's securely sealed into my arm. Shifting slightly, I couldn't help but be grateful that she left me with someone I knew, or some measure of "knowing" anyways.

I rubbed the spot around my eyes where the clan marking were located, and sighed in slight exasperation (N: or would it be irritation?). Dōsukēru hissed softly in amusement, hidden beneath the light brown cloak I adorned. Strangely these were all the rage in Suna, who knew?

Knocking on the door, I called out Hisao-san's name before patiently waiting outside his residence. After a few moments I began to wonder if Kaa-chan left me here too early, maybe he wasn't even awake yet? Mentally, I exclaimed a sarcastic 'Ha', as if that could happen, they're all ninja's after all. Even if he was a 'nerdy merchant ninja' instead of the diehard 'science nerds' that seem to be so prominent within our clan.

I was jolted out of my thoughts as the door opened, there was barely even a warning before a scruffy black haired man stood in its frame, with deceptively thin, wire frames balanced upon the bridge of his nose. As he yawned, seemingly carefree if not coming off outwardly as a little rude, I could tell he hadn't had his morning coffee yet.

Coffee. The one thing that the clan never fails to stock up on when in River or Rain country.

Therefore when I conveniently held out a shatter resistant mug filled with caffeinated goodness, the man grinned gratefully before chugging the whole thing (inwardly, I was surprised at how none was spilt). Mouth still open in preparation to warn him of the contents temperature (perhaps a little belatedly), he burped out a tendril of fire which did an elegant swirl (show off) in the air before fading into the air conditioned halls that connected everyone in this compound.

"How did you create the fire without any hand signs, Hisao-san?" I love it when Dōsukēru reads my mind while I'm speechless.

The man grumbled good-naturedly, the caffeine boost making him more responsive already. 'Trade secret' was his slightly indulgent answer, followed by a discreet flare of his chakra. It was still enough for me to catch on.

His golden eyes narrowed in thinly veiled amusement, probably sensing that I had taken this as a personal challenge, and quite correctly as well.

It seemed Kaa-chan had been bragging to others in the clan about my advanced chakra sensing abilities, though it's only good enough when the source is close by. (I swear the rate of detection dropping exponentially the further away the source is, rendering the skill useless for ranged chakra tracking).

Being this close to the fluctuation allowed me to closely observe his chakra flow. The steady flow as he drew the energy from his core towards his throat and into the mouth, forming a thin coating under the skin which flickered (possibly semi-permeable, or perhaps completely solid?). I had noticed that chakras always have a unique feeling associated with different beings, even while remaining dormant it leaves an imprint on the user's body. The sensations felt on other beings vary, and could be as distinct as the soft, gusting feel of a delicate sparrow or the solidity of groundedness of a deep-buried earthworm.

What Hisao-san had kindly demonstrated for me was a rudimentary chakra exercise that all the Kinme children are taught by their guardians, one that assisted us in maintaining our body temperature by forming a layer of insulating chakra just beneath our skin. This though, while similar to those exercises was different due to the shimmering surface it presented, and how tantalisingly close it was to becoming elemental chakra.

From this demonstration, I presume his primary affinity must be fire, which isn't surprising as it's the most dominant elemental affinity possessed by our clan as a whole. .

The Kinme clan's affinities are rather diverse, probably due to our nomadic tendencies and therefore the nature chakra that is causally absorbed by everything manifests differently.

Despite our current long stay within Wind country, the clan preferred to stay on the fringes of Fire country due to the agreeable temperatures. Over the years this has impacted the balance of the clan's elemental affinities, with a large portion being fire natured, with lightning coming second, then earth, water and wind in order of availability.

The elemental affinity percentages also seem to be affected by how well our own survival depends on them, as we do better in warmer temperatures having a fire affinity seems logical.

Clan specialists theorise that wind and water affinities within the clan are rare as they impact positively on us less, especially since water tends to be located in colder environments.

Kinme's as a whole never cope well in cooler temperatures, which also contributes to why our clan rarely, if ever, crosses into the Snow country. Like other ninja's, we can also develop a secondary elemental affinity, especially when enough training is done. Weaknesses can also be compensated by gaining control over another affinity, by increasing a ninja's arsenal more than what the enemies might suspect.

The ninja merchant noticed the slight widening of my eyes as they were subconsciously tracking the path his chakra took. With an exaggerated hand motion, Hisao-san pushed his glasses further onto his hooked nose, before musing out loud.

"Was that supposed to be hot?" continuing by exclaiming an obviously fake gasp of realisation.

"Oh dear, my old nerves must be failing me." Subtle, these nerd are not.

Realising that, I once again got lost in my own thoughts, and concluded he must have understood my unasked question from before I become so engrossed in his chakra parlour trick.

Perhaps Hisao-san was once a field medic, perhaps it's just a resistance, or perhaps he managed to numb his nerves somehow. Would it involve manipulating his chakra to absorb the heat radiating from the liquid and spreading it out to minimise any negative impact? I wondered, or maybe it also combines medical chakra techniques to heal any additional burns caused. Well at least it would certainly be a good wake-up call along with the caffeine.

I attempted to suppress a shiver. And failed, miserably.

This merchant can use chakra to numb his nervous system and heal his insides while still delirious from sleep deprivation.

I finally thought of the realistic chances of how well the mission could turn out now.

I'm actually not going to be as fucked as I originally thought.

Ah. Kami dammit. Someone save me from this insanity.

Hisao-san's partners, an adorably tangled nest of what appeared to be threadsnakes, were all hiding around his neckline and within his hair, one of them even pretending to be an earring at some point (or it could just be an oddly coloured piece of earwax, who knew?). But despite the protection of riding on the merchant's body, even they couldn't escape this bloody wind that unfortunately blew sharp specks of sand in every direction, but away!

It made my first mission out the security of the compound that much harder, considering we were travelling through the middle of a fricking desert while running towards Suna. Goddamn it, the Village was over three hours away from our temporary clan compound (which was unsealed underneath a sand dune).

It didn't help that whenever I began to lag behind due to my still inefficient dune running, I was carried around like a sack of rotten produce, or perhaps a better choice would be in a similar way to a hot potato as the teens were also capable of lugging my sorry ass around..

At least we were almost there by the time the heavier winds came in, thank Kami for small miracles.

Our other travelling companions consisted of a couple other Kinme members; two teenage girls who specialized in chemistry and dabbled in the art of poisons, and a boy who was outwardly slightly more youthful in appearance than the girls but was already one of the chef's apprentices. For all of them, their partners were either coiled within their sleeves or sheltering in the cloaks.

I regret questioning the necessity of the cloaks earlier, these things are a literal godsend against the evil flying sand particles, no wonder they are so popular here.

Since I sucked in recalling people's names, I inwardly named the taller black-haired teenage girl 'Arsenic', the shorter girl with chin length hair the same shade as that of the taller girl was thus dubbed 'Nightshade'. This finally left the chubby, golden-eyed, Ishval-looking boy, who I decided to nickname 'Scar', despite his visible lack of one. Overall, a fairly efficient system, if only somewhat misleading.

As a six year old, I didn't have a very impressive body weight. Even when throwing in my partner Dōsukēru (who pretty much gets a free ride everywhere), the pair of us can still easily be carried around. Therefore, Hisao-san ended up with us for the most part when we couldn't handle running in the storm (in my mind he seemed to be imitating a papa penguin doting over its brood to shield them from harm). The teenagers could just tough it out, they have good enough chakra control, they'll live.

Instead of the half an hour that it should've taken for us to reach Sunagakure's walls (or so I overheard from Nightshade who was conveniently complaining to Scar), it took us an additional hour and a half, extremely annoying because by the time we finally arrived, the sandstorm had subsided and the sun was shining proudly in the sky attempting to burn our pale Kinme skin (no, I told myself, the sun isn't mocking us). So as the time reached gonna-burn-up-some-Kinmes time, otherwise known as Noon, it has roughly taken 4 hours to get here, since we departed at around 8am. So bloody 12 noon, fun.

Honestly, that was probably the first and last time I would ever be able to be happy seeing the walls of the Village Hidden in the Sand.

Defended on all sides by walls perhaps over a hundred meters high and as thick as an underfed plateau, it would be impossible to enter from anywhere other than the two entrances positioned equally through the walls, one of them mimicking a giant canyon and the other but a slit in the wall.

Unless of course, the invader was a crazy bomber that's capable of flight and can basically ignore the natural defenses of pretty much every single hidden village. Actually, Deidara was/is/will be(?) seriously a bit overpowered. Being one of the very few capable of flight at many heights –therefore out of range of many weapons – and also be able to create explosives out of clay that can expand on demand into moving creatures makes him the equivalent of a bomber jet in this feudal-like era.

Point is, that kid is overpowered and so is the rest of the Akatsuki, whom I'll probably meet sometime in this lifetime. Shit.

"–jami-chan? Dōsukēru-chan, can you get the attention of your human idiot?"

An amused hiss filtered out from somewhere inside my cloak and then there was suddenly a slight sting on my right wrist, breaking me out of my musing. Thanks gods for immunity to my partner's poison, I like not living in agony very much.

Tensing my arm against the instinctive flinch that would've ended up with Dōsukēru flung out into the open, I settled for a flick of my fingers that tickled her nose instead and glared back at Hisao Kinme, who just released a peeved looking bird?

Oh well, ninjas are weird.

"Sorry Hisao-san, I couldn't catch what you just said, can you please repeat it?" At least my manners are intact, no use in provoking the man that will supply our group with most of the everything we'll need for the rest of the week.

I couldn't catch his grumble, but he continued in a louder tone "follow closely while we go through, then when I put up our clan's stand, you can choose to stay around and help me run errands which I will pay you for, do something of your own to earn yourself money, or follow one of these three to help them do whatever they were tasked to do. Return to me before–" que him checking the position of the sun "– a sphere of fire can drop past sea level."

So basically follow closely, learn, earn pocket money through some way, feed myself on my own earned money, learn some more, and return before sunset? The implied be careful so that your kaa-chan won't skin me for skinning you went unsaid along with the learn whatever bloody hell you can, but even then? Can do, definitely can do.

The administration process was somewhat simple, just a check in at the gate with our purpose, our names, a brief pat down where we all removed our visible weapons (seals were mostly ignored, as they couldn't identify which ones were actually seals), a brief rundown of what the merchant would be trading (some bribing went on behind backs, I'm quite sure), and a couple soft sounding but obvious kais demonstrated that Suna guards actually check for genjutsu before letting in week-long visitors.

Then the three teens disappeared and it was all I could do to cling at Hisao-san's cloak before the crowd at the gateway swallowed us, apparently the sandstorm did more than delay our arrival. I could feel Dōsukēru inside my sleeve, her coils just a bit too tight to be comfortable, but nothing else could portray her apprehension, or her appearance for that matter. My nose wrinkled at the smell, sweat and the noon desert sun is never a pleasant combo, and all the chakra infused into the air also felt incredibly heavy.

Even if Suna shinobi are mainly wind-natured (developed wind-nature feels light and whippy, but a bit sharp, and only when not actively restrained), it didn't mean that other ones didn't appear. In fact, the only ones that seemed rare would probably have been lightning or water, the latter for obvious reasons and the former, I have no idea, perhaps it was due to lightning country being on the other side of the goddamn continent?

Another fact that felt uncomfortable was that all of the threadsnakes that adorned Hisao-san's head had all but vanished, the absent serpents somehow leaving him looking surprisingly bare. In the few times I've seen him, he was never without his snakes, and all of them out of sight was a large enough difference for me to realize, oh, Suna might not be so friendly.

Suddenly the trip seemed a bit more ominous than I had originally thought, and a bit more mission-like than previously assumed.

The marketplace was not far, just a quarter-hour casual stroll away from the gate, but even then the trek there attracted many stares. (And sometimes even a faint trace of killing intent.)

Despite wearing the customary hood and cloak that was relatively native to Suna, the absence of face cloths and our strange colouring attracted too much attention. Whispers trying to be discrete were anything but, even if my hearing only allowed me to identify that we were the target of the stares and future gossip.

If Dōsukēru wasn't hidden inside my cloak, I wonder how the people of Suna would react to a blue snake curled around an odd-looking child.

Probably not nicely, if Gaara was maltreated for a demon that wasn't even visible.

This however, was my first time in a Major Hidden Village, nomad clan neutrality and all that. It didn't matter when it was one of the smaller ones, case in point, the village in Uzushio, but spending too much time in any one Hidden Village results in suspicions from all the others, which, is not good for our health. At all. But as our clan bases ourselves in Suna, it is not surprising that they would welcome us a bit more than the others, Kinme technology is pretty amazing, just like the rudimentary metal detectors that I may have taken notice of at the gates.

Out of all the countries in the Elemental Nations, Wind country, Whirlpool country, and the village of Takumi (I think) generally benefits the most from the Kinme's nomad tendencies. Of course, random trading posts located throughout our route also results in innovations and technology being spread and Uzushio's alliance with Konoha is also rather beneficial to their tech advancements, but half the time Kinmes are attacked is due to the opposition wanting some sort of tech, or science, or whatever that particular Kinme was working on at the time. Or ransom, if they could get their hands on a child. (They never come back.)

It's also common knowledge that a Kinme seals all of their research notes into a seal on themselves, just so that it's a bit more convenient when something is thought up and there's no paper on hand.

It is also the very same reason that all the Kinmes' bodies are recovered by the Snake clan whenever possible, as spreading advanced science into a man-murder-man world is never a good idea. That said, the notes of tou-chan… were somewhere home, left to gather dust until one of our family members decides to continue his legacy, and Yasu obasan's were hidden somewhere with Hikaru. The notes were always given to the next of kin, human or snake matters not.

As a side note, the White Snake Sage hoards knowledge like a dragon hoarding gold, half of the "blemishes" on his scales are actually storage seals that contains extra copies of research notes.

The stall that Hisao-san eventually dragged me to forty-five minutes later was much more than a stand, in fact, it was more of a medium-sized shop with a storage and two bedrooms upstairs. The insides were cream coloured like the rest of the village, and was built a bit like an igloo, also like the rest of the village. An igloo in the desert, ha, I think I can appreciate the irony. Three long tables stretched across the room, and shelves of different sizes decorated the walls, evidently the craft of some other Kinme. Perhaps this is our clan's permanent outpost in Suna? It would make sense considering that whenever we were close enough, at least one of the merchants would come to the village and sell products and concepts. This week was Hisao-san's turn, and next week would be one of the other merchants.

I watched as the freckled merchant pulled out scroll, after scroll, after goddamn scroll, and I wondered, is that cloak made of Hagrid's moleskin pouch?

If that wasn't enough, he then dislocated his jaw with nary a click, before pulsing chakra to the seal in his throat, his hand already positioned inside his jaw so that it would catch the 10 x 10 x 10 black cube without being contaminated by saliva. The stretchiness of our clan's skin is really scary when chakra is actively channeled through it.

The black box is also somewhat unique to our clan, if only because the Uzumaki has one that is more ornate with a larger colouring range, and much larger, but their premise is the same.

They are all capable of being sealed into a storage seal, while being the container of other storage seals.

A soft touch and the briefest hint of Hisao's smoldering chakra lead to the little box splitting open along its seams and exposing coils of bound paper in a fashion similar to binders.

Yup, storage seals in binder form then stored in another specialized 2D tattoo. Snake nomads and redheads are awesome nerds.

Three hours and four errands later, I crumpled into a seat in the Kinme shop with a whine. Despite having earlier providing me with the option of running off to do whatever I can to earn money (and knowledge), the slave driver of a merchant decided that I should help him run some errands. To the Kazekage tower.

I'm a Kinme, meaning neutrality. I'm six, meaning no one would take me actually seriously. I'm weird looking, so everyone either stares, flinches, or is disgusted by my appearance.

Fun.

Not fun.

Not fun at all, especially when I apparently "have the sense of direction equal to that of a tumbleweed". Thanks kaa-chan, not encouraging at all.

Eight roads span the entire village (four if he Kazekage tower in the middle is not considered an obstacle) and they all center in the same place, like that door thingy in France. The marketplace was in the shape of a ring about halfway between the Kazekage tower and the inner edges of the walls. Getting to the tower was easy, just walk until I find a main road and then look both ways. The way without a bloody wall would be the way to the tower.

Submitting a D-rank mission request for gennin teams was also easy, except for a lineup where civilians were mildly repulsed from me like two particles of similar charges, except they inched away from me due to thinking that I was too different.

Of course, there were people that accepted my being without complaint, the shinobi for one, and then there were the other merchants who commonly travel through the same towns that my clan does.

In fact, one of the kinder strangers allowed lent me a book to read in the long-ass line. If it wasn't the same stranger who passed me an ice-cube for me to slip into my sleeves, I think Dōsukēru might've suffocated in the heat. I've never been more grateful for clan merchants trained in the ways of their clan more, and it's imaginable the Yuki clan being rather celebrated in Suna.

Their settling in Kiri still made more sense though, as they still required bodies of water to capitalize on their advantages, not to mention the sun must not be good for their skin. (It's not good for Kinme skin either, but whatever.)

Unfortunately once I arrived in front of a very bored desk chunin, I floundered for words. Thankfully the lady only seemed mildly amused before pointing to the mission scroll that contained both the objectives and the proposed pay that I had forgotten in my sleeve. Whoops.

My poor little blue pal ended having to explain to the chunin that her summoner is an idiot that absolutely despises talking to strangers or asking for stuff, which I think is an exaggeration?

The amused chunin just took the scroll when I passed it over and told me that a team should be able to come help the shop in an hour or so.

I barely made it back before the genin team arrived.

In my defense, Dōsukēru was no help at all (the snake was snorting at every alley I got lost in even though her sense of smell was amazing) and everything looked the same. All of the buildings were reminiscent of dune designs that repeatedly occurs in the desert, and the only indications that I already passed somewhere was either the smell (of deliciou food, smoke, public latrines, and the like), or the rare greenery. It didn't get much better on the market ring, as window shopping wasn't really applicable in a desert village even if most stalls were portable on a moment's notice.

Point is, I got horribly lost. And that was only the first errand.

Thank kami the other errands were really close by, and I also got decent pocket money out of them. Combined with all the other ryo that I obtained but rarely spent, I had about 72000 ryo, the three errands combined being like a somewhat cheap C-rank mission.

So, "what should I do now?"

Hisao-san shot me a bland look from behind the counter where he was driving the price up for one of the fancier tool-kits put together by clan specialists, armed with wrenches, screwdrivers, nails, liberal amounts of silk tampered with chemicals and chakra, and sticks of glue that would be applicable with just the faintest application of fire-natured chakra. Considering the number of puppet-masters in the village, I wasn't surprised by the popularity of the kits. What nearly had me do a spit-take before was seeing a young teenaged Chiyo an hour ago haggling over the same model, her twin brother ogling over our supply of blood-removal serum. Tou-chan… his research did bear fruit, but instead of chakra, he managed to then use a simple combination of compounds to create a serum to remove bloodstain. Kaa-chan only just permitted the product to be sold outside of the clan.

I never really noticed how back in history I was in, even when my unusual existence was screamed at me almost every day in the morning by two young children stumbling into my fuuton "cuz they're cold". (I'm usually colder than even he is though, perhaps a holdover from my last life? I'll be laughing at them for years once they become old enough.)

The merchant held up a hand to stop another bargaining attempt by a veiled ninja before he turned to me.

"Go outside, attract customers, buy stuff, explore, whatever, just come back soon."

...maybe I'll leave the buying stuff for later, when I know I can buy everything at once, and when one of the others can come with me.

But how to attract customers? Unless…

Our clan's scruffy merchant just sighed and rubbed a finger down his clan markings when he heard me drag out the chair I was once slumped on, the screeching earning me a couple more annoyed looks than what my appearance had already warranted.

Just for shits and giggles, I purposely took a longer route (the insufferable look that Hisao-san shot me was priceless, and the amused hissing originating from his hair that scared some customers even moreso), the detour taking me around the table labeled "All Your Ninja Needs for a Hospital Escapade" and a shelf displaying scrolls of various sizes and writing.

The mentioned table had quite a few shinobi around it, some softly debating whether they should get the box full of poison-testing reagents, the self-binding chakra sling or the box full of Uzumaki-styled chakra pills (that tasted like ramen) while others twiddled with a device that should staple in removable stitches.

Are medic-nin really that scary?

A bit of careful maneuvering on my half allowed me to nudge open the door and push out the chair, and another nudge closed it. Once I had the seat tucked snugly against the sandstone wall, I pressed both hands flat against the almost glass-like path outside our door. A couple Suna nin stopped their way over the rooftops to watch, fingers playing with kunai or a tassel on a beloved weapon, but all of whom I disregarded in favour of pumping enough chakra to push a piano out of a seal into the open.

An over-sized smoke-cloud and a lot of hacking out sand later, I stood proudly beside an imposing looking "up-right" piano.

After months of redesigning and sobbing over details, the piano that can now be considered an instrument was barely what it looked like Before. With liberal amounts of seals and chakra bull crap, the piano stood at an adjustable height, and the part where all the strings would've stood in was missing, instead replaced by seals that apparently had a lifetime guarantee (and replicas, if anything did happen). Therefore there was no box thingy that blocked me from seeing over the piano, or people from seeing me. The keys remained unchanged, although there were arguments about how many notes there were in an octave, as in the traditional five versus the piano twelve. I admit, that was an interesting detail that I forgot, and it certainly influenced the first version of how the woodworkers fashioned the instrument.

Just to sum it up, the piano that I landed with now has the sound of a grand piano, packed into that of an electrical/spinet esque size.

The chakra needed to pull a piano out of another dimension was a bit more than what I generally used, so I took a sip of water from a clipped on canteen before clambering onto the chair. Being six also meant I was abysmally short, a fact that does me no good.

Once the ninjas realized that the random clan kid wasn't planning on unleashing a mass weapon of doom (hmph, as if my reserves will ever be large enough), some of them left on their own business while others stuck around in the shadows, watching both me, and the civilians in this sector of the market.

Deeming the audience ready, I felt my fingers tremble a bit. I never liked playing in front of an audience, pressure is an annoying thing that slug-ifies my fingers.

Whatever. Hisao-san wanted customers, what way better than to demonstrate with something completely new? We're Kinme, innovation is in our (cold, nerdy,) blood.

He owes me for this though, kaa-chan hasn't even heard half of the pieces that I can now play (again).

I curled my fingers a couple times, working the stiffness out of their joints (and trying to get excess sand out because sand between keys is gonna be very annoying) and placed my hands across the blocks of black and white.

And–

Ohmagod don't do that Dōsukēru, it tickles, like, way too much.

She poked her head out of my sleeve, and in a very dry manner, slithered across the keyboard up to where the stand was, coiling her meter of bulk around a series of poles specially designed for a snake's perching. (I honestly don't understand how she can fit under my cloak without anyone noticing.)

I also proceeded to ignore the civilians that tried to very inconspicuously shuffle away. For future references, they were not as stealthy as they seemed.

Two more false starts later, and much to the anticipation of the semi-gathered crowd (hush, Dōsukēru, I need my ego boost for this to work), I allowed my fingers to glide through the scales of C major, the easiest (most annoying) one of the scales. It earned me some twitches from the gathered, but I payed them no heed. Despite the climate of Suna, I still need to warm up my fingers, and fingers twitching too much isn't good for the pieces that I plan on playing.

But maybe the chords and arpeggios were equally part of me showing off and pissing people off.

Fingers at six years old definitely aren't as long as those that I used to get to play with…

Well. One more thing to remember the past by, fingers too small to play goddamn octaves.

(One less thing to remember by once my hands reach the same scale as before, which I don't doubt they would.)

Ahem. Since it's January, well.

I've never gotten out of the habit of humming Christmas carols, have I?

My partner was suitably amused when a simple tune of Jingle Bells was played, and downright giggled (I've been traumatized) when my fingers set themselves on course to Let it Snow. I think there were more people gathering at this point, and some people actually approached before stepping back again.

Like those that feared me, I paid the approachers no heed. It's been awhile since I played for an audience not consisting of my family.

Of course, White Christmas was then belted out afterwards at an inappropriate tempo (my teacher always insisted I was a speed demon, threaten me with the dreaded metronome, she did), but thoughts of Christmas hit a bit too close to home so my little winter-snow-(Christmas)-themed repertoire ended with a simplified jazz version of Carol of the Bells.

When I looked up again, it was to a crowd that acknowledged me beyond whatever label is slapped onto my clan.

That, and a pile of ryo notes that Dōsukēru was curled around on the top of my piano.

Oh.

So, attracting customers sort of worked? Hopefully Hisao-san wouldn't be annoyed if more potential customers stayed outside of the shop rather than in...

Anyhow, I'm hungry. The ryo will be going towards the generous campaign of funding empty stomachs.

Our stay in Suna was relatively peaceful if you ignore the genin team that had accidentally (I hope) chucked a kunai that I couldn't dodge and ended up with a six-inch laceration up my right arm. The one silver lining was that the cut didn't extend to any of the seals I had on my arm, otherwise who knows what would've happened? Turns out Hisao-san really was a medic in disguise and stitched me up with medical-chakra infused chakra strings? I… will never understand this world. Thankfully it wasn't deep, but even then, it surprised me when I woke up the next day with just the faintest scar.

Everyday in no particular order I would help out at the shop, train, explore after dragging out one of the teens, bury myself in a bookstore/library, play some piano to attract people (and their wallets) for the shop, train, and then proceed to pig out on some of my earnings. Turns out I developed a taste for raw cactus fruits, not surprising considering my palate probably exists of everything. However, the trussed up large, live insects that eventually attracted Dōsukēru was in no shape or form something that I would imagine eating.

Especially the tarantulas, I ended up passing her some ryo so that she could slither up to the stand by herself and buy the spider-things, even though I'm quite sure that she knows about my arachnophobia (long story about me being traumatized Before as a kid).

Weren't snakes only supposed to eat every couple days? At the most? Scar alway snickered at me when that happened, as I had dragged him out from whatever hole he was working in to find better food. He was the one that suggested spiders, and therefore the one that I will later annoy.

It was not enjoyable, picking the remaining spider bits off of my partner's fangs. (Why do tarantulas have so much hair?)

There was so much stuff in a legitimate Hidden Village though, and the sheer volume of, of, everything bogs my brain. Life in Before was a somewhat small sea-side city in one of the physically largest countries, but there was still more people than probably most Hidden Villages combined as even a high school easily had over a thousand people, but the crowdedness of Suna was… interesting, to say the least. The population density might even be higher here, even if they didn't have high-rises and apartment buildings.

The people were not as diverse as I had hoped, which makes sense because ninja, but it didn't bode well for possible future international politics. The gossip is pretty decent though, and what a surprise it was to learn that Hashirama had died of an Embarrassing Accident, one so damn embarrassing that some rumours relayed that his brother only became Hokage in order to wipe the records out of every possible archive.

Well, that and nobody wanted to fill out all the paperwork the first deceased kage leaves behind along with a newborn village, not like Tobirama probably wasn't doing it anyways.

But… Hashirama, the God of Shinobi, half of the wedded couple that managed to take down Madara plus pissed off Kyuubi? The hell can kill a Kage that almost has regenerative abilities on par with Tsunade and wield chakra like another limb a dude with rinnegan eyes?

Apparently that's what the gossip mill was for, even if he was the kage of a non-allied Village, some things gets leaked out, no matter how people try to shush up when I'm around. They probably would've left altogether if they knew that Dōsukēru's hearing surpasses most humans' and could hear them from inside of my cloak.

It also might not bode well for the future of Orochi and myself, the future where the only Kinme left being Orochimaru had never really left my mind, especially after witnessing the reactions some of our inventions and our appearances garner. And with Suna's economic slump… Well. Even the Nidaime Kazekage seems a bit against the Kinme, if even I can feel the tension between Hisao-san and the Kazekage during his brief visit to the shop three days into our stay, and wasn't that chilling, knowing that the only large village we actually stay around for over two months is hostile.

Not to mention the Nidaime Hokage apparently has spurred on Konoha into a period of technological advancement within weeks of taking up the reins, looks like they might be more willing to trade the next time we get to Fire Country.

For some obscure reason, I have a really bad feeling of what might happen after we go back.

And return home we did, with gifts for everyone, even if it's been quite a while since Christmas. No one can ever object to a bit of holiday cheer can they? Dōsukēru's input on what gifts to buy were also somewhat entertaining, nothing like the Christmas shopping I did before, but more along the lines of criticizing everything she lays her eyes upon in a whispered hiss next to my ear or randomly pointing her tail out of my sleeve to scare the crap out of a merchant when examining potential gifts.

I also bought sufficient cooking materials to hopefully recreate some cookies, courtesy of a sibling in a time over six years past. Hopefully the clan kitchen won't burn down on the first try, or second, or… actually, I'll just cook with supervision (not like it ever helped me Before).

Gifts and possible kitchen bonfires aside, the trek home felt much faster than the way to Suna, as my constitution allowed for more dune-running after a week of practice. (It's a Kinme trait, they said, our people being able to adapt quicker than most unless cold, even our accents adapt... Apparently numerical data showed a direct correlation, somehow. Who's to question the human sciences? Certainly not a teen stuck in a six-year-old's body.)

I was still carried for most of the trip, and also at a more hurried pace.

The sun slowly falling below the horizon nonetheless caused my movements to slow also as the cold and lethargy started to set in my veins and bones like a reptile seeking hibernation. We'll be fine though, since the Uzumaki had aided us with the invention of what amounted to AC seals, ventilation, and just warm air in general.

But the closer we got to home, the more the air felt wrong, sharper in a sense, and cutting like bleed-off of wind-chakra used inefficiently. Being basically cold-blooded ourselves, us Kinme are rather sensitive to temperature and its changes, but we can only barely feel the changes in air pressure. However, our snakes can.

Their agitation showed as every snake on the five of us poked their heads out of the cloaks in a rather synchronized manner, and all pointed towards home.

Home, an underground compound where everything needed to live comfortably is but a few hallways away.

Home, meals in the mess hall (or hell, if another kid accidentally starts a food fight) as a free-for all buffet or quick snacks.

Home, where all the Kinmes are first brought into the Elemental nations, away from the gentle coils of the Snake Clan and where diversity is marveled at as a miracle of evolution.

Home, where the desert had been ripped apart and Suna nin and missing-nin and puppets are gutting my clan, my people, as the sun sank towards blood-soaked sand.

AN: These chapters won't bloody stop growing. Ahhh. Anyways, sorry about the lateness, but currently tests, essays, and the school board being a stubborn shit is ruining my life. (Windchill =-32degrees c, worried for our safety, go to school where there's ice, ha, where's the punchline?)

At least its a longer chapter? On that note, its been over half a year since this story was first published (on accident, no less), and now there's over 50 reviews, 200 followers, and 140 favs! Whoooo! I love you all~

Stay tuned too, because there should be an omake (or two) coming (soon). I have one basically written, but need an idea for the second, any thoughts? (Please point out any mistakes too, MadameGuillotineTheSeraph couldn't finish betaing the whole thing cuz I sort of threw it at her two days ago.. Whoops...)

And the cliffhanger... I've been wanting to do that since forever, I'm not sorry at all. Sorry.

There may be an update over Christmas break, but who knows? Life is interesting.

Reviews are love~!

~Cadriona Morningwing

Uploaded: December 16, 2016