Fiat justitia, ruatcaelum

Lord of an Ash Pile

Sakura gazed blankly at the fish in the coffee table tank. She had actually stopped watching them long ago and was just staring in their general direction.
“Three solid days of rain and study… And I haven’t got the foggiest about what to do now…”
“It can’t be as bad as all that.” Sakura started, finding Haku close at hand as she set down a tray of cocktail sandwiches and bits of sliced fruit. Sakura picked up a piece of orange melon and bit it in half, chewing slowly as the sweet juice filled her mouth.
“Haku, don’t you ever get tired of going to such length when everyone around here really only eats once a day?”
The other shrugged, “I love to cook, even if I don’t eat so much as some of the others.” She dragged a pillow from the low couch and knelt on it, “But snacks are my favorite. And with everyone training on their own schedules, I get to make lots of little things. It’s how I train.”
Sakura shrugged, “Alright, alright. It’s just…” She swallowed the bite of melon, “Your culinary skills are second only to your jutsu. And that’s pretty good too.”
“You seem to rate my skill fairly highly.” Haku shifted, leaning on her hip. Looking away.
“Huh?” Sakura blink at her tone, “No, really. I mean it. Come on, you kicked my butt that day.”
Haku sighed, “That was a good day for me. I had all the advantages… I‘m well versed, but I don‘t have the experience you do. Not by a tenth.”
Sakura frowned lightly, “With Sasuke and Itachi here? And what about your father? Don’t they spar with you even once in a while?”
“Ino is more my level, but… we don’t get the chance very often.” Haku blushed, “And when there is opportunity, we don’t usually use the time that way.”
*Going downhill, much?* “Come on, Haku. That day…”
“That day was a fluke, Sakura!” Haku glowered, looking down and away, “There is less to it than has been said thus far. Just leave it lay.”
Sakura looked away as well. *Yep. Blew that one pretty good.*
“Back to earlier…” Sakura turned the scroll around, “I found the counterseal formula I need. Right here.” She pointed to the diagram, “This shows the shapes the seals are supposed to resemble, with some flex for variation of course, the pattern to place them in and the specific hand-forms you need with a channeling guide so you can summon up the right seals…”
Sakura knew the passage at a glance now, watching Haku’s eyes as she pointed out each of the points she spoke of. “All we need now is this. But it‘s got me stumped.”
“Something soft and yielding, yet abrasive and firm. Best when used damp and in its natural form…?” Haku looked back up, “I suppose you could use a cotton cloth… Or some scouring herbs…”
Sakura nodded, “I thought of those, but this seal is on the flesh. I was trying to think of something that we could use that wouldn’t leave a scar as wicked as the curse seal.” She sighed, “Though I suppose if she thought it would work, Hinata would simply grind her head half off to be free.”
Haku looked inward, pausing. “Hyuuga Hinata?” She watched Sakura nod as she pulled the scroll back around, rereading the next section of text. “Are you sure you trust her, Sakura?”
“Hm?” Sakura looked back up into the stern cast of features. Her mouth a slim line and eyes dark. She felt her brows furrow, “Why wouldn’t I trust her?”
Haku stared at Sakura as though she’d just eaten dung, “She’s a Hyuuga. You can‘t escape their gaze, or their schemes.”
“You shouldn’t judge her by her family.” Sakura realized her tone had dropped, too late to take back her words, she let them all out, “You trust Ino, don’t you?”
“How is my trust in Ino relevant?”
Sakura smiled without mirth, “She marries Sasuke, she’s an Uchiha. When was the last time you got the drop on Itachi?”
“I happen to trust and respect the Uchiha. As should you.” Heat seeped into Haku’s words and eyes.
“I do.” Sakura let her tone drop even lower, “And I trust Hinata. Hyuuga or not.”
Haku stood, briskly brushing her skirts down, “Then beware, Hanuro. The Hyuuga tend to see to their own ends first.”
Sakura watched as Haku strode from the room, nearly shouldering Zabuza aside as he passed the doorway. The old mist nin looked into the room at Sakura with his back to the stone wall, “Did I miss something?” He entered the room on eggshells, sitting down in his chair slowly, “And do I even want to know?”
Sakura sighed forcibly as she roughly wound up the scroll. “All I need is simple; some mysterious thing that can rub without taking off your skin, a way to smuggle a genin out of Konoha ever so casually, and what in the seven hells the story behind Hyuuga Hinata is that has Haku tied up in… ARRHHH FORGET IT!!” She stormed out, scroll gripped in a white knuckled hand and turned toward the spare rooms, away from the kitchen and Haku.
Zabuza looked at the empty doorway for a moment. “Umm. Perhaps later then, yes? Alright.”
“Don’t worry.” Zabuza looked to the back of the couch where Itachi had not been a moment ago. He stretched as if he had been napping, “You didn’t miss too much. Ooh, sandwiches.”
Itachi slid from the back of the couch to the floor, resting on the couch pad Haku had failed to replace and plucked a sandwich from the tray.
Itachi gave the morsel a strong once over, “They’re down to the same old Hyuuga problems.”
“Oh.” Zabuza sank in his chair.
Itachi stuck his tongue under the sandwich and sucked it into his mouth, chewing a few times before he swallowed, “Sakura seems to have finally figured out answer to the Curse Seal problem.”
“Oh?”
Itachi put a second sandwich in his mouth, simply swallowing it whole, “But text outlining the single major material ingredient she needs is given in some sort of cipher. Use the wrong item, or the obvious solution, and the resulting scar would be as effective a mark as the seal itself was, and may not even successfully remove the seal at all.”
“Oh…”
The Uchiha picked up a third sandwich and almost literally threw it down his throat. “A comment?”
“A question mark, Itachi?” Zabuza let his question fall unanswered as Itachi swallowed a cube of fruit. Instead he sighed, “I found the Ki no Shin. She’s still there. Though older than I seem to remember.”
“Funny how twenty years can do that.” Itachi gulped down another slice of fruit. “Lord Moerku is on his way, so I’m to believe. I saw him headed out before I came in for the day.” Swallow. “He moves like an old man too proud to admit his age.”
“Like you’re one to speak of pride. And would you please chew? I can’t fathom how you eat like that.” Zabuza lay his hand over the armchair, his hand closing absentmindedly on thin air. He glanced over to the confused hand before pulling it in and crossing his arms.
“Don’t be so judgmental against a clan as a whole. Besides, all the really prideful ones are dust and ashes, remember?” Itachi chomped twice before he swallowed, ‘They just had that conversation in here.”
Zabuza shrugged. “At least he still has his pride. Very few would have had the heart and spirit to continue living after what was done to him. Damn few would have lived through what he did to himself!”
“Fair enough.” Itachi looked down at the tray. Examining the fruit. “I love still life…” Then he helped himself to another sandwich. “We can’t afford to wait much longer on the chunin exams. Building a team was always the first step.”
Zabuza sighed. “We could have last year…”
“Just because we can do something doesn’t always mean we should.” Itachi countered quickly, “I don’t know about Haku, but Ino hasn’t progressed that far in the last year. And she wasn’t ready then.”
“Haku neither.” Zabuza’s hand reached out to the right again. He pulled the rogue limb back again.
“Shall… Never mind.” Itachi looked back down at the plate.
“Indeed.” The mist nin leaned against his arm, resting it on the edge of his chair. “Do you propose waiting on the Hyuuga girl?”
Itachi nodded as he actually chewed, “If it works, she will owe Sakura quite the debt. And if out of honor or vengeance, I think she’ll jump at the opportunity.”
“Is there time enough for next year’s exam?”
The hand holding Itachi’s latest victim stopped over his open maw. He closed his mouth, hesitating. “We may not make it that far, dear friend.” And he consumed the sandwich.
“Why can we only speak easily when you’re eating?”
Itachi shrugged, and selected another morsel. “I doonn’t know…”

Water quite literally poured from the sky above as Sakura practiced her kata, flowing through the forms with grace and speed. The chakra running through her limbs fended off the chill of the rain and fatigue, keeping her body as heated and active as her mind;
*Who is that cross dressing freak to tell me who I can and cannot trust!?*
The rain burst as Sakura’s arm hit the end of her strike, though she was blind to it in the downpour. She turned quickly, changing her stance as the kick expended it’s energy into the air. And again, she didn’t see the wave of exploding water droplets.
*Hinata gave me her trust. And her headband. And I gave her my word.* Sakura swept the ground, an imaginary foe tripped as the crescent spray of mud arced out. *She only put herself at risk to shelter me! Saved my life!*
Sakura sprung over backward onto her hands as she finished the sweep, bounced, twisting to put her feet under her and dashed for a tall tree. Chakra flowed into her feet as she leapt at the base, and she adhered as she powered up the trunk.
*Haku certainly has her reasons, whatever they are. And until I hear them…*
Her upper body twisted, her leg flex and launched her into open space. She let the foot spin around in a wide sweep and rise up as she began to fall.
She sighted her target through bleary eyes, the straw dummy patiently waiting for her at the bottom. Gravity sped her, anger fueled her, the heat of fury burned within her. And that fire burned hottest in her raised left foot.
Her right touched ground and Sakura ripped her leg down, every once of energy from her fall channeled into the strike.
Mud and water exploded as she hit bottom and she held the pose for a moment, wiping the rainwater from her face to clearly assess the damage.
Sakura frowned, standing up. She had over rotated and missed completely. By nearly six inches. And she had managed to hit the center of the puddle beside the training dummy.
*Great. No wonder I’m covered in mud.*
The brief burst of activity had worn her down, and the rain was chilling. Her belly rumbled in reminder of the lunch she had passed over during the argument.
“That was quite impressive!” Her eyes followed her ears, a young man with his hands in his pockets and the hood of his dark green robes up against the rain called out. He pulled his hands from his pockets, looping them in a wide sweeping gesture, “The fires of youth burn brightly within you!”
He pushed back his hood, revealing a wide smile and a haircut that could have been from a salad bowl. Though as she looked, all she could see of his brows was a checkmark shape. It was actually an improvement, giving his gaze a serious, piercing quality. “Your taijutsu is well developed…” Two fists pumped forward and hands waved in an hourglass figure, “…for someone of your build! And your chakra control is remarkable!” He ended with a swirl around his midriff, trailing up his torso and down his arm.
“Thanks, Lee.” *But what the hell are you wearing and what happened to your eyebrows?*
His face brightened and he smiled with great enthusiasm, “Ah! I see my reputation precedes me! That a woman such as yourself would know of me speaks highly of your dedication!”
“Uh… Right…”
“Oh! How rude of me!” Lee pulled up his hood, “Here I stand talking the day to dusk…” His hands seemed to take in the setting sun, though it was afternoon, “…and you stand in the rain!” Now the clouds and the symbolic vertical slash of rainfall. “Let us retire to a drier climate!” His low hands sweeping toward the back entrance of the house.
*He seems calmer…* Sakura followed him, pushing over the scarecrow as she went. She heard it splash, but didn’t look back to see it drifting gently, bumping from one side of the egg shaped puddle to the other.
She instead watched Lee. The slow plod of his steps, the way his fists were closed, but not clenched. The prideful lift of his chin and shoulders and his subtle refusal to lean forward against the hill as it sloped upward to the door.
The door opened as Ino stuck her head out, “Sakura was that… Oh!” She threw the door open, standing to one side, “Lord Moerku! You are expected. Please, come in out of the rain.”
*Moerku…? Ashes?*
“Can I get you something to drink?” Ino followed Lee through the door as he removed his soggy hooded overcoat.
“No, thank you.” Lee snapped his coat, water falling to the floor. He handed the coat to Ino and shrugged, letting the shoulders of his tunic resettle, “Lord Uchiha and Master Momoshi have probably been waiting for me for too long, already.”
Ino rested the coat on a hook, the hesitant drip of water still present, “This way, sir.”
The door to Sasuke’s room slipped open and Sasuke stepped out.
“Young Lord Uchiha!” Lee rushed to Sasuke, hugging him, then holding him out at arm’s length, “It’s been too long!” Lee looked the Uchiha over, turning him sideways by his arm, “You’ve grown stouter! But your physical training could use a bit more heat!” Lee squished Sasuke’s arm, circling his bicep with long fingers.
Sasuke gently extricated himself, “It has been too long, and I could work a little harder, but more pressing matters need your attention first, I think.”
Lee sighed dramatically. “So be it! We will part ways here…” Lee spun himself and Sasuke around, changing their positions, “…and we will address your training another time! But your brother will get to you first, I think, YES!!” Lee gave Sasuke a punch in the shoulder, gentle, but enough to stumble him a step, and a grin.
Sasuke returned the blow, “I can accept that.”
“Ha ha!” Lee flashed a thumbs up with both hands and resumed his journey, following Ino down the hall.
*Lee and Gaara could be a very over the top pair…* Sakura had her hands on her hips. “Still driven by the unquenchable fires of life, youth, valor… and anything else that’ll burn.”
Sasuke rubbed his shoulder, “You think this is something, you should have met him before he challenged Orochimaru. He‘s almost tame now.”
Sakura knew her grin had fallen. “He challenged Orochimaru?”
Sasuke’s brows furrowed, then shrugged, “I keep forgetting you weren’t around for that. It was huge; Lee kicked in the doors to Hokage tower and marched to Orochimaru’s desk. Long story short, they managed to level a few nearby buildings and the craters made a nice base for the fountains in front of the tower.”
“Craters?”
Sasuke shrugged, “If you haven’t seen them, you ought to. Anyway, Lee…” Sasuke leaned against the wall, “He pulled out all the stops from the beginning. He knew even then that he wouldn’t last a long battle. Hell, I think he would rather have died than live under the scaly bastard’s rule.”
“But he’s still alive… And obviously he didn’t come out as victorious as he could have.” Sakura took up a pose on the far wall.
Sasuke took a deep breath, crossing his arms, “That’s a story I think you’ll have to ask Lee about…”
“That bad, huh?”
Sasuke looked down the hall to the door, “So you were outside training when Lee got here?”
*Subject change? Oook. Fine.* “Yeah. Just working off some steam. Did you need something?” Sakura noted the peculiar absence of the butterflies she had almost always felt when Sasuke had come to her.
“Well, now I can understand the jinchuuriki rumor.”
“Hey, it was only for an afternoon and if I had been able to get away without trying to chase the down, I would have in an instant.”
“Huh?” Sasuke countered with a blank gaze.
Sakura felt herself blush. ‘They stole my underroos.”
“Umm… That all aside…” Sasuke shook his head, “We still have to find disguises for our trip to Konoha.”

Zabuza rose as Lee entered, “Lord Moerku. The trip was pleasant?”
Lee smiled widely, “The rains could not slow me!” He clenched a fist before him, “The fires of youth cannot be denied, for not so old am I that I must count decades just yet!” He thumped his chest, “These ashes yet hold embers that smother awaiting the winds of the Uchiha…” He mimed a great fan blowing over himself, “…to breath new life into them!!” He swooped his hands high, “And with the fires ready, the flames will dance high! And the Black anbu will be consumed as coal!” his high hands fell, cupping the air, “And the false Hokage will find the land of fire has risen against him…” one fist rocketed into the air, “And he will burn!!” Lee’s other hand made a fist over his heart.
He sat heavily on the couch, wiping a thin bead of perspiration from his brow.
“The summary of the topics we wished to discuss aside,” Itachi still lay on the floor, chewing a chunk of fruit slowly, “Is it safe for you to get so worked up?”
Lee held out one hand, palm down. It trembled like the guttering flame of a candle. He clenched the hand into a fist, though it only worsened.
His smile was weak as he retrieved his disobedient hand, “The state of my spirit is as strong as ever, even if the flesh isn’t what it could have been.”
Itachi threw a piece of fruit up into the air, “And of our offer?” Itachi rolled to his back, catching the morsel between his teeth.
Lee grew serious, his gaze razor edged, “Nothing could change my mind.” his hand cut the air audibly.
“Then we shall deal with Hyuuga Neji, as he wished…” Zabuza’s hand dangled over the edge of his chair, thumb rubbing over his fingertips.
“Which of the maidens is your messenger?” Lee stroked his chin, “Certainly not the blonde…”
Itachi sighed, his hand hovering over the fruit, “Indeed not. She does not yet wear the clan symbol and already has their pride… We could send Sakura. She has the speed and the skill to lay low…” He drew back the stray hand, “Though she does tend to get herself into trouble…”
Zabuza sighed, “I’m afraid Haku is also garnering excess attention.” His tone was flat, his hand clenching over the air beside his hand.
“Perhaps…” Itachi lay on his back, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, “Perhaps we should draw just a little attention…” His mangenque slowly rotating as his mind worked. His stare at the ceiling was silent for a moment. Then he blinked. “I have a plan.”
“Is it dangerous? Hell, is it sane?” Zabuza looked down at his absent minded hand.
“Yes, and no.” Itachi smiled, “Hehehehe and that, friends is the true beauty of the thing…”

The jonin looked down upon the travelers. An odd group, if ever he had claimed to see one; A woman, dolled up in a fine kimono with a thick veil over her face walked between a tall hunter nin in brightly polished, though thoroughly worn anbu armor in the mist style with a heavy katana at his back and a second nin in a more formal jacket and pants of a dark gray. The one in robes carried a thick bag, probably filled with scrolls and the long sleeves did little to hide the kunai up his sleeves.
The hunter’s katana was easily five feet long, the blade eight or ten inches thick.
“I though all the Swords of the Mist were dead?”
The jonin shrugged, “Who says he has to be one to carry the blade? Still…” He leaned on the wall, “who approaches Konoha!?”
The boy in the robes answered, his voice decidedly high, “The Lady Hanuro!” He patted the scroll bag, “She has come to inspect her holdings in Konoha!”
“Where do you hail from?” The jonin called back.
“Our origin is unimportant, considering our destination!” The boy snapped back.
“watch it, girl…” Zabuza growled from behind his mask.
“I address the Lady, boy. Not you!”
“Would you expect Lord Orochimaru to raise his voice?” Sakura challenged, “I think not. The Lady Hanuro does not raise her voice.” She smiled as Inner Sakura lent her the next line, “But we would be more than willing to speak with your Captain. Certainly he would love to know how coarse his guards are in matters of diplomacy.”
“arm yourself!” Itachi’s veil fluttered. Chakra erupted from the ground, Sakura grabbed for her kunai, drawing them with a speed aided by spring loaded sheaths.
The chakra broke, a spiral of smoke raising from the ground quickly.
Before Sakura could react any farther, a pair of senbon ripped past, the leading edge of Zabuza’s blade following in their wake.
The old mist nin watched as the katana the teleporting nin held at ready turned verticle to block the high and low senbon. With one hand, he made a weak dive for the forward ankle with the tip of his blade.
As they moved to parry, Zabuza slipped his blade along theirs, pushing the sword in and back.
His other hand closed on the undefended hilt.
The glove he closed within his own crunched as though it were full of straw and he let the blade fall from the grip, snatching it as it cleared.
The smoke cleared quickly to reveal a woman anbu holding her hand, the sergeants’ mark on her shoulder armor, pale eyes glaring at him.
Sakura still stood before Itachi, blades drawn.
“Who are you?”
“I am the Lady Hanuro.” Itachi’s falsetto was incredible, “And he is simply my guardian. Is there some trouble with my identity or statement of business, Sergeant?”
“Not yet…” The woman bowed, “My apologies, Lady Hanuro.” She turned to the jonin atop the wall, “Open the gate!”
She faced the trio again, “Be cautious. The jinchuuriki are about in Konoha. They could be nearly anywhere and seeking nearly anything.”
“Thank you, Lady Sergeant.” Itachi nodded to her and drifted past with an unearthly grace most dancers did not possess.
Sakura stowed her kunai, trailing Itachi.
Zabuza still stood before the woman. After a moment, He sheathed his blade and handed her her own.
She grabbed her sword roughly and slammed it into the sheath, “Your mercy will have killed you when next we meet.”
Zabuza was tempted to laugh, threaten, pat her on the head, walk away shaking his head.
Itachi cleared his throat loudly, not pausing to wait as he strode away into the city.
Sakura didn’t turn as Zabuza came back to the group. Though she did remember to let her hips sway as she walked. *I hope you saw that, Neji. And I hope it scares you.*
Though they could have taken a rickshaw and been there in twenty minutes, or gone straight there in half an hour or so, it took Itachi two hours to ‘find’ the Complex. He stopped often for directions and enjoyed a moment of mild banter.
And when they at last stood before the gates, Sakura noticed his hesitation.
“After so long…” The Uchiha’s words were just a whisper, “…so much…” He pressed one hand against the symbol that graced the gate. His touch was light, and the gates opened silently, as if trying to welcome back the wayward heir.
His first step was quick. Then he began to look around. His pace slowed. “So much different in the light…” His head turned to each side, scanning the charred ruins.
“This is a place of ghosts, Itachi. Do not stray too deeply into the graves of the past.” Zabuza stepped through the unkempt grasses to sit on the edge of the shattered fountain. He scooped up a handful of pebbles, stirring them in one hand.
Sakura slipped out of her jacket, laying down by Zabuza before following after Itachi.
Her quarry hadn’t gone far, lost in memory as he wandered through what could have been a major thoroughfare when it had been in use. He moved down the center of the forgotten street, his hands sweeping back and fort from one burned out husk to the next… “…Inari’s house…Mizuki’s house…the girls’ dorm…the little theatre…the library…” Sakura followed him as Itachi moved ever closer to the heart of the complex. To the manor itself.
And they came upon the courtyard, having made a great loop. Zabuza still sat serenely pouring pebbles from one hand to the other.
Yet Itachi hesitated at the edge of the building’s shadow. He took one step within, leaning on the gate.
“The last time I stood in the shadow of my father’s home…” Itachi pulled the veil away and slid to the ground, “…I was coming to tell my father I was moving out of the bachelors’ hall…”
Sakura’s eyes were drawn to the manor. Through the inner gate, she could see the overgrown garden, the chaos of the flowers and the few trees that had stretched up over the wall.
“Rena was… a gift…truly sent from above…” Itachi choked on his own words, “I had nearly forgotten…” His voice broke and his next breath came as a shuddering sigh, his head falling into his arms, crossed over his knees.
“To make a dreadfully longwinded tear-jerker much shorter, “Neji stepped from the shadows of the manor entrance, “Serena was a distant branch on the Hyuuga tree.” He came into the courtyard, holding his distance as Zabuza let the pebbles fall from his hands. “The Lords were interested in the question of the compatibility of the bloodlines. Their forbidden love was allowed, if only because it was easier than trying to force a mating between clans.”
Itachi’s hands had come up over his head, his body trembling in silence.
“And then Lord Hitake found out.” Neji chuckled, twisting the knife he had found, “He always had something against the Uchiha. So I suppose you can guess the rest. And that the Hyuuga just let it go… Well. It just tells you how worthless the woman really was.”
“One more word, Hyuuga.” Sakura stepped up to Neji, a kunai solid in her fist, a thin vapor of chakra glowing around her hand, “Just. One.”
He looked down at her hand, the focus of his gaze locked on the fist.
Neji crossed his arms, “Very well. I’ve left a package at Iruka’s. And I have contracted the package to move out of Konoha. She has her guise prepared. But I would hurry, if I were you.”
“Package?” Itachi’s voice croaked. “Is that how you refer to the family you send to their death? Nothing more than a package?”
“Fine...” Neji sighed, looking skyward, “My cousin has a parcel and I have had a third party contract her to deposit the parcel outside of Konoha. Is that morally pleasing enough for you?”
Sakura stowed her kunai, shaking out her throbbing hand, “What’s in the parcel?”
Neji put his hands out, shaking his head, “Senbon, packing twine, rocks, lingerie for all I give a damn. The box is nothing more than her hall pass at this point.”
Neji turned away from them, stepping back into the shadows, “Just don’t get her killed. She’s related by blood, you know.”
Sakura slid to a halt in front of Iruka’s. Her Kaji henge, the spirit of Naruto, had been able to find the place instinctually. Even with the task at hand, the scent of hot broth and fresh noodles was enough to distract her. To draw her with a magnetic desire as teeth ached with longing. His mouth salivated and he stumbled toward the sweet music of boiling water.
*Noodles! Ramen!!* Inner Sakura sighed, letting the desire run it’s course, unable to do much else. *Miso…chicken…beef…pork…hot and* “Hinata!!”
The Hyuuga started in her seat at the counter, the chopsticks in her hand clenched to stab. Around her neck was a cedar box, wrapped in twine, a double hoop thrown around her neck.
“Who do you think you are?”
Sakura saw two of the boys who seemed to be here as often as Naruto would have liked to have been get up.
“I’m Kaji!” He held out one hand, “I love noodles, mountain hiking, noodles, pranks, working for billboard brow, and noodles! From that list, pick three and we can do them now!” Sakura smiled her Cheshire grin.
Hinata stared down at Sakura in her henge. “You know something about riddles…?”
“I bet they piss you off. Right?” Kaji pointed to the hiate-ate around his waist. The kanji for blade etched cleanly onto the surface.
Hinata looked down. Then at Kaji, seeing the flash as his blue eyes went jade green and back. Then to the ash nin that had stood.
“It’s clean, Miroko. He’s the one I was waiting for.” Hinata grabbed Sakura by the shirt front, “We must leave with all possible haste.” She whispered at Sakura, “I have taken a deadly gamble and put more than my own life at stake.”
“Right.” Sakura let Kaji lay at rest. She turned to the boy, “Hey! If you want to talk to the cherry blossom, make a deal with the raccoon-dog and the fox under the fox! Take noodles. They likes noodles.”
And without anymore, Sakura grabbed Hinata by the hand and dashed away with the Hyuuga in tow.
In the street, they moved quickly along the rooftops, dropping down into an alley where Sakura dropped her henge.
“Sakura!” Hinata’s tone wasn’t all friendly.
“Yeah, I know!” Sakura shushed her. “Or rather, I will know. This isn’t the time or place.”
“The anbu will be after me as soon as the sun sets!” Hinata put one hand over the box she had slipped under her shirt, “I need one of your henges.”
“You can’t do transformations?”
“Don’t be stupid!” Hinata tapped her forehead, “Any main branch Hyuuga would see through it in an instant if it were mine. Why else would I need your help?”
“Right. Umm…” *Who… ? Who, who, who…?*
The light came on. “This is going to feel really weird. Hold still.”
Hinata closed her eyes tight and drew a deep breath.
Sakura formed the signs slowly and focused. The puff of smoke came and cleared. Ryo stood before her, is all his masculine glory.
“I’m taller…” Hands clapped over Ryo’s mouth. “My voice!”
Sakura nodded at her own work, “And the leather pants take a little getting used to. Just act casual and wink a lot.
Sakura lead the way to the mouth of the alley and turned down the street.
They hadn‘t gone ten paces; “Pervert!” The pop of a woman’s hand on flesh.
Sakura turned. Ryo held his cheek, looking after the woman. The looking to Sakura, equal portions confused and angry.
“I won’t lie,” Sakura said with a chuckle, “That’ll happen four for five. Just don’t follow through on the fifth and we’ll get through this quickly enough.”
The confused merged with the angry. “This really tries my patience…” Hinata trailed off, eyes drawn to a passing flower peddler.
The woman huffed, tugging the collar of her tunic higher and walking away.
“I didn’t even do anything!”
Sakura held down the chuckle, “You don’t have to. Just being tall and dressed in leather does it all for you.”
Hinata burned through the dark eyes and opened her mouth to say something, only to have a surprised yelp escape. Ryo turned, looking down a blouse that was very open.
“I can see your navel…” Then the mouth slammed shut like a steel trap.
The woman giggled, leaning against Hinata, “You can see more, if you want…” She licked her lip. Then she licked Ryo’s chest. “Mmmm…”
“AHEM!” Sakura pushed the woman away, threading herself around Ryo’s arm, “Back off, honey. This one’s mine.”
The woman tried to look angry until the flash from the headband caught her eye. Then she slapped Ryo.
“TEASE!” And marched away, pulling her tunic closed again.
“Well. That was close, eh?” Sakura didn’t let go, but turned Hinata down the street and guided him.
“Too close. Did these pants shrink or is it just me?”
“As a med-nin, I think it’s safe to say it’s just you.” Sakura chanced a glance down. “And as a woman, I’d say it’s all you.”
Hinata looked down as well. “Get me out of Konoha, out of this body, and out of these pants.”
“Pervert!”
Sakura chuckled, “Don’t talk about your pants so loudly. You’ll get us arrested.”

Moerku Sango stood by the door to the training room. Listening silently. Barely breathing.
She had seen Lee in his old green tights with the leg warmers and wraps and his old vest. She doubted they held the weights they were supposed to conceal, but he was wearing them. And that was enough sometimes.
The door slid open a crack. The whole inner courtyard was a training area. Equipment and machines lined the walls, a huge stone ring filled with soft sand for sparring in the center.
And on the edge of the ring, Lee stood, stretching.
She checked her own vest and threw the door open, rushing to his side. “Care for some company today, nii-sama?” He looked down, smiling at the pet name.
“Your fires burn brightly, little sister. And your flames dance high. Why waste your time training with one you so easily surpass?”
Sango pouted, “Aww… You forget how brilliant your own fires once were. And those embers of yours are far hotter than you give yourself credit, nii-sama.”
Lee slowly flowed through poses, “You know all that I know. Perhaps more in some places.” He rotated slowly into a shaky handstand and flipped back to his feet, “Why is it you chase me down every time you catch me training and goad me into competition?”
Sango replied with a wide grin, “You are my big brother! If you want an answer, you’ll have to beat it out of me!”
Something breezed in Lee. His hands twitched, his toes wiggled, and his lips curled at the very edges. “Really now?”
Sango flipped back intil she stood in the center of the sparring area, stretching into a high leaf-on-the-branch pose, “Certain, Nii-sama!”
Lee approached slowly, his limbs tingling with excitement. He couldn’t help but grin and he felt his heart racing in his chest.
He opened combat, his slow jab countered with a perfectly placed heel.
Lee watched as Sango absorbed his punch into her thigh and rotated for a high roundhouse.
*Dodge or block?* Lee knew he was thinking faster than he could move. Thinking though with experience. He decided to attack, even as Sango was coming around back forward, his kick straight at her ribs.
The girl dropped, pulling herself downward with a chakra planted foot, still sweeping the leg.
Lee laughed as he rolled over her leg onto his hands, sweeping his own legs around as he rose, pushing up with one hand. He pushed off, springing into the air as the heel whipped up and around to where he was, sand bursting as he foot hit.
Sango had not only killed her momentum, but had closed her eyes against the sand as it sprayed.
Lee landed on his feet at her back, punching forward.
She dipped to one side, reaching for his hand.
He let her have it and fell as she pulled him around, onto his back.
He looked into her eyes, seeing her laughing within, as he was. Then he opened his palm and pushed, throwing her into the air. Lee flipped to his feet and followed, knowing the familiar ache in his bones. Knowing was pushing his luck.
And his limits. He came up simply, his fist pulled back for a hard punch.
Sango watched him come, rotated around, coiling the energy for her kick through her torso and down her thigh. *Beautifully done…* Her kick snapped around, catching lee squarely on the arm and sending him to the soft sand below. He landed on his shoulders, trying to soften the blow by flexing his body around, absorbing the impact momentum. He sprung back forward to his feet, only to find his knees weak. They collapsed as his weight came upon them and his elbows did the same as the rotation carried him down.
His perception was returning to normal as Sango hit the ground, kneeling next to him.
Lee flexed his arms out, bouncing to his feet, fueling his tired, aching, spent body with sheer willpower. “Expect the unexpected, little sister!” He fired a one-two set of punches, catching her in the shoulder and jaw. Just enough to bruise, he knew. *About all I have…*
Sango replied in a heartbeat, almost ignoring the blows she took and firing back a wicked salvo of punches. She flipped back as he replied with a high kick and spring from her hands at him, feet first. The barrage of kicks pressing down upon him as she leapt back from his guard to come down again.
Lee found himself giving a step. Then a second. His breath was coming in sharp gasps and his sheer willpower was coming up short. Lee parried her next kick, forcing her down and throwing a knee at her open side. She caught his limb and tried to hold it. For a moment, the pair wrestled, holds taking and breaking, writhing like snakes.
Lee was aware of his state, fires smoldering in his limbs and his heart thudding in his chest as hard as his sister’s fists.
He broke back… *room to breathe…* and leaned fast as she tried to sweep his legs. Her kick hit, and stopped as though he were a rooted post. She rolled back, taking a defensive stance. One Lee should have pressed. But his limbs were so heavy…
“Don’t…go easy…on me…now…” Lee picked up his trembling hands and closed the loose fists. He opened his stance a little, trying to quell the quiver in his knees.
Sango took two running steps. “Konoha Hurricane!” Her cry was unnecessary. He knew the move intimately. He caught to opening kick squarely, sliding on his heels three full paces, Sango holding in position for the second strike where the first had connected. Lee doubled over, his elbows on his knees.
“I’m…done…” Lee slipped a little further down. Falling to his hands and knees. Even there, he shook.
His laugh was a infirm as the rest of his body,” He…hehehe…I…think I…overdid…it…”
He rolled, falling to his back. His breathing was deep and even and Sango could see the heavy beat of his heart pulsing in his chest and limbs, slowing gently.
Sango rubbed at the forming bruises. “I hope you can hear me, nii-sama. I’m growing stronger every day. I train with anyone that will consent to battle me. Yesterday, I worked over a mid-rank chunin. He never touched me. And yet, of the two of us, I’m the one who will show today’s battle.” She limped to his side, kneeling down, “You burn bright still. Though the fires are so deep within you.” She scooped up her older sibling, “I do this, because your ashes are not your ruined flesh. They are the unnecessary that you have burned away.”

The long afternoon wore on tirelessly as Zabuza silently watched Itachi through the narrow slits in his hunter mask.
The Uchiha sat a few steps within the overgrown garden, slowly picking flowers and weaving the red and white blossoms into a fan.
Though the center of the creation held a tiny blue spot. Like a teardrop. With a slow motion, Itachi threaded a slender willow switch through the weave of petals and stems.
This was the first time he had seen the creation of the wicker fans he had seen stacked up in Itachi’s room. Forgotten in the fields. And occasionally caught in the eddies of the river.
“You still mourn.”
Itachi chuckled weakly. Then sighed. He still worked at the fan, no change in the methodical pace.
Zabuza rolled the pebbles in his hand, “There will be another who touches you heart, young friend. There are still many women in the world who are both kind and beautiful.”
Itachi’s pace broke, his hands trembling. One hand came up to his face, touching his eyes. “These eyes… I’ve never quite been able to turn them off. I can close them, and simply not see… But when I do, I see her face still. Her own eyes that looked through mine, into my soul…”
The old man in Zabuza held his tongue in check. *Let him speak…* It whispered.
“Since I gained these eyes, I have seen no man clearly. They all say things they only think, make gestured they only feel… They hide themselves. Their truth. But Rena… She was solid. She only smiled at me. She spoke and I heard her voice, sweet music in my ears…” He clenched his hands together, “Even my own hands betray me. They do what they will, what they want. Sometimes I think I have done something and never touched it. When even my own hands were blurred and insubstantial, she was always as clear as a spring breeze… Hyuuga or not…” He hugged himself. The mist nin saw the tear fall onto his incomplete fan, “Her heart was true to me when my own was not…”
“Sorry I’m late!” Zabuza cursed under the mask as he turned to face Sakura and the young man she brought with her. A young man he recognized through description.
“Ero Maru.”
“Huh?” The boy looked behind him, then to Sakura. “It’s her fault!”
Sakura looked back and forth. “Oh! Oh, no! This is Hyuuga Hinata. She’s defecting to us.”
“Defecting to whom?” Itachi stood, brushing the stem clippings from his dress. “I don’t quite recall making any agreements to that particular tune.”
“Alright. Fine.” Sakura held gaze with the mangenque, “She’s under my employ until she deserts Konoha. You wanted to get in and out quickly with as much information as we could secure, here it is.”
Zabuza smiled under his mask. Glad once more he was wearing it.
Hinata stepped forward, “Say and do as you like. But I serve no Hyuuga. I owe no allegiance to anyone but my sister, and I will see her safe if it costs me my soul. The Hyuuga have no sway over me anymore.”
“Nothing but the Curse Seal, little birdie.” Itachi tapped his forehead, “Only your life.”
Ryo’s eyes burned luminously, “They can take my life. They laid claim to it long ago and Hyuuga Neji has done much worse already. “I will only serve those that will guard my sister. The only way to buy me is to scrub away the seal. Nothing else would rally me. And if I must choose, my sister overrides all else.”
“It sounds like we have a deal then.” Zabuza spoke slowly. Watching all for a reaction. “I happen to have a safe house. And I happen to know someone who happens to know something about the Curse Seal.”
Hinata held her hand out to Itachi, “Good to work for you, Lady Hanuro. When do I start.”
Itachi smiled, gesturing to Sakura, “You should speak to the real, Lady Hanuro. The Blade nin are under her command. As are the Ash nin with the blessing of the Lord Moerku and, with rising clarity, one rogue Hyuuga.” His smirk had turned mischievous.
“Well, well,” Zabuza pulled away his mask, watching Hinata’s face go pale, “This is certainly an interesting intersection, isn’t it, Lord Uchiha?”
“Oh, it certainly is most curious, Master Momoshi.” Itachi pulled on the veiled hat, covering his face, “But I think it’s time we departed. I think we’ve managed all the damage here we can hope for today.”