It took several hours and a disgraceful amount of cooking wine for Aiko to mostly forget that she was a back-stabbing monster. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough for her to stay drunk for long.
Aiko scrunched up her face and curled up into a ball, knees held tightly to her chest. Then she opened her eyes again, because having them closed had made the room move too much. With difficulty, Aiko stood and used the counter as a brace to cross the room. She risked walking on her own when she ran out of counter, then stopped to blink gummily at the room. Why had she done that? Surely she'd gotten up for something, hadn't she?
The pale underside of her ROOT mask was still sitting on top of the pile of clothing by the door, and the armor leaned against the wall. She should probably put those away, as per policy.
That project took a surprisingly long time, not least because the storage seals in her closet didn't want to work for her. Aiko ended up shoving most of it under her bed. It could be cleaned properly later. She wasn't supposed to leave that sort of thing lying around.
She found that she didn't really want to put the blank mask away with the rest of the equipment, however. That and the little red half backpack still by the door were the only uniform components that she'd gotten from ROOT, aside from the wig in the bath drain.
Hmm. Should probably do something about that too. Leaning to wrestle the black mess out of the drain made her feel queasy, and it felt coarse and filmy between her fingers. Aiko held it up and frowned. It was trash. Trash, it was all trash. She dropped it in the metal trash bin from her bathroom, and then reconsidered. She picked up the whole bin and carried it like a baby out to the front room and shoved the red backpack in it as well. Aiko considered the pile of bloody clothes on the floor as well—but no. That was an ANBU uniform like any other. Blood would wash out, and it would hardly be the last time she was soaked in it. She carried the whole kit back to the kitchen, suddenly missing her bottle.
~~~
Guiltily, Yamato wavered between his door and his neighbor's. It was a little late to bother Aiko…
'No, it's only nine,' he assured himself. 'She's still awake. Besides, she likes animals. She wouldn't want the thing to go hungry overnight.'
He was probably going to have to go to Kakashi-senpai himself to make sure that he took care of his own rabbit properly. The off-put look on senpai's face had been badly hidden: surely, he intellectually understood that the rabbit was an herbivore of some sort, but the concept of going out of his way to coddle prey was counter to everything Kakashi knew.
The cage that Bunny was huddled in was rather ugly and cramped, so he opened his door and stepped in just far enough to set the cage down in the genkan and extracted the little beast.
Yamato spent a moment holding it straight across from his face, trying to get a measure of the little animal's worth. It twitched a little black nose at him and paddled in the air futilely. If it could have reached flesh, it probably would have bitten him.
Pathetic and without function. But somehow he couldn't quite bring himself to toss it back in the cage and hope Tsunade took it back soon.
He heaved a sigh and awkwardly tucked the thing in the crook of his elbow, stroking it with the other hand. He really was insufferably soft-hearted. It was just something he would have to come to terms with.
"Are you ready to make a friend?" Yamato mildly asked, rubbing behind one floppy ear as the animal slowly calmed and stopped digging claws into his sleeve. "I bet you are." He crossed the hall to knock on Aiko's door.
Then he knocked again, because there wasn't any answer. "Aiko?" He outright banged on the door, feeling it vibrate underneath his fist. "Are you alright?"
~~~
Sinking back onto the tile was a blessed relief. Her skin felt oddly hot, and the floor was cool. She carefully settled the can between her knees and worked on the remaining alcohol. There wasn't much. She settled back into a rhythm of taking a pull of the dwindling supply as soon as the prickling heat faded from her insides, feeling her face flush and eyes redden. The mask was sitting face-up on her knees, over the trash can.
Aiko considered it. That wouldn't burn, would it? But she didn't want it. Didn't need it anymore and never would.
"Aiko?"
Belatedly, she realized that there had been a knock on the door. And that the voice had been familiar. It sounded like… Yamato?
"Are you alright?"
Well, it sounded like him, but that had to be wrong. She didn't sense his Hiraishin tag. Oh no… there it was. She blinked, wondering why that had been so hard. Now that she was thinking about it, her connections to her seals felt blurry. Like she was talking to them through a thick pane of glass.
'I don't want to talk to Yamato right now.'
~~~
Yamato shuffled his feet, leaning into the door. Was she even in there? He didn't think she should be out of the village.
Finally, she answered. Her voice wasn't loud, but seemed to be surprisingly close to the door. "Go away, please."
Uneasy, he shifted his weight. That wasn't much like her at all. He'd never known her to not answer the door—she bowed to social obligation even if she really didn't want to talk to anyone.
~~~
Aiko clapped a hand over her open mouth. Then she shut her jaw, almost shocked by how easily the words had slipped out. Had she really meant to say that? Did alcohol make her talkative- or at least, less likely to filter her words properly? If that was the case, she couldn't be around Yamato. He would hate her if he knew what she'd done. Killing Shou hadn't even been on orders. That had been her initiative. Self-hatred welled up again, and she tilted up the bottle one more time to drain the last of the warm liquid. It didn't seem to help distract her this time. Furious with herself, she rubbed harshly at her eyes with a palm, willing them to stop stinging.
~~~
'Maybe I should make sure everything is fine?'
But he couldn't exactly break down the door and trounce in, either. She was a seal-master. There was a damn good chance that the place was trapped floor to ceiling.
'What would senpai do?' Yamato wondered a bit helplessly.
Then the answer seemed obvious. Emotional manipulation.
~~~
Aiko bent inwards and seriously considered covering her ears when the barging on the door seemed to pick up force. But his voice got counter-intuitively smoother and caught her attention before she'd shuffled her burden around to manage it. "Aiko-chan, if you don't let me in, a cute furry animal is going to go hungry," Yamato cajoled.
Oh. Aiko's fingers tightened around the edge of her mask. Had he really been given a bunny? It had seemed funny earlier when Tsunade had suggested it, but now that there was a chance she'd have to look at the rabbits again, not so much. They were going to be an unpleasant reminder.
"I need help with this rabbit-"
Yamato seemed to cut off in astonishment when she lifted her arms and twisted the mask slightly to impact with the rim of the tin can, neatly cracking it into two pieces. Gently, she set it on the floor and hugged the trash can to her chest. It took a full second to search out a seal in the outskirts of the enormous forests surrounding Konoha and pull herself away from a possible conversation.
~~~
He jumped directly up like a startled cat at the sound of a single crack within the apartment. What was that about? "Aiko?" Yamato tried again.
'I think she left,' he slowly realized. 'She used her Hiraishin.'
It seemed a bit extreme. Maybe she just really didn't like rabbits. Or she could have had a really bad day.
"Sorry, Bunny," he apologized stiffly, tucking the thing back into the cage in his apartment. "I suppose you'll make it one night, right?"
~~~
Dozens of miles away, Aiko was sitting on the damp ground, feeling twigs and other forest debris press uncomfortably into her thighs. It wasn't nice, so she used the trash can as a brace to stumble to her feet.
It took four tries to light the equipment on fire. The first two attempts didn't make sparks, and the third she misaimed at the metal itself instead of the fuel inside it. It stank, but she slumped against the nearest tree to wait for it all to burn to nothingness.
After a while, she got cold. But Yamato might still be at her apartment, and she didn't want to talk to him. Much more clumsily than usual, Aiko scraped off skin from her thumb to draw blood for a summoning. Then she threw her arms around a surprised-looking Mitsuo, inadvertently smearing blood on the nape of his neck. "Hi," she sniffed into the thick ruff at his collar. "I had a bad day."
He whined sympathetically and sat down, then craned to lick at her arm. Aiko gave a snuffling giggle and pressed her nose into his fur.
"I did a bad thing," she confided lowly. Mitsuo drew back and stared her directly in the eye, and then blinked slowly. Deliberately, he gave a rolling howl in the back of his throat that she recognized as a comforting sound. "Thanks," Aiko ran a hand down his back. "I had to fight someone who I was on a team with for a year. He was a traitor, but he wasn't a bad man." The smell of the alcohol on her breath washed back into her face, wafting back off of Mitsuo's coat. She cringed, ashamed.
"I'm sorry, I must stink." She drew back and leaned against the bole of the Hashirama tree at her back. Mitsuo followed her back and laid his head on her lap, turning to lick at her bare stomach. He kept one eye open and pinned on her.
Carefully, deliberately, he made a four-tone whine, moving from an inquisitive pitch to an order. Aiko mindlessly obeyed, rubbing at the cut on her thumb to induce it to bleed again. Hōseki shook her coat, dissolving the cloud of smoke from an inefficient summoning and took in her contract partner.
"Why sad?" She tilted her head, letting an ear flop over. Without waiting for an invitation, she drew herself up to place her paws on Aiko's shoulder and lick at her ear.
Mitsuo lifted his head just enough to talk to Hōseki, keeping his yaps soft and talking far too quickly for Aiko to pick apart. Whatever it was, it convinced Hōseki to lean in and rub her nose against Aiko's cheek in a silent kiss.
"You're a good human," she reassured. Hot, malodorous doggy breath washed across Aiko's face, but she didn't care. She wrapped a grateful arm around the little dog to stroke down her luxurious coat.
"I killed three Konoha nin today," Aiko confided.
The Shiba Inu stilled for just a moment. "Not pack?" she asked curiously.
"One was pack. ANBU pack, anyway. They were traitors, but they didn't deserve to die." Numbly, Aiko stared up at the night sky. The last of daylight was fading. If she didn't put out her fire soon, it would be far too visible. That meant she should probably move, if she didn't want to talk to any patrols.
"Sometimes…" Hōseki hesitated, then laboriously crawled on Aiko's hip, nearly stepping on Mitsuo's face. He moved at the last moment. "Sometimes not all dogs are good for the big pack." Her dark eyes were soulful and serious. "Sometimes Alpha has to cull."
Aiko gave a surprised laugh and rubbed at the little dog's ear. "I'm not really the Alpha," she deflected. "that would be Tsunade-sama."
'And she didn't give that order. She didn't disapprove when she found out, but it was my idea. Judge, jury, and executioner.'
"Are," Hōseki disagreed crossly. "Alpha makes those decisions." She nipped lightly at Aiko's ear, as if to scold.
She didn't bother to argue with the Shiba Inu anymore. Pack didn't really have the same kind of political hierarchy that a place like Konoha did. In Hōseki's mind, it probably did make sense that Tsunade wasn't really Aiko's alpha if Aiko went over her head to do what she thought was best.
'Then again, maybe Tsunade isn't my alpha,' Aiko thought, bleakly amused. 'She doesn't assert authority over me or give me orders. I pretty much have free reign as long as I don't do anything insufferably stupid.'
Was that really usual? Couldn't be. Her foray into ROOT had been entirely at her own discretion, and Tsunade hadn't said a damned thing about how she chose to conduct it. She had gotten mocked a little bit for handing out a Hiraishin seal to Gaara, but Tsunade had never disciplined her and then had in fact continued to allow her to do similar things.
Huh. The dog might be onto something. It wasn't like Aiko really cared what Tsunade thought. She went through the motions of hierarchy, but not consistently or sincerely.
'Do I have an alpha, then?' Aiko wondered.
The answer was a sullen no. It was a bit depressing, really. She didn't especially like to lead, so she hardly felt like an alpha herself, but she didn't trust anyone else to account for everything that she did. Kakashi had been her alpha for a long time, but when was the last time that she had really regarded his word as law?
A long time.
'If I didn't have Mitsuo and Hōseki, I'd be a lone hound,' Aiko realized, suddenly feeling grateful beyond words that she did have pack. It was a tiny pack, to be sure. A week ago, she might not have realized, but there was a critical difference between the big pack and the little pack. She couldn't tell the big pack things like what she'd just told the little pack. Pack didn't judge: the big pack would forgive her, but they would look at her differently if they knew what she did. Kakashi would be disappointed. Naruto would think she'd done something monstrous. Yamato would probably just be sad for her sake, but that hardly appealed to her either.
"Love you guys," Aiko said quietly. Mitsuo moved his head out to nose her legs, making room for Hōseki to sit down on her with a huff.
"Yes." The little dog tossed her head like a queen, pawing at Aiko's hip. "Take us inside," she commanded regally. "Where are your furs?"
It took a moment for that to sink in. Then she glanced down, and saw only dogs on her lap and white bandages around her torso.
'I'm still half-naked. How did I forget about that?'
Aiko just about choked on her laughter, but managed to restrain it. "I forgot them. Just a minute."
Feeling infinitely better than she had before, Aiko pulled all three of them to her old room at the house. Naruto and Karin were out, but-
"Aiko?" Hinata pushed open the door and visibly relaxed, slipping the kunai in her hand back into her thigh holster. "You startled me." She walked into the door just enough to really take in the puddle of dogs, and blinked. "Where are your clothes?" she asked uncertainly, as if worried that she didn't want the answer. To be fair, she was wearing only shorts and breast bindings in addition to the two dogs and a healthy smattering of twigs and leaves.
Aiko just shrugged, palms up and a sheepish smile on her face. "I lost them on the path of life?"
After a moment's consideration, Hinata heaved a sigh and stepped out into the hall. She came back a minute later with one of her navy blue shirts. Aiko thanked her and slipped it on gratefully.
It had been a bit cold.
~~~
The first thing that Yamato did in the morning was to head to the corner store in search of pet supplies. Some of it was promising and had pictures of small animals on the packaging, although the cashier was spectacularly unhelpful. He'd figure it out on his own, he supposed. How hard could it be?
Bunny seemed inclined to make it more difficult than it really had to be.
His plan to learn the proper care of rabbits through experience was derailed by a messenger at about six. He dutifully reported to the Hokage's office as soon as he could, but was apparently slower than he should have been. Sai was already there.
Tsunade looked up blearily. "Good, that's two out of three," she mumbled. With a sigh, she pushed her chair back. Yamato wondered if she'd been working all night—there were deep creases in her clothing and her fingertips were stained with ink. "I sent a messenger for Hatake three hours ago, so he-"
"Is not feeling particularly appreciative," Kakashi finished, giving a one-eyed glare to his boss. For once, he had entered through the door.
She just shrugged. "This is too important to wait around for. I'll be publically announcing that Councilman Danzo passed away during the night. By the way, the funeral is going to be the day after tomorrow." She rolled her eyes. "Since you three are already involved in some level, it makes more sense to send you to his home. Right now, there should be a perimeter keeping out curious bystanders. I want any and all documentation and indication of ROOT cleared out of that place, as well as anything remotely suspicious."
A few minutes later, the three men were quietly standing in Danzo's entrance hall and observing the still home.
"Do you think that blood counts as suspicious?" Yamato asked a bit wryly. Kakashi snorted, but Sai shrugged.
"Not really," he idly replied. "Perhaps the clean couch fabric does."
"The couch is soaked in-" and then Yamato stopped, because that wasn't precisely true. There was a clean outline on the couch that was much more incriminating than the blood and pulpy matter on the ceiling and wooden floor. "Ah," he finished weakly. Belatedly, he noted what looked like part of a mangled hand resting on a chair—a pinky and most of a ring finger attached to part of a palm. He tore his eyes away, nervously tugging at his hair. It might be best not to dwell on what had happened here.
Kakashi was still staring at the outline, a slight line forming on his brow. It was undeniably human, but looked like a small woman or a young teenager. That wasn't usually the profile of someone already hardened enough to resort to the level of violence displayed here. After a moment he shook his head like a dog, as if to chase away a thought, and heaved a sigh. "Maa, I'm not sure we deserve this."
Despite the light-hearted complaint, he worked as hard as the other two. They only had a couple of hours to clear out the domicile: ideally, they would be done before Tsunade's impromptu memorial service was so that as few people as possible saw ANBU hanging around the Councilor's house.
"I hope that couch wasn't an heirloom," Yamato commented a bit gloomily when Kakashi immolated it. All he received in reply was a shrug, so he set to sweeping up the ashes while Sai scrubbed the floor. Kakashi wandered off in search of Danzo's private documents as well as anything else that needed to be removed from the premises. The living room was nearly immaculate by the time his voice called out faintly from somewhere within the house.
"There's a secret passage over here."
"It leads to the underground facilities," Sai commented blandly. Yamato took a moment to give him a stink-eye for not sharing that information beforehand. The teen didn't seem to catch on, but it was hard to tell with him.
On more than one level, actually. His presence indicated that Tsunade trusted him implicitly. But the last Yamato had heard, Sai was one of Danzo's elites. Had he really been convinced to change loyalties beyond a shadow of a doubt?
'He must have proved himself somehow,' Yamato reminded himself, trying to visibly warm up to the boy. There wasn't any point in maintaining intentional distance if Tsunade trusted him. She must have a good reason, and it wasn't his place to second-guess that.
He worked to keep that in mind as he followed the teen twisting faultlessly through Danzo's convoluted home to the passage Kakashi had already found. He looked around with mild curiousity, and spotted the same thing that Kakashi did.
"There was a fight here." Yamato bent to examine the scratch in the floor. "Someone dropped their sword."
"Do not worry. It was necessary to eliminate Danzo's house guards," Sai blandly informed them, turning back into the house.
Yamato nobly resisted the urge to ask exactly had happened yesterday. It was clear that Sai had been involved in it, but he also knew perfectly well that prying was a poor idea. If Tsunade thought it was necessary, she would have clued them in. She had simply wanted people that she trusted not to become too curious about what had happened here. All three of them had worn the mark of slavery to Danzo—had Sai's been removed as well?
An interesting thought, but he didn't ask. It didn't matter to him either way. He just needed to know that the Hokage still trusted him.
'And she doesn't need a seal that forces me not to talk to do it,' he noted with a little thrill. That was marvelously freeing.
They finished their work in time to have to wait on Tsunade outside her office while she finished talking. She threw off her official robe as soon as she'd entered, and all but collapsed on her chair. "Report?"
"The area is cleared," Kakashi shrugged. "Though the underground will have to be checked as well." He laid out the storage scroll full of pilfered materials. "I assume you know why there was a mess in the front room?"
"A mess?" Tsunade's brow creased.
"Yes," he clarified bemusedly. "It looked like someone exploded in there."
She winced visibly. "Ah, that. Yes, I'm aware. Thank you boys. You're dismissed."
Sai split from them immediately, but the older shinobi kept a languid pace. "Barbeque?" Yamato suggested to fill the silence. Kakashi didn't seem to care, so they ended up there for lunch.
"Did Aiko have any wisdom about your newest problem?" Kakashi idly played with the saltshaker, clinking it against its match. His expression was exponentially darker than the saltshaker probably deserved.
Yamato heroically resisted wondering if that long-suffering tone meant that Kakashi had experienced problems with his rabbit already. Bunny had been fine, aside from resisting when he'd taken her for a walk in the morning. She didn't want to go to the restroom when the opportunity was provided, and she certainly hadn't liked the leash and collar. He sincerely hoped Aiko had tips for convincing Bunny not to go limp whenever he tried to exercise her. It would be disappointing to have wasted money on toys otherwise, although the little tube that produced a red dot of light was fascinating on its own merits and he was seriously considering taking it apart to see how it worked.
"No, I didn't end up talking with her," he admitted, turning his glass in his hand. "I tried, but she didn't want to talk."
Kakashi outright frowned. "That's odd. Isn't she off leave? I'd think her mood would be back to usual."
Unspoken was that Sasuke had been more vocal than he'd really needed to about just how difficult Aiko had been behaving before their team had been sent out. Amusing, but not revelatory. She was contrary at the best of times. Yamato didn't particularly fancy walking straight into a trap like that if she really was still crabby.
"Maybe you could try," Yamato sighed, propping himself up on his elbows. "She likes you better anyway."
And if Kakashi went in first, Yamato wouldn't be the one getting pouted at. Much safer.
His senpai sent him an amused expression that implied the attempt to throw him under the wagon had been spotted, but dropped the topic in favor of shop talk.
Kakashi had probably taken the suggestion to heart, because he wordlessly accompanied Yamato back to his apartment complex. "Do you want to try again so we can have a better comparis-" His voice trailed off, and the older man frowned slightly.
"Senpai?" Confused, he fell silent when Kakashi ignored his query and bounded the last few stairs to their floor and strode over to Aiko's door.
"Stinks like blood," he lowly informed, rapping on the door. Kakashi barely waited three seconds before trying again, raising his voice. "Aiko?"
When no one answered his call, Yamato shifted uneasily. "I could ask the manager for a spare key?" he offered.
Kakashi gave him a withering look and then lit his hand up with chidori. Yamato had barely covered his eyes when the sound of splitting wood informed him that his senpai had shoved his hand through the door. He opened one eye gingerly to glare as Kakashi impassively twisted his arm to slide over the lock and gently opened the door.
"Her shoes are here," Yamato noted as the apartment came into view. They were covered in chips of wood, but they still implied that Aiko should be home.
But she wasn't. Kakashi strode in and made a circuit of the apartment. Yamato lurked uncomfortably in the entryway, putting together a rather unpleasant picture.
Two empty bottles were lined neatly against the side of the kitchen counter. Two feet in front of them was a porcelain mask, neatly broken in two. He gingerly flipped one half over—and then blinked, moving to make the other half visible as well.
It was blank. Strange. She'd been in the corps long enough that her equipment should be personalized.
A disconcerting theory was trying to make itself known. Honestly, this looked like an ANBU mission had gone badly and she'd freaked out. Alcohol wasn't the worst or most uncommon coping mechanism. Running off barefoot was a bit more worrying, however.
"You assholes owe me a new door."
Yamato jerked, swiveling to where the dry comment had come from. Messy-haired and indeed barefoot, Aiko stood in the doorway with a severely unimpressed mien and her fingers tangled in the snowy fur of her first contracted summons ninken.
"Honestly," she continued, moving into the room. "It's like you've never seen a closed door. My people use them to signify: stay the hell out." There was a tiny snicker, and her smaller dog sprinted into the apartment on a collision course for her bedroom. A moment later, he heard the 'whumph' of a small body colliding with cushions. The girl didn't so much as twitch.
"You know me," Kakashi deflected breezily, poking his head back out of her room where he'd been snooping. "I was raised by wolves. We consider them a challenge to get at the pantry. The tribe always loved me because I have thumbs." He wiggled one at her in a way that Naruto would have found absolutely infuriating.
She just scoffed. "Seriously…" Aiko trailed off, frowning at the mess that had been her front door. "You're going to fix that, right?" The worried look on her face would been endearing if it hadn't also been slightly insulting. Of course Kakashi would… Hmm. Yamato exchanged a sheepish look with his senpai. He didn't look like a man who fixed doors.
"I have some glue in my apartment?" Yamato began weakly, but she was already shaking her head sternly. "Hey, we were worried," he defended. "He said he smelled blood." Aiko frowned as soon as Yamato jerked his head to indicate Kakashi.
"It's nothing," she clipped out, with a glare that implied anyone who said otherwise was going to regret it.
"Nothing?" Kakashi asked sarcastically, slouching in the way that usually meant he was about to say something confrontational. "I thought it was the pile of clothes inside the door."
'I missed those.' Yamato scratched at his cheek and hoped his expression hadn't betrayed that he hadn't been particularly observant. To be fair, they barely looked like clothes. It was just a crumpled pile of rather crusty-looking black fabric.
Oh. Crusty. Yes, now that he was looking, he could easily believe they'd been the source of the smell. It took a lot of blood to soak clothes to the point where they would dry in peaks. He winced, and tried not to think too hard on where Aiko would have acquired that much blood. She didn't seem to be wounded at all—tired, but not wounded. It was relatively easy to tell, seeing as she was wearing some of those terrifyingly tiny shorts she preferred with an oversized sleeping shirt that probably hadn't come out of her own closet. It seemed to have come from someone a bit bigger or bustier.
It wasn't really his business that Aiko had apparently ended up taking a shower of blood yesterday. He hadn't been assigned to whatever mission she'd been on, and it was rude to pry.
"What happened last night?"
But Kakashi-senpai was kind of a rude bastard. And he was looking strangely intent on getting that answer.
Aiko blinked twice, and her gaze darted to Kakashi's nose instead of keeping eye contact. Yamato was relatively certain that meant she was about to lie. It was hard to catalogue her tells: not because she didn't have them, but because she had so many – but they were inconsistent and contradictory as far as he could tell. When she was on a mission, pretending to be bubbly meant something completely different from pretending to be bubbly in the village, and something similar applied to when she broke eye contact (and where she moved it to), what body posture she adopted, how her wording changed, etc.
For all his tactical brilliance, senpai seemed to have no ability whatsoever to read her. It was possibly because he didn't think it worth the time to invest in figuring out how to catalogue someone he'd never have to fight, but it was probably just because he didn't have the social intelligence to keep up with her rapidly changing personalities. Yamato tried not to snort at the thought.
That way only led to madness.
"Oh, last night?" Aiko rolled her eyes. "Sorry I ran out on you, Yamato." Her tone was casual. If he hadn't just seen her alter her body language, Yamato might have believed that whatever it was didn't particularly bother Aiko.
"I spent the night at the house." Aiko cracked her neck and walked right past them. The fluffy monster dog clacked in behind her, giving Kakashi a mournful look as he passed. "Hinata gets lonely when Karin and Naruto are gone," she called light-heartedly over her shoulder.
That statement was probably truthful, but a completely unhelpful digression to distract from the real issue. Yamato resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. Why not just say she didn't walk to talk about it? All three of them had known what Kakashi meant, and knew that she was deflecting. What pretense could she possibly be upholding?
Weird kid.
"I didn't end up sleeping very well before she woke me up on her way out, so I was planning on having a nice nap in my own bed." Her voice echoed oddly out of the hallway from her room. "I guess that plan is shot, though, since I can hardly go to sleep when my apartment doesn't have a door. Not very safe, is it. I'll have to remember to chidori-proof my door, but I admit I never thought it would be a problem."
That was a much better conversation change. He knew what she was doing, but he still felt a little guilty. Which probably said more about him than it did about her, since he had been uninvolved in the door breaking. Shoulders hunched in slightly, Yamato offered, "I can try to make a new door, but it'll take some time to get the dimensions exactly right. And I've never installed a lock before."
The look Kakashi gave him was mildly incredulous. "You keep the locks your landlord gives you?"
Somehow, the tone managed to convey pity, amusement at his naivety, and just a hint of scorn.
"Yes," he huffed defensively. "It specifically states in all housing contracts that changing the locks is a violation of the lease."
Kakashi looked skyward, as if praying for strength. "I suppose I have to help you, then," he grouched, looking self-pitying. Yamato momentarily felt guilty for imposing, and then he remembered who had broken the damn door in the first place. "But I can't do it without refreshments. I'm already wilting. Aiko, what do you have to drink?"
'He's not going to let her wander away,' Yamato noted, amused. 'He must really want to get an answer out of her.'
The ploy was transparent to him, but she fell for it. "You can have water," Aiko replied flatly, coming out of her bedroom to glare at him sternly. She'd pulled loose pajama pants on over her shorts. Perhaps she was cold. "Tea is for guests who don't trash my things and let poor Yamato take the blame. He gets ice cream."
It was sort of funny to see a grown man pout, even if he certainly didn't want ice cream anyways.
~~~
Kakashi swallowed, hard, and tried not to stare as Aiko walked off into the kitchen. A very unpleasant conclusion was niggling insistently for his attention. Yamato seemed to be doing a much better job of ignoring the obvious. He almost wished that he could, because he didn't like the evidence begging for attention.
The blood he'd scented last night in Tsunade's office was the same type he'd seen in Danzo's home. That wouldn't have been completely damning if it weren't also the same scent he'd picked up on the day-old blood soaked clothing inside her door. Aiko had killed that man in Danzo's house, or been there when it had happened.
She'd been involved in ROOT.
He didn't know how, and he didn't know why. But she had. The conclusion was an inescapable as it was distressing. Some part of him had known before he'd seen the dirty clothes and the white mask that Yamato had apparently managed to persuade himself into not understanding for what it was.
It explained so many things. In the last year, she'd been almost constantly stressed and sleep deprived. Aiko had experienced a subtle but noticeable personality change, especially in regards to how antisocial and secretive she was. She was distant and less affectionate with Naruto and Sasuke, and almost fanatically protective of them. As if she was seeing dangers under every rock and around every corner. But that wasn't the only way her relationships had changed: she was much closer to Tsunade and Sai than he could see reason for. Sai was confirmed ROOT… or had been anyways, he realized sickly. Was that how they had become close—working together?
"Here's your water, you vulture." A smile that belied the words was tugging at one half of her lips when Aiko returned toting drinks. She was obviously tired, but glad to see them, despite her attempt to portray suitable grumpiness. She just didn't look like someone who had clearly drank herself into a stupor the night before and then outright ran away when Tenzou had come to her door. That was more worrying: why would she compartmentalize like that to hide things from him?
"I thought I was getting tea and ice cream," Yamato complained good-naturedly, taking his drink and a polite sip before he set it aside and cracked his fingers.
"Maybe later." Aiko turned just enough to examine the door Yamato had managed to tug off the hinges, tilting her head sideways. "All I have left is strawberry. Do you know how you're going to do this?"
Yamato visibly brightened. "I was thinking that it would be nice to decorate…"
Kakashi let his mind drift away from Tenzou's good-natured babbling about scalloped edges and to the girl who was watching him fuss with obvious fondness.
How had she kept this from them? Why would she want to?
Intellectually, he knew that question wasn't fair. She had to have been on some mission from Tsunade, since the Hokage had immediately known what he had been referring to when he'd told her that Aiko was overworked months back. He'd had missions he certainly wasn't going to talk about, even if it was legal for him to do so. Had she just been involved in the ROOT clean up, or had she really gotten tangled up in the organization? The mask and the long-term problems seemed to indicate the latter, though he'd hope the former was true.
Had she and Sai really been the ones to kill those people in Danzo's home? It had been a grotesque scene. No… someone else had to have been there. If Aiko had been sitting on the couch, she hadn't been the one to kill that poor man—she needed to touch someone to put an explosive on them— and Sai didn't have anything like that in his arsenal.
How many people did that make who had been more cognizant of what was really going on in his subordinate's life than he'd been? He'd just… he'd thought that she was just growing and didn't need him anymore. Was that true, or was she intentionally pulling away so that he didn't see what was going on?
For a reason he couldn't begin to articulate, he felt ashamed. He should have known. What kind of captain was he if he couldn't put together information about someone he knew so well just because he didn't like the conclusion?
He didn't know how or why, but she'd been involved in Tsunade's takedown of Danzo. It must have been a busy day: the scent of blood in Tsunade's office had been faint but fresh, so she'd still been working while he and Yamato were lazing about unconscious. Danzo had been taken into custody in the early afternoon. What had happened between those times?
"No, I think that you're putting those on the wrong way." Aiko gave Tenzou a skeptical little frown, poking at the metal bits he was trying to screw into the new door.
His kohai took a frustrated breath and all but pouted. "Does it really matter which way the hinge goes?" he pointed out practically. "The door will just open the other way, and it's more defensible if it opens outward."
"Is not," Aiko protested crossly. "That's so backwards."
"Tenzou, why don't you go check on your rabbit?" Both of them blinked and turned to look at him, clearly not expecting him to jump into conversation. He gave a faint smile to take the sting out of the dismissal. "Aiko can take a look at it and help you with it while I fix this."
'If I let him fix the door, I'll just have to redo it.'
It would be a more valuable use of Yamato's time to prod Aiko for instructions in the care of the horrible little animals they had been saddled with. He could listen in on that conversation and avoid the indignity of asking for himself. He certainly wasn't going to admit that the little bastard had bit him that morning when he'd gone into the bathroom to take a shower, but he was hoping there was an easy explanation since he had to cohabitate with the vicious monster.
Otherwise, he was going to feed it to the pack and deal with the consequences later.
The younger man nodded slowly. Aiko just looked wary. As the faint tap of Tenzou's footsteps faded down the hall, Aiko scuffed one little bare foot against the wood floor uncomfortably and looked down.
He did his best not to notice, and instead turned his attention to pulling the metal from the old door frame. "Are these really the locks that came with the apartment?"
Asking Aiko about ROOT would be a bad idea at the moment. If she had been forbidden to talk about her mission, then he would be putting her in an untenable situation and forcing her to either lie or disobey the Hokage. He didn't know which option would be worse.
So he was going to have to go to Tsunade first. After he'd taken care of his mess, of course.
~~~
"And so how many?" Tsunade asked, attempting to keep the disbelief out of her voice.
Aiko made a little 'puh' sound and looked slightly up. "Ah, I believe five."
"Five ROOT outposts that you know of?" A bit weakly, she leaned back. That was more than she'd expected. Danzo had been a busy bastard.
'Then again, so was Aiko,' Tsunade thought ruefully. In retrospect, it seemed obvious that she had been putting the girl in a bad position by giving her Fukiko. But at the time, it had made so much sense. Fukiko would be in danger if her Sharingan manifested before she was strong enough to defend herself. The obvious solution had seemed to be two-fold: have someone trusted watch over Fukiko, and have her quickly trained up, now that she was in remission. Giving Fukiko an ANBU guard would have been too conspicuous, as would have putting her under someone established like Kakashi. Aiko was strong enough to do the job, but young and inexperienced enough that no one would think it implausible that she'd gotten saddled with a clanless orphan to gauge her worth as a sensei before risking anyone valuable.
She was just grateful that Aiko was still willing to accept the assignment, although the redhead hadn't bothered to hide a strange expression when the topic had been brought up.
'Actually, she seems far too calm, all things considered.' Tsunade half-heartedly took notes on what the girl was saying, but let her mind wander away from the mundane lists. As far as she knew… Aiko still hadn't chosen an ANBU contact touchstone, had she? Her lips twitched in disapproval. 'That's dangerous. She should talk to someone. I'm not advocating full disclosure, but venting would probably help quite a bit.'
"-any experiment data recovered?"
Tsunade blinked, now that her attention had been called for, and wracked her memory. "I don't think so," she settled cautiously.
A flash of irritation crossed Aiko's face. "Well, it's there somewhere," she grimly bit out. "Sai and I retrieved a small library from Orochimaru's base in Grass. There wa-"
"Wait, what?" Tsunade resisted the urge to leap to her feet. "Was Danzo looting, or had he been working with Orochimaru?"
"Both," came the bland reply. "I can only assume that his modifications came from Orochimaru and not from his own medic. B… Shou lacked those abilities, as do any other ROOT ANBU medics that Sai had encountered. Medicine was not emphasized in Danzo's training philosophy."
"Of course it wasn't," Tsunade muttered sourly. She'd known he didn't value her art. Kami only knew that he'd badgered her and blocked her hospital funding at every turn, back when she had been a Jounin working to revamp the institution.
"Now that I think about it, I should probably report that we encountered and eliminated four hostiles on that mission. One was unmarked, three were from Iwa. So it was possible that Orochimaru had dealings with the Tsuchikage, or it could just have been that a Sound survivor ran to them to sell information."
'This is just getting depressing. There was so much going on under my nose that I didn't know about.'
It was informative to know that Danzo had no compunctions about setting his agents to use fatal force against countries that they weren't at war with. Perhaps he'd been poisoning their relations with Iwa.
Probably not, though. The Tsuchikage was holding grudges from before she'd been born, and he just wouldn't up and die. As long as he led Iwa, they could never be allies.
"By the way…" Tsunade hesitated, not sure how this would go over. But she shouldn't let Aiko be surprised either. "Shou will be getting his name carved onto the Memorial stone the day after tomorrow. I imagine that your captain will tell you the same. I'm sure you know-"
"That we can't tell anyone he was a traitor," Aiko interrupted. Her tone was bored, but her jaw was just a little tight. "I know. Claiming that revelation came out the day Danzo died of totally natural causes would be too suspicious."
"Well, to be fair, we're claiming that Shou died the day before," Tsunade awkwardly informed. "But… Yes." She cleared her throat. "In any case, there's no point in going over all of this twice, so let's save the rest for when your scoundrel of a godfather is here."
Not that she particularly wanted to have that conversation. But if anyone could figure out what the hell they needed to do about a problem that involved a spy organization and a complicated seal, it was going to be him.
"Aiko." The girl halted, half to the door. "Find someone to talk to, or I will," she gently threatened. "I won't have you burying this without dealing with it. You'll burn out."
It was impossible to read anything into the way Aiko inclined her head and left silently, but Tsunade had the bizarre impression that the girl had been amused. Couldn't have been.
After Aiko left, Tsunade tried to do her best to keep from thinking about the problem. Coming up with potential solutions was less than worthless without information, but she just couldn't help it. Had taking that seal given Aiko any real authority over ROOT? Did it mean she was their leader? If so, what would happen if they dissolved it? Would ROOT agents know that there had been a shift in power, or were they scrambling blindly?
"Don't you ever knock?" She flipped to the last page of the letter she'd found only an hour ago in with her taxes for some godforsaken reason without looking up at the grump in her office. Hatake didn't say a thing, so she heaved a sigh and deigned to grace him with an exasperated look. "What is it, Kakashi-kun?"
He sauntered up to her desk, and she knew something was wrong. Tsunade stiffened a little warily, eyeing him like the predator he was. It was more than a bit unusual for her shinobi to openly show such aggression. Wordlessly, she bared her teeth in something that was less a smile and more a challenge. She'd dealt with her fair share of Inuzuka: Hatake wasn't thinking like a human right now. Being half-dog probably didn't help his social skills any, but it did make him slightly easier for her to read.
Hatake bent first, though probably out of necessity and not because he'd been cowed.
"You had Aiko in ROOT."
Hell if he wasn't too smart for his own good. It wasn't a question, so she didn't prevaricate. "I did." Her confirmation was factual. The tone seemed to infuriate him—a muscle jumped visibly in his arm, as if he was fighting the urge to resort to violence. "Don't take an attitude with me, brat. She knew what she was doing and she did it well."
If she gave him an inch, he'd take twenty miles and she'd find herself ass-up in a ditch somewhere wondering why she let someone half her age ream her out.
"You didn't tell me what was going on when I came to tell you that she was obviously overworked. You hadn't even known that." He changed rhetorical tracks smoothly, leaning in ever so slightly. "How can you say you had the situation under control when someone who had no information on the mission saw something so basic that you missed?"
She just about winced. But he'd never respect her authority again if she backed down to him, so she didn't let him bother her visibly.
"I don't have to tell you anything."
It was a better answer than it sounded. If she explained herself to him, even if she convinced him, she would have acknowledged him as an equal to whom she was accountable. Judging by the quiet rage she saw in his eye, he understood the snub for what it was.
But she wasn't without kindness, and this would solve two problems… "Talk to the girl yourself, if you're so worried." Dismissively, she turned her attention back down to the boring letter. "Don't bother m-"
Then she cut off, because he was already gone. Her lips pulled reluctantly into a fond smile. "Little shit," she mumbled, shaking her head. She'd played right into his hand, hadn't she?
~~~
Fukiko ducked her head shyly and nibbled on her lower lip, feeling her face flush a heated pink. As her classmates giggled and gaped, she obediently followed the stern-faced teenager away from where everyone else was engaging in taijutsu practice. Was she in trouble? She didn't know why she'd been pulled from classes. She'd been doing her best, she really had! Was she being dropped from the program? Worry gnawed at her belly. If she was dropped, she'd never be a shinobi like mom. She buried her shaking fingers into the pocket of her sweatshirt to disguise her nerves, and tried not to fidget too much when the older girl settled against the railings on the Academy rooftop.
"Hey, I don't bite." The redhead's tone had gentled slightly. "Fukiko-chan, right? I'm Uzumaki Aiko, but you can call me Aiko-sensei, alright?"
She froze. That was a name she knew. But it couldn't be… "The fourth Hokage's Uzumaki…?" the question trailed off as her bravery fled. "I'm sorry, that was rude." She ducked into a quick bow, heart pounding. She was so stupid. The older girl wouldn't want to work with her now.
"Ugh, everyone knows that now," came the disgruntled groan. But the older girl perked up, as if she sensed Fukiko's distress. "But yupp. We're going to be working together, so I'd like to get to know you. I'll start. I'm sixteen, and I have one otouto. He's very naughty," she confided grimly. Fukiko tried not to smile at that description of a grown-up shinobi. She'd already known there were two Uzumaki. "I have a big amorphous blob of a team. They're a bunch of silly, hopeless boys, but I love them anyways. My ninken summons are my best friends, and I like to train." She paused deliberately. When Fukiko just stared, Aiko-sensei gently prodded, "Tell me about yourself?"
"I…" Fukiko swallowed, digging down deep for courage. She could do this. This was just a conversation, not another workout where her body would fail her and everyone would laugh. And that hadn't happened in months anyways. Uchiha-sensei at the hospital would be so disappointed in her if she wasted his work. "I don't have any siblings, but I have two cousins." Her face was beet red, but she forged on. "I live with my aunt and uncle. My mom was a Chuunin kunoichi, and I want to be like her." Meekly, she twisted her fingers into the fabric of her shirt, momentum gone.
"A Chuunin, huh?" Aiko-sensei puckered her lips and seemed to stare straight through to her bones. Fukiko tried not to shiver. She'd never seen eyes like those before. Yamanaka Kaito had blue eyes too, but his were less intense in coloration and not so sharp. Whatever she read, Aiko-sensei seemed to come to a conclusion. She stood up straight and sighed, stretching her arms behind her back. "I think we can do you one better than that, Fukiko-chan. You're going to be an excellent kunoichi, but I think your mother would be proud even if you never broke genin. Do you know what kind of shinobi you want to be?"
Struck dumb, Fukiko just stared.
The older girl gave a slight smile. "I mean, specializations," she clarified. "I use fuinjutsu and taijutsu, with a little bit of kenjutsu and ninjutsu. But you can do anything that you want. We can find you a unique weapon, or train you in all of them, or try genjutsu…" she trailed off, blinking expectantly.
"Ah… Genjutsu?" Fukiko guessed. She didn't really have a preference yet.
The uncertainty must have been obvious, because Aiko-sensei looked amused. "We can try a little of everything and see what you like and what you're inclined towards." She heaved a sigh, staring up at the sky to check the time. "We should probably do something with our time today, huh? From now on, you'll be excused from Academy spars, taijutsu, and weaponry practices. Basically, you're going to learn everything but the bookwork from me. If you work hard, you can be a genin before your classmates get there." Unexpectedly, she leaned in and poked Fukiko's tummy. Her lips curled into a catlike smile at the way Fukiko squeaked in surprise and clapped her hands protectively over her front. "I'm going to expect you to do your best, got that? Sasuke-kun thinks you'll go far, so I know you can do it."
'Uchiha-sensei thinks I…" Fukiko fought not to let her eyes widen too much. She didn't realize that he liked her. He was the Hokage's apprentice. If he thought that she could be a good kunoichi… Well, he would know, wouldn't he?
Wait.
"You know Uchiha-sensei?" she asked quietly, trying not to hover as Aiko-sensei led her to an unfamiliar area that had to be a training facility.
Aiko-sensei looked amused. "He was my adorable little kohai, back in the day," she confided. Something positively wicked flashed in her eyes. "Now he's all grown up and sassy."
~~~
Kakashi backed away slightly, trying to conceal his startle. This hadn't been what he expected when he searched out Aiko to ask her to talk about ROOT.
'What is she doing with that kid?' Uncertainly, he peered into the break in the trees where a huffing pre-teen was running sprints between two marked trees while Aiko watched. 'Is she seriously trying to train a student?'
The child didn't even look like a genin. The brunette was a tiny thing, and he didn't see a headband anywhere.
Of course, if the girl had been a genin, she probably would have been faster than that. Kakashi chewed thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek and tilted his head slightly like a bird, watching the child tire and slow. When Aiko immediately had the girl transition to strength exercises, he became certain. 'She's gauging the girl's abilities,' he concluded.
And Aiko looked strangely peaceful doing it. He hadn't seen her take up that soothing tone since Naruto and Sasuke had been ickle genin themselves.
Huh. Who'd have thought that she had any aptitude as a teacher? She hadn't learned it from him, that was for certain.
Of course, he was perhaps a bit deeper in reminiscence than was strictly advisable. By the time her voice carried over to him, it was too late to escape.
"Fukiko-chan, did you know we're being watched?"
He cringed at the mock innocent tone, which seemed strangely ominous now. It had been stupid to forget that he couldn't sneak up on her anymore, now that she had that seal on his kunai.
"My team leader is over there. Kakashi, don't be a creep."
Sullenly, he considered shunshining away. Then again, he had come to talk to her. With a sigh, he dropped to the ground and shunshin-ed forty feet to stand beside Aiko. "Yo." He creased his eye into a fake smile, watching the brunette blink up at him.
There was something very familiar about her features, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.
"Fukiko-chan, this is Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi, this is my new student."
Well, that was confirmation. Still, he couldn't let this pass without teasing. "That explains it," he sighed, feigning boredom. "Here I wondered if you were taking a leaf out of Anko's book."
Aiko rolled her eyes and shoved at him with a palm. He playfully let the motion move his torso over, despite the lack of force behind the blow. "No, I did not steal her," Aiko confirmed dryly. "I got her from Tsunade-sama, but I suppose you can check if you don't believe me."
'Is this what Tsunade expected me to see, or is it just a coincidence?' Thoughtfully, he eyed the pre-genin. She was a nervous little thing, and steadily turning a dangerous shade of white. Odd. 'Is this Tsunade's idea of therapy?'
He would have laughed her out of the room if she'd suggested it to him, but Aiko really did look content. Teaching was supposed to be stressful, wasn't it? He'd thought Aiko was a snuggly hellion, and then he'd gotten a full team of the little monsters. Perhaps that was why Aiko only had one short person. She was being eased into it. Feeling generous, he nodded to the shaky pre-teen. "Nice meeting you, Fukiko-chan. I was hoping to borrow your sensei."
"We're done for the day," Aiko decided grudgingly, giving the younger girl a once-over. "Fukiko-chan, I'll take you home." She turned away before the little girl could begin to sputter that it wasn't necessary. "Be back in a minute, if that's alright."
It was alright, but it didn't much matter if it was or not because Aiko didn't wait for his reply. She picked Fukiko up like a sack of potatoes and settled her against a hip.
Kakashi briefly wondered if Aiko realized that child had to be nine or so and had certainly learned to walk by now.
"Where do you live?" Fukiko stuttered out a reply, and then the two were gone. Kakashi blinked at the flattened grass in the shape of two footprints that slowly pushed itself up.
'She doesn't honestly have tags all over town, does she?'
Odd. How lazy could she possibly be?
Aiko took long enough to return that he'd popped open Icha Icha by the time she rematerialized on the exact patch of grass that she'd left, yawning and stretching.
"Bit of a mouse, isn't she?" Kakashi commented bluntly, lowering his book just slightly to check her expression.
"Meh." Aiko all but collapsed into the grass, stretching out on her back with her fingers above her head. "I think she's a cute kid." Idly, she rubbed her ankles together and blinked up at the clouds.
It hardly seemed the time to start such a depressing conversation, but putting it off wouldn't help. So he put away his book. Instantly, he felt Aiko's full attention on him, and resisted the urge to give in to a wry smile. He needed to do a better job of hiding his tells, if that let her know that he was serious about something.
"You know, when I was fourteen, Shimura Danzo approached me and asked if I wanted an opportunity to take more missions," he mused. Kakashi didn't stop to check her reaction. If he asked her to talk about ROOT, she'd feel put on the spot. If he talked about his own experiences, she'd know he wouldn't judge her, and possibly feel obligated to reciprocate the openness. "Sandaime-sama had been limiting what I could do, because I was so young and he didn't want me to burn out. But I just wanted to work until I could forget everything else. I didn't realize that what ROOT did was illegal, but I might not have cared at the time either. It took me a long time to realize that what he was doing to me and to other shinobi was wrong."
Aiko rolled her head over to stare intently, hair splayed out in the grass in a riot of color. The overall effect was intense enough that he wanted to look away.
"One day, I just stopped reporting because I knew he couldn't force me. But that hadn't solved the problem. I still knew that I'd acted counter to the Hokage's interests when he trusted me, and that Danzo would just find other talented young people to manipulate and discard when they became inconvenient."
On that note.
"I suppose that's why Sai is so strange." The playful musing broke the spell of seriousness that had fallen over them.
Aiko snorted. "He's not that bad," she defended fondly, closing her eyes. "I don't think I want to hear you call other people strange." Sai was doing remarkably well, all things considered. Granted, she hadn't yet seen him to talk about the ROOT mess except in passing in Hokage Tower, where Tsunade seemed to be keeping him busy. Perhaps he would be replacing Boar as a tower guard?
Kakashi feigned hurt, blinking at her soulfully. The expression was wasted: one eye was covered, and she wasn't looking anyways.
"I suppose that now that you've shown yours, you want me to show you mine?"
He cringed. Her crude sense of humor had been more amusing when it had been Tenzou that she taunted with it. That was a most unfortunate choice of metaphor, even if the comparison regarding sharing vulnerability in hopes of reciprocation was somewhat apt.
Aiko cracked one eye open to gauge how uncomfortable she'd made him and smirked, despite the fact that he'd already wiped his face clear. She rolled her head to the side and shrugged. "ROOT was pretty dumb. I'm glad that's done."
That was an underwhelming summary. His eye narrowed in displeasure. He'd made a real effort, so she should too.
The redhead heaved a put-upon sigh and patted the grass at her side. When he didn't move, she lifted her head just enough to give him a mild glare. "I'm not going to talk to your shins."
Perhaps this was just one of her conditions for talking? Pacified, Kakashi gave in and settled in a seated position at her side, with one leg stretched out and the other slightly bent. Immediately, he realized his error when the little viper plopped her head in his lap and stared up at him cheekily, scrunching up her nose. "Thank you, I needed a pillow."
He gave serious consideration to pushing her off.
"Anyway, talking about Danzo." She wiggled her head slightly above his knees and seemed to bite at the inside of her lip in thought. "You're right, Danzo did totally suck. He threw the worst parties and I hated the matching tattoos. Someone should have suggested club t-shirts instead."
"Parties?" Kakashi repeated cautiously, not entirely certain he was following her. She blinked up at him gravely.
"Yes, parties. There ain't no party like a Danzo party, because a Danzo party is mandatory." She made a strange hand gesture for emphasis.
'I'm not familiar with the type of thing I'm seeing.' Wisely, he didn't respond. When he didn't engage, Aiko fixed him with one of those long-suffering looks that implied she was wondering why the world didn't recognize her obvious brilliance and huffed.
"Heathen." He tried not to snort at the poorly hidden pout. She really shouldn't have given up on wearing masks. She was terrible at keeping her face blank when not on missions. Then again, maybe that wasn't so terrible. Kakashi waited patiently, tilting his head slightly in a request for more information. That had been a start, but not really comparable to what he'd shared. While her expression was first playful, as the seconds drew on, Aiko betrayed her unease by biting at her lip. Gently, he reached down and tapped the lip, lightly pulling it away from her teeth.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but not with any sort of anger. Aiko seemed oddly vulnerable and searching. Without knowing what she was looking for, all he could do was hold eye contact.
She broke it first. "Did Danzo give you a codename?"
Well, that was a baffling conversation change. Of course he had. "Yes," Kakashi ventured cautiously, not sure where this was going.
"What was it?"
He furrowed his brow. What an odd question. "I don't remember," he said apologetically. "That was a long time ago."
'Why did you ask that?'
She seemed to be asking herself the same question, clearly regretting bringing up the topic. Nonetheless, she gave a soft sigh and turned her head slightly to stare at his feet, breaking any chance of having to look him in the face.
"He talked a lot about how getting emotionally involved in a mission or a partner could prevent you from doing the right thing. Danzo liked to say that was one of the best and most wasteful ways to get killed."
Well, that sounded like his kind of bullshit.
"And then he called me Sakura, so I remembered."
It took a moment for an intense loathing to rise up in his gut. That was utterly foul. "That's-"
"A lie, I know." She curled one hand up and tapped at his calf with her knuckles in a half-hearted gesture of comfort. "I can't see myself making the wrong decision because I care about people." Aiko closed her eyes, clearly indicating that she was done talking for the moment. "That's the only reason I was in ROOT."
He seriously considered asking if she wanted to talk about anything else, but she appeared to have fallen asleep by the time he'd steeled himself for more conversation. With a sigh, he settled back to wait, pulling out his book since there was still sunlight.
Ridiculous. He was too old for taking naps in dog piles. But there was no harm in letting her rest.
~~~
Tsunade didn't turn away from staring into her glass of water, even when the intruder made an obvious play for attention by scuffling one of his geta on the floor. Eventually, Jiraiya scowled and came up to lean against the back of her couch.
"You've been busy, Tsunade-hime."
Wordlessly, she flickered her eyes to look at him without turning her head. "Hello, pervert."
He rolled his eyes at her unenthusiastic greeting, and jumped over the couch to sit on her feet. He propped his legs up on her table and crossed his arms contemplatively. "So, Danzo just up and kicked the bucket, huh?" His tone was dry enough to convey skepticism, despite lacking his usual dramatic emphasis.
"Yepp," she confirmed blandly, chin braced between two fingers. "It was a surprise all around."
"And this had nothing to do with ROOT, ne?" The look he gave her implied that he would lose all respect for her if she lied to his face.
Tsunade sighed, biting on her lower lip. Grouchily, she shrugged. "Maybe just a little. That and the eleven stolen Sharingan in his arm and hidden eye socket, but he probably would have survived that surgery. Removing the mokuton genetic material he'd attached all the way to his bone was perhaps the final straw."
There was a long moment where he was very still. "I was not aware of this, Tsunade-hime."
"I know." She flexed her foot against his thigh in a rare gesture of comfort. "To be fair, I wasn't either, until the end. Speaking of the end, there's a seal I need you to look at."
Jiraiya scoffed loudly. "If that's not a soothing transition, I don't know what is." He heaved a dramatic sigh. "Let me guess: you want me to try to pick apart his tongue seal again? You got a whole organization running loose now?"
Tsunade didn't laugh. "I wish that was all," she grunted, tilting her chin up to look at the ceiling. "Although, I do need to figure out what the hell to do with them. I was hoping for your help there, too. My agent hasn't done a full debriefing yet, but I was hoping that you could help me use what she has to track down them all before they can scatter. No, I was talking about something different. Danzo had some large, complicated seal on his chest. I had no idea what it was for, but Aiko hypothesized that it was intended to fail with an explosion when he died."
"This oughta be good," Jiraiya muttered.
Ignoring the interruption, Tsunade continued. "Which is why she peeled it off him and put it on herself before he died."
Something odd flickered in his expression, and she took a moment to hope that he'd take the bait and the tangent about sealing. Alas, it was not to be.
"Before he died?" Jiraiya repeated mockingly. "That's a nice euphemism." His gaze was hard and sullen, jaw set tightly. "So she was your ROOT plant, then?" He pinned her with a confrontational look. "You know, you're the worst goddamn day care I've ever heard of."
Tsunade was surprised into a barking laugh at his irreverence, despite knowing just how serious he must be. "I thought we already had a conversation about your godchildren being adults," she deflected.
"Which makes it just dandy for you to let them fight Akatsuki, when one of them is a target and the other one is the best bait for him." The sarcasm was poisonous.
"They're involved," Tsunade snapped back defensively. "Naruto deserves to be able to fight for himself! If you didn't want them to become shinobi, you should have raised them outside of Konoha. You don't get to avoid them for fifteen years and then claim parental privilege."
"Oh really?" Jiraiya sneered at his old teammate. Bitterness was making them both ugly. "That's awfully high-handed coming from you. What right do you have to talk about avoiding duties? You were a missing nin in everything but name for twenty years. I was at least still serving."
"At least I didn't—" Tsunade cut herself off, grimacing. She leaned back shamefaced, and quietly deflected, "We're acting like children. This isn't what you're upset about and we both know it. Dragging up old history won't change anything." She met his eyes wearily. "You're not wrong. I screwed up at least once with one of your kids."
'More than once. I put that little girl into a situation where she had to kill her own teammate. How didn't I see it?'
She couldn't say that. A secret like that wasn't hers to tell, although it was so likely to be damaging that she'd need to interfere with Aiko's mental health directly. If Tsunade didn't take responsibility, the girl could leave that situation with the worst possible message. No one should have to make that decision.
It was a struggle, but she didn't look aside despite the bleakness of her thoughts. "I thought I'd gotten Aiko killed," she confided quietly, fingers curling into a fist at her chest. "I didn't believe her when she told me that the Ame woman was up to something. Her only evidence was that this kunoichi was walking around at night. So I told her she could investigate on her own and went back to bed." Her lips twisted bitterly. "If I'd gone with her…"
"She might not have been kidnapped," Jiraiya finished bluntly. But he relaxed, a little pitying now that he saw she was genuinely remorseful. "But she got out on her own, huh? Her dad was always slippery too."
"Minato had more sense," Tsunade huffed, eyes wearier than he'd seen before. "I'm scared for that girl. I think sensei made a mistake by not giving her a genin team to learn cooperation, and I made it worse by putting her in ANBU ROOT. It's so seldom that it honestly even occurs to her to ask for help." She looked down. "And I turned her down one of the few times she thought to ask."
"To be fair, I might have thought she was overreacting too," Jiraiya comforted awkwardly. "Walking around in a hotel at night isn't exactly proof positive of conspiracy."
Tsunade snorted. "Whose side are you on, anyways?" She shoved at him with her foot, mood momentarily lightened. "Aren't you supposed to be going all, 'roar, protective daddy' on me? She really could have died. Kid looked like complete hell when she came back." Her lightened attitude fled, and she heaved a derisive laugh. Grimly, she confided, "Akatsuki really did a number on her. Most of it's cosmetic. She's got about eighty percent of a left ear now, and scarring from small projectiles and a crappy healing. But…" Tsunade gave a guilty glance at him, before admitting, "She really should have died. If she didn't have that Uzumaki resilience, she would have. That Ame kunoichi must have really clocked her from behind, and then didn't do anything about the fact that her brain was hemorrhaging for days. I'd say it was a miracle she made it back, but it was really criminal hard-headedness."
Jiraiya's lips tightened. "Sounds like we should be taking a closer look at Ame."
"About that…" Tsunade hesitated, mulling over what she was considering saying. "At the time, it slipped my mind. But Aiko's report made me… Well, it doesn't make any sense. I know she's supposed to be dead. But…"
"What are you trying to say, hime?" Jiraiya prodded gently. She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, before seeming to give in. With a sigh, she gave in.
"I didn't immediately recognize her. But how many blue-haired kunoichi from Ame named Konan could there really be?"
Jiraiya froze stiff.
Tsunade deflected her gaze and continued. "It wasn't until I had Aiko's report that I really believed it was the same girl. Aiko talked about her using paper based jutsu, and-"
"No," he interrupted softly, before raising his voice. "No, it can't be. They died."
"Apparently, they didn't." Tsunade broke the news as gently as possible, but there was just no way to feel comfortable about giving such mixed news. Had the circumstances been different, she would have loved to be able to tell him that he had at least one surviving student, despite the dubious silence she'd kept for so long. But as it was…
"Konan in Akatsuki?" His voice was as broken as she'd ever heard.
They'd have to kill her. She was threatening their people. Jiraiya loved all his students, but he loved his godchildren more, both on their own merits and as the last remnants of his apprentice. Minato had practically been his own son.