2 years prior…

The sun beat hot on the narrow path, which wound through the fresh spring garden like a cobbled stream. I thought there would have been more people on the garden tour on a day like today, but I hadn't seen a single soul since I had set foot in the greenhouse about a hour back.  As I walked, I saw a small placid pond choked with leaves fallen from a gathering of oaks, huddled around the pond like a Savannah watering hole. To my right, I saw a refurbished bird bath tipped carelessly and never righted. It didn't seem like people came back here often to fix anything.

Looking into the glassy surface, I saw my own reflection and reflected that I needed a bit more sun. It was a decent day to go out and tan, too, even though it made me look a bit young for my 23 years of age.  The sun, which passed through the overarching glass canopy, hit my face in subtle beams and another leaf gently fell into the pond, sending ripples across the water. I knelt by the pond and watched each ring in the water expanded calmly as their energy was spent and the water had returned to a state of peace.

I often lost track of time here, the world seemed to fall away. I flexed my long forearms, taut from my time spent climbing up the walls around the village. It was exhausting, but the peace that I felt here was the perfect remedy. I let my mind recede, watching the ripples slowly fade in reverse.  Picking up the pace of the receding, I soon found myself in a distant memory, my eyes getting lost in the memory once it spotted a white lily resting upon the pond’s surface.

Meeting up with the rest of my squad, taking on a mission to stop a group of brigands from oppressing a town by the coast.  There were only three of us: Miho, Ichirou, and I.  We had found the group heading down the valley that lead straight to the coastal town.  Now I remembered what was going to happen, and being stuck in the memory, couldn’t stop what was to happen.  The three of us leapt down, falling from the sides of the valley.  We had the brigands by their flanks.  There was no hope for them.  Yet, just like a cornered beast, they managed to strike back.  The fight went on for hours, far too many than were supposed to have been allowed.  By the end, it had been too late.  We were just chuunin, sent to take on an entire group of experienced brigands.  How naïve we were back then.  How naïve I had been.  In the end, only I had made it out of the valley.  And from then on I had been given that nickname.

My eyes opened, tired of reliving that memory.  The white lily still floated.  Solitary and standing firm, it floated.

”Some things never change, do they?”

I said more to myself than to the lily.  The white lily, the very nickname that had bumped me up to Specail Jounin and the everlasting reminder of the cost it took to give me that name.  I slowly got up and turned away from the pond, unwilling to look at the lily again.

With each step he took, the sand that he was stepping on swished and redistributed his weight to the wrong part of his feet that would cause him to stop and rebalance himself. That was one thing he couldn't stand about Suna, the sand was always shifting as soon as you stepped somewhere. It was like his feet was attracting the dunes that would plunge him under 6 feet of sand. If it wasn't for the chakra that was around his feet that the jounin was sending, Sanosuke would have been at the bottom of some undiscovered cavern that was under all the sand he has been walking on a long time ago. There was also the heat that was beating down on his forehead as Sanosuke tried to shake off the heat that was baking him alive. It was times likes these that Sanosuke wished that he was back in Kumo, where the cool mountain air was enough to freeze water if you were high enough. Even though the cold mountainous region of Kumogakure was his homeland, Sanosuke was no stranger to the heat. Throughout his journey with his master Guru Pathik, the two went to several locations. One of those locations included being in Iwagakure where the land had deserts but they were much hotter and humid than Sunagakure oddily enough. If it wasn't for the few breezes that would come in and cool him off, the silver haired jounin wouldn't have known what to do.

"It's so hot, I gotta find a place for me to take shelter in soon." Sanosuke gasped to himself as he stopped walking around the middle of town to get a better idea of where he should be going. At the moment he was near the village square where multiple people were working in venues and selling things of all shapes and sizes. From swords, to vases, animals and even paintings. Suna really was the land where merchants can thrive. There were multiple times that Sanosuke would feel like an outsider with the clothes he was wearing, which is why he would hide them away in a scroll that he kept on him at all times. His silver hair was tied back in a ponytail so that the heat wouldn't cause it frizz and get in front of his face making it more difficult to see. At the moment, the jounin was wearing a short sleeved white hoody with the sleeves touching his middle biceps. Also he was wearing cargo shorts with each of the pockets holding some of his belongings, the rest were in scrolls. Sanosuke didn't bring much on his journey, but most of them were souvenir of all the places he visited. He'd have to show some of the things he brought to Skye, there's one that the genjutsu user would love.

In his hands were several books, each book looking more cryptic and hard to understand from the last as you go down the tower of books Sanosuke was attempting to hold in his hands. It was times like these that the blue eyed jounin couldn't help but thank his master for all the training he put his body through. Even though his body size was only a bit larger than from where he started and only grew a few inches, Sanosuke felt stronger. So holding these books, that were thick and all together weight about 50 pounds, wasn't much of a strain just annoying. He had to put these books down or else the heat would cause him to collapse in the middle of the road. He asked a nearby woman where there was somewhere cool he can put these books down and possibly read them. The woman told him to look into visiting the Medicinal Greenhouse. It's said that the greenhouse was designed to keep the plants in their cool enough so that the heat wouldn't kill them. That was all he needed to know as Sanosuke sped off to find this greenhouse after he was given the directions. It only took him a few minutes to find the place.

Cool air blasted him right in the face as he miraculously used one of his occupied hands to open the door that was holding the stack of books. Sanosuke entered the Greenhouse swiftly to soak in the beauty of not sweating himself to death. As he walked around, Sanosuke was looking around taking in the sights. This was quite the collection of wildlife that was in this greenhouse. Each plant looked like a completely different species. Some were big, some were small, some had colors that the Kumogakure jounin had never even seen before. He kept on site seeing until he final felt his body cool off and was no longer drenched with sweat. Wind chakra was whipping around his body gently as a fan to help his body out with cooling down. That way his body wouldn't have to sweat, making his body reek with musk. Meeting people will be pretty hard if you smelled nothing like dirty laundry. Sanosuke walked around to see that, even though this was an impressive greenhouse, it was as though there was no body in sight.

About 5 meters away, Sanosuke could spot a bird bath that was carelessly knocked over. Geez even the people taking care of the greenhouse wasn't here. A pity. Sanosuke walked around a pond to the knocked over bird bath and set his books down on a nearby tree that was offering the perfect amount of shade needed for him to read while showing enough light so that Sanosuke could actually read the information on each page. With the books on the ground, Sanosuke got himself ready and walked over to the bird bath. Leaning down, Sanosuke prepared himself and lifted the bird bath up so it was standing up correctly. There wasn't any water in the basin at all. Walking over to the pond, Sanosuke cupped his hands in the pond so that his cupped hands would be filled with water. Then he would walk over to the basin and release it so that a fraction of the water was back. He continued doing so until the bird bath was filled once more with water. Each time his hands made contact with the water when filling up the basin, it would cause deep ripples to fill the waterhole for all to see.

With the bird bath completed, Sanosuke dried his hands off on his pants. The sounds of chirping could be heard as a blue jay flew towards him gracefully. Lifting his hand up slowly, the blue jay landed on his right index finger with his claws digging gently into him. Sanosuke smiled as the blue jay chirped happily. He couldn't help but laugh as the blue jay was obviously happy that its bath was revived. "Oh no problem little fella. Now go ahead and enjoy your bath, all right?" Sanosuke said to the bird. The bird seemed to know what Sanosuke meant and leaped off the jounin's finger and into the bath where it frolicked carefree and happily. Ever since his training, Sanosuke felt slightly closer to nature and all of its beauty. With his job done, Sanosuke walked back towards the tree where his books were  sitting. All 13 of them, which would help him in his search. As soon as he sat down, the silver haired shinobi in his early 20s smiled and looked at the bathing bird looking so happy with the bird bath fixed. "Hey, I got an idea how about I play us a little song since no one else is here." The bird chirped happily as though it begged for Sanosuke to play. It made Sanosuke laugh a bit as he got out his ocarina that he got from his teacher as a graduation gift.

It was metallic blue with tribal streaks of black paint detailed on it. Sanosuke has learnt how to play the ocarina from his teacher along their training. Music is also related to chakra enlightenment, every note has to be in perfect synchronization with your breath and fingers. Like how all 365 tenketsu points have to be in perfect synch to create chakra. So learning an instrument, in a weird way, helped the jounin learn to better control his chakra. Sanosuke began to play a song. It was a lullaby that his mother used to hum for him when he was still very young. Before everything happened. Each note was painful as memories flooded in, his pain went into the song he was playing to give it more fuel to let its emotions run rampant on the chords. Memories of cooking with his mother, memories of him and his mother secretly planning their father's surprise party, and the memories of her always kissing him awake each morning. Each one of those memories struck his heart with each note that he hit. A single tear drop hit the ground as he played without him knowing. Unknown to him, Sanosuke's fantastic playing could be heard by a certain silver haired woman that was close by whom's eyes were casted at a white lily.

Song Sano is Currently Playing:

2 days before...

"Suzume, you are charged with clearing out the birds from the medicinal greenhouse. Lately, some kids have set up a bird bath inside that has encouraged birds to nest there. Now, it's fairly obvious as to why we can not allow this." The Sunagakure Task Officer set down the paperwork onto the desk before him and studied Suzume. "You are okay to take on another mission, aren't you?"

"Don't worry, sir. I'm fine." I wasn't fine. It had been ages ago since I had lost my two other squadmates from a complete suicide mission to protect a coastal village. Suicide because at the time, they had all just been chuunin and the brigands far more experienced. The fight had taken its toll on me. Ever since I had not taken another group mission. Whether out of fear of losing others or not feeling completely up to getting close to others, the village was worried about me, I could tell just by how the task officer had given me simpler jobs. They were needing sensei to train the young genin coming out of the Academy, and here I was, a prominent Jounin that didn't want any part of it. Eventually I would have to get over it, but at the moment I just didn't want to.

"Good. Well, get out there, then." He nodded towards the door and I left without a word.

The medicinal gardens weren't too far from the administration offices. So when I got there and saw the number of birds gathered around the bird bath, I realized how much work this mission would end up being. Seven hours later, and several gallons of sweat thinner, I had managed to leave the medicinal greenhouse having shooed all of the birds outside. The bird bath was still upright though, and I was too tired to move it out. Instead, I voted to myself that I'd move it the following day.

Of course, when I came back to get it, someone had overturned it. Seeing as it wouldn't be useful to birds anymore, I left it there for the greenhouse workers to get rid of themselves. I'd done my job and got the birds out, the least they could do was fix the place up to look nicer.

---

Present day...

My eyes lifted up and noticed the man take a seat underneath one of the trees that was grown, he'd just uprighted the bird bath and to my astonishment a blue jay came flying down. The bird just chirped away, no doubt in glee about having the bird bath fixed again. Already there was one bird back in the greenhouse. When I had left it the other day, there had been none, and I mean none, left in the greenhouse. Where in the world did this guy get off that made him think that this was okay?

He began playing a tune for the bird, simple little diddy played upon an ocarina. I had yet to see someone play the ocarina, only seeing it in the music shops whenever I walked around the stores. Although he was quite talented, the music was only going to keep the bird there and may even bring more. Figuring this out, I sprang up from my crouch and marched straight at the man, swatting my hand at the blue jay to make it fly away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I asked, my face showing stone cold emotion as I folded my arms. That was one good thing about keeping a blank face to hide emotions, sometimes it made you appear more angry than you were. "This is a greenhouse for medicinal plants. Birds aren't allowed here so that they don't eat precious sources of medicine! That bird bath, however misplaced, should have at least stayed tipped over."

I stood towering over the man as he sat with his books and ocarina, slumped against the tree. "Now, tell me your name. Maybe you're the reason why birds have been coming in here. Reason I had to clear them out just a few days ago, too." I would get to the bottom of this. And although my brain didn't recognize his face, not even once before, I still believed him to be the quite likely suspect for bringing birds into the greenhouse.

Sounds of an angry bird chirping filled his ears as it stopped his musical connection to the ocarina he was currently playing. The blue jay that Sanosuke had helped get back out of the bird bath was flying away in circles around the greenhouse. Its squalls bounced off the walls of the Greenhouse as each screech was louder than the last. Looking around, Sanosuke tried to follow the bird's flight pattern to see where it was flying off too. Eventually the bird sped out of the greenhouse without leaving much to Sanosuke; the person whom had saved the little bird's bath. Letting out a sigh, Sanosuke turned his attention to the shadow that was now looming over him. This was most likely the person whom was responsible for the bird to fly away in fear and out of the greenhouse. Before the two were simply enjoying each other's company, and then suddenly the bird had flew off for its life as though it was in danger.

Directly above him casting a fantastic shadow for Sanosuke to be out of the heat was a woman the looked around his age. She was pretty tall for a woman and quite muscular actually. This woman was obviously a shinobi from her build. That and the fact the Kumogakure jounin could easily spot the Suna headband on her body. She must be the guard of the greenhouse. So what could she possibly want with him. Even though her face was completely emotionless, Sanosuke could still sense an aura of annoyance coming from her body as he was being interrogated by the kunoichi with almost silver hair. Apparently he was in the wrong the entire time when he helped out the blue jay. He had no idea that birds could do such a thing to a greenhouse. It made sense though. Birds can easily destroy the plants that Suna medical specialist use for medicine. This is also the only place where plants can even grow. Scratching his head, Sanosuke began chuckling nervously while being interrogated so badly. His ocarina was still in his hand as he was composing himself. "I didn't know that the birds were causing so much trouble. I'm not from around here, I'm a traveler looking to learn more about ancient societies. I just got into Suna a few weeks ago, so I wouldn't know much about this." Sanosuke explained to the woman whom was looking at him skeptically, as though she didn't believe a word that Sanosuke was saying.

Getting up, Sanosuke began to think to himself with his lips pursed and his hand on his chin to figure out a way to fix the situation he worsened. Even though this wasn't his business, Sanosuke had to at least help the woman out. She was just doing her job, and Sanosuke had just made her job that much harder to pull off. Finally after coming up with an idea, Sanosuke turned his attention back to the Sunagakure kunoichi before him. "How about I make it up to you by helping you stand guard all night waiting for the people whom had set up the bird bath in the first place to show up? I'm staying here anyways to get away from the heat, and this place it a good place to continue my research." Sanosuke said while pointing over to the stack of books he had stationed under the shade. There was a total of 13 books that were about 6 inch thick per book. "I know I screwed up, but I just want to try and make amends. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Sanosuke Flynt, traveler. You?" lies spilled from his tongue as he extended his hand towards the woman for a handshake. Sanosuke was a jounin from the village hidden in the clouds. Without a visa, he was actually entering a village without proper clearance. There was no need to tell this woman whom he really was, there was no need to.

Were anyone to walk in on us at this moment, it would look quite awful for my position, standing over this dark-skinned man and questioning him as if he was the perpetrator causing the birds to come into the greenhouse.  Seeing as I, a Jounin of the village, was doing this to an unassuming stranger, it could very well be taken as abuse of the law as well as racial profiling.  Yet thankfully no one else came in to see me being in such a demanding tone.

Seeing the bird fly away did put myself at ease.  Though that still meant that others could get through.  I'd have to report the area that the bird was able to escape so that it could be patched up.  It was surprising that not as many bugs had gotten in.  Sure, the Village Hidden in the Sand was in the middle of the desert, but still, somehow we ran into a few insects.  Not really any flies, the most common being scorpions and various desert beetles.  Yet they could still pose a threat to the plants.  And with the greenhouse having an easy exit and entryway for birds, who knew what other kinds of cracks and crevices might exist.

Still, for him to be saying he was a traveling archaeologist, it did not make sense with his appearance.  His muscle-tone seemed off to me.  I was not an archaeologist but it seemed that they would not need to be lean and muscular.  "What are you, some kind of archaeologist?"

Thinking about it now, he had not even said he was an archaeologist. Here I was assuming.  Though there wasn't much to go on.  All I knew now was that he had not meant to cause a problem and he was reading up on ancient cultures.  Still, he had offered to stick around to see if the people that put up the bird bath would come back at some point.  Though I had not even thought of it, I already doubted the idea.

"Here, let me have a look at your papers."  I wanted to know what kind of traveller he was.  Beating around the bush would only work so well.  This was better.  Straight to the point.

"I'm Suzume, by the way. A Jounin of this village.  Honestly, you're fine.  No real harm done.  Just think before you act, next time.  It came out a little harsh with my blank face so I showed off a nice smile meaning I didn't mean any harm by what I said.  "As for staying here, the greenhouse is still open to visitors but I couldn't ask you to stay any longer than that."

I looked over to the bird bath.  If no one was gonna move it, I guess it was up to me to do it.  Although Sanosuke did say he wanted to get on a better footing.  An idea popped into my head, though most of me only scoffed at it.  There was no way I would make him do my job.  "So, just let me take a look at your papers real quick and I'll leave you with your books."

My hand stretched out to receive his papers, instead taking his handshake.  Odd, I was getting the feeling again.  Something didn't sit right about all he was saying.  One look at his papers would settle that feeling, though, I was sure of it.  This time my gut was on the fritz.  He seemed harmless enough, even with his muscle-y appearance.

"An Archaeologist? Yeah that sounds about right. Though I'm a bit more of a nomad." Sanosuke explained to the jounin. A smile crossed his lips as the silver haired kunoichi addressed him by calling him an archaeologist. From the look that she was giving him, Sanosuke felt as though he was being inspected and interrogated with those ruby eyes of the jounin. It was as though she was a magnifying glass looking into the crime scene of a murder case. Her eyes looking for something that would give her something to tip her off about Sanosuke. On the inside he was calm and prepared for the questions the woman would throw at him, after all he had been traveling for about 3 years now since leaving Kumo for his journey for enlightenment; this isn't the first time a shinobi was looking at him and carding him for a traveling visa.

Reaching in his back pocket, Sanosuke reached for a blank visa that can easily be transformed into a passable visa through the usage of advanced levels of fuuinjutsu and ninjutsu released into the card."Yeah I have a traveling visa. Though I feel kind of hurt that you don't think all archaelogist can be good looking as me." Sanosuke teased the girl as he quickly transformed the empty visa into a pretty accurate copy. He didn't even have too look at it to make the copy because of how many times he's done it. And each time, he didn't get caught even once.  Even though he didn't have an official traveling paper, Sanosuke and Guru Pathik would always get by with the use of this simple parlor trick to get passed shinobi that would ask them for their papers. There was even a time when Sanosuke used this trick to get enough money to a ferry to Tsuchi no Kuni by selling underaged kids fake ids.

The smile that was on her face looked sincere as she introduced herself to him. Her name was Suzume, quite the pretty name. At first when she was speaking the face was still blank without a single emotion being revealed from her mask. She wasn't the type of person to actually get out of her shell without someone giving her a little nudge, that much could be told from how she acted. Very rigid, and probably punctual. Even though Sanosuke had offered her a hand to be nice, she turned it down for the passports. Did she really not trust him? It was understandable, Sanosuke was someone that doesn't have the build to be an archaeologist. "You know for someone as cute as you, you sure do know how to scare the hell out of people." He tried his best to lighten up the situation in hopes to not make it such a big deal. Handing Suzume his traveling visa that should describe him as a traveler from Kaminari no Kuni, Sanosuke felt a bit better since he made sure that the information wasn't all false. Technically speaking, he was traveling and from the Thunder Country, so it wasn't all false.

The copy should be flawless, without any immediate errors on it that could be caught on by an observer looking at it for a few minutes. Once he gets his visa back, he would put it back in his back pocket. "I think I'll stay here in the greenhouse though, besides I like it here. Though lets see what I can do about that bird bath. Seems to make the greenhouse cluttered with a knocked over bird bath don't you think?" Sanosuke offered as he walked over to the bird bath that he had set up and lifted it up with one arm with ease. He hoisted the thing and carried it all the way to the door of the greenhouse and placed it outside of it so it would not only be out of the greenhouse but also won't make it difficult to get inside. When he was done, Sanosuke sat down with his books and smiled at Suzume. Sitting down with his books, Sanosuke patted a spot for the jounin to join him "That'll take care of your bird problem. Come sit with me, it's fun to have some company around."

"An Archaeologist? Yeah that sounds about right. Though I'm a bit more of a nomad." Sanosuke explained, a soft smile peeling away at his face.  In my mind, I replayed what he had said: 'that sounds about right'?  So then he was not an archaeologist?  I was puzzled, the response did not match a man confident in his field.  I kept my face blank as he continued to pipe up, his face still rather calm and collected.

Hmm... collected.  His response was not so confident but his face is.  A mismatch.  Strike one. My father had taught me a lot about mismatches.  In my years being trained in the Kekkei Genkai of my clan, Kokoro no Me - Eye of the Heart, by my father I soon learned what various ways mismatches came to be and the possible reasons behind them.  It took years for me to learn, it takes years for anyone to really learn, and only when you have fully completed the teachings of the Kekkei Genkai does the clan let you out into the shinobi world.  That's why I didn't get to join the Academy until I was eighteen.  Eighteen was the age most of the clan were allowed, though it wasn't always as simple as getting to that age.  Sometimes people had to be held back a year or so before they finished the teachings.  Others were able to finish before eighteen, the youngest having gone into the Academy at fourteen years of age.

"Yeah, I have a traveling visa. Though I feel kind of hurt that you don't think all archaeologists can be good looking as me," he teased at me.

The comment suddenly shocked me, making me take a half step back.  Had I mentioned that he was good looking?  I didn't think I had.  And if anything, I'd only noticed his athletic build.  I didn't think I had said anything about it.  Had I?

No.  That was definitely not something I would say to a man I had only just met.  So then why had he said that?  Why was he teasing?  My eyes narrowed.  Something was suspicious about him and I wanted to know what it was.  Not just anyone could figure something out.  Not even a cocky man would have just teased like that all of a sudden.  Things just were not making sense and I needed things to make sense.

"You know for someone as cute as you, you sure do know how to scare the hell out of people."

Outright flattery.  And just as he was handing me his travel visa. That was another inflection, the smile as he complimented me, followed by the slight negative comment.  It just looked off, felt off.  The timing was not helping him any either.  Trying to make a joke while handing over his papers.  Was he trying to make things lighthearted?  As if I would take a papers check lighthearted?

Strike two.

Obviously this guy did not realize who he was dealing with.  Lighthearted was not in my vocabulary.  Scratched out years ago by my father.  Business was business.  All of it needed to be taken seriously with every step accounted for.  One mistake, no matter how small, can make a huge mess down the road.  I had learned that firsthand several times.  The scars on my cheek and my stomach were proof of that.

I took the traveling visa from his hands.  Looking it over, it had all the right markings.  'Traveller from the Land of Lightning, academic purposes.'  It looked fine, but then again, so did his demeanor although his words were mismatching.  One last check.  I focused chakra on my hands, a simple fuuinjutsu technique that would check the card for any chakra inscriptions.  There had been talk at the Jounin's Standby Station of men using chakra to make faux visas and licenses.  Cracking down on the number of people getting in was only as good as the people checking them, which usually was not hundred percent effective.

The wave of chakra flowed through the card.  I took the moment to look at Sanosuke, still smiling at me.  When I looked back, my eyes widened a hair before I caught myself.  The visa was now blank.  Nothing. Nada.  Just a white card in my hand.

Strike three.

"I think I'll stay here in the greenhouse though, besides I like it here. Though lets see what I can do about that bird bath. Seems to make the greenhouse cluttered with a knocked over bird bath don't you think?"  He got up, taking the card back from my hands.  He put it back in his back pocket.  Did he not see it change?

He had moved over to pick up the bird bath, lifting it up over one shoulder and turning back to me.  I held out my hand.  This man was not who he said he was. Though now knowing he was setting up a false persona, pointing out that I had caught him red handed would only make things worse.  He might run, or fight.  He obviously could use chakra.  That or he knew someone who used chakra to make that visa.  To get this guy now, I would need to play things smart.  Too many times had I run into thieves, bandits, and other crooks to know that just ordering them to freeze and surrender themselves up would not work.

So I let him set the bird bath down outside of the greenhouse, let him sit back down under the tree, let him get comfortable.  "That'll take care of your bird problem. Come sit with me, it's fun to have some company around."

I smiled.  He had already moved the bird bath for me.  Another thing that I had not really mentioned, yet he had caught on that I needed.  What was with this guy?  "Thanks, I gotta say.  We don't get many visitors here.  Something about sand, sun, and all the heat that turns people away."  I talked as if I was now comfortable with him, as if seeing the visa had erased my worries and sat down next to him on the spot he had patted.

"So, whatcha reading?  I asked, tilting my head over his shoulder, letting my hair trickle down and brush his exposed arm.  My left hand moved to rest on the same arm.  I played as if I was interested in his books that rested on his other side, as if I was being a bit coy and flirtatious.

Now with my hand on his shoulder, I would trigger the jutsu.  The one jutsu that would put this whole thing at ease.  A binding seal.  The one I had used to set other liars and thieves to rest.  He was out of here.

Once activated, I lifted my head up, my demeanor back to a stone cold face.  "Alright, your visa was a fake.  Who are you and why are you in Suna?  You don't have to answer right now, you can always wait until we get to the jailhouse."  I lifted him up, my grip firm on his arm.  He would be a pain to carry, all paralyzed and whatnot, but I would need to act fast.  The jutsu was more than just paralyzing, it was a choke hold.

No matter what, he wouldn't be able to say much, the jutsu would not really be helping him.  "Better yet, let's go there right now.  Make things easier on the both of us. I would say as he would undoubtedly struggle against the jutsu.  Carefully I lifted him up, making sure at least one of my hands was maintaining contact to keep the seal active.  Slowly, as he did weigh quite a bit, we made our way out of the greenhouse and towards the village's jail.

Chakra:

There was something about teasing people that Sanosuke loved to do when first meeting people. Especially the quiet and reserved ones. They're really good at holding in their reactions so it isn't obviously noticeable. It would take someone whom had very skillful and piercing observations skills to spot the cues of emotions. It was lucky for him that the wandering jounin had some piercing eyes that were much too sharp for the average jounin. At the moment, watching Suzume's expressions switch from puzzled, contemplating, flabbergasted and finally somber was a treat. It wasn't in her body or her face, hell she masked her facial expressions very well to the point that she could tell a bold face lie to an entire riot to calm them down and nobody would know. Her eyes was what gave it away. The light between her emotions flashed for each one that she was giving off. It took his entire willpower to not laugh at the wheels that were turning inside the Sunagakure jounin's head that he could see through the ruby orbs that were her eyes.

When he gave her the visa, Sanosuke watched as she began inspecting the fake visa. She was looking very hard to find something that could tip her off about the visa, some sort of mistake. Finally when she had given him back the visa it would have seemed that she trusted him. But then again he couldn't be too careful with what was going on. For all he knew, this could very well be an ambush from the woman. Suzume took way too long looking at those visas to make it look natural. Something was up indeed. Then again he could be overreacting, but there was nothing wrong with making precautions in case the jounin tried to ambush him. So when Sanosuke had walked over while hoisting up the bird bath outside of the greenhouse, he had discreetly made sure that it was within sight so when needed he can use it. Coming back to where Suzume was, Sanosuke sat down and patted a spot for the woman to sit down. She did so easily...a bit too easy for him. Where was the girl with the tough exterior and a back bone so tough that the iron maiden looked like tin foil compared to her? "Yeah I do admit that the sun is pretty hot, but there's also some of the oldest books held here n Kaze no Kuni that I had to check out." Sanosuke answered with a smile while showing her one of the books.

The Story of Futun Master Laheema. It was almost 500 years old, but yet Suna had a copy of it. The copies were said to have been vanished, and yet Sanosuke was able to get his hands on one of them from a merchant in the  Great Brazer of Suna by selling a few gems that he got from doing odd jobs in Iwagakure a few years back. "This book right here, is one of the reasons why I came here. Futun Master Laheema. Rumored to have been able to use chakra to float in the air for 1 year. Normally one would have to use chakra from their bodies to manipulate the flow to power such techniques but he didn't. He used the environment along with the assistance of certain magical flies." Sanosuke told Suzume while making the story sound more interesting. While the story was being told, the silver haired kunoichi was getting surprisingly closer to Sanosuke as he told the story about the Futun user. This was certainly out of character for Suzume. She was actually flirting. Definitely a red flag.

Just when she laid her hand on his arm, Sanosuke knew something was up. Closing his right eye, he opened it. It revealed a demonic symbol on his iris. That iris changed from sapphire blue into golden electric. His hair stood up on ends as electricity coursed through his skin. As soon as she touched his hand, Sanosuke felt himself being restraint as though there were ropes around his body that was tightening around him uncomfortably. At the same time however, Sanosuke had sent electricity through Suzume's body to painfully shock her hand to keep her stunned. How he was easily able to disengage from Suzume and put her into a stalemate when the jounin definitely had the advantage should be enough to confirm that he is a shinobi of high skills and not someone that would be taken lightly. But he needed to make sure that she knew that this was really a mission for peace. "All right you caught me. I'm really a jounin from the village hidden in the clouds. I'm really am a traveler, I have a pardon from the Kyuudaime Raikage herself that allowed me safe passage to all non hostile villages towards  Kumo, temporarily relieved of duty." Sanosuke finally decided to say the truth. For a while, Sanosuke struggled under his bindings of the seal using all of his inner strength and the understanding of the seal that he was under. A caged herring seal. Quite intricate and advanced, so she was quite the sealswoman. But he knew how to apply his strength to break himself free of the seal. The static of his technique will still however going to affect Suzume, so that meant that Sanosuke could escape if he wanted to. But however, that would've made things more complicated. Getting out from his back pocket a scroll that had a pardon, Sanosuke unraveled it and showed it to Suzume whom was still stunned in her position so close to Sanosuke's arm.

"A legit pardon this time. Read for yourself."

Chakra(Jounin) 285/300:

I was deadpan, using my artful training in my clan's kekkei genkai to suppress all emotions, unless I decided to show them.  Having said that, I had specifically made myself appear to look interested in Sanosuke, having given nothing away except the slight widening of my eyes when the visa turned blank in my hands.

Now, as the jutsu started its work and the seal could be seen wrapping around his body, he changed his demeanor.  His right eye opened up, revealing a strange, demonic looking symbol which then made me feel a coursing electric shock up my hand.  My hair that ran over his shoulder frayed out with the current, making it look a mess with only a piece of my hair extended out.  I let go of my hold on him, the jolt sliding myself backwards on the ground while I moved to use my free hand to spin out my bo staff, yet I could not move from the paralyzing sting of his jutsu.

He turned, having disengaged himself from me, and spoke.  Studying him now, everything matched and I knew he was now speaking the truth.  I wished to talk, however, I was thoroughly stunned and he pushed the scroll out to me, unravelling it so I could read its contents.  What he said was true, he was free to wander about.  Yet he still did not have the Hidden Sand's permission to be here.  Not that he could not get permission, that would be easy to get.  I could not see why he did not go for simple permission.  It was unnecessary to have gone through all of this.

It made me question the type of man he was, to not even go through the village's customs like everyone else.  Actions like that only made one more suspicious, surely his travels had taught him not to go against foreign country policies.  Lying about things when he had a perfectly sound reason to travel just made him a different kind of dishonorable.  Thieves at least broke their honor and lied to protect their families or friends from their true sin, instead this guy did not even seem to care but lied just for fun, not caring about his honor at all.  For this, I did not like Sanosuke.

"Why didn't you just say this earlier? We could have saved ourselves from this situation!" I was mad, my hand stung from the sharp burn. "At least my hand would have been saved. Here I was thinking I should bring you in for questioning."

I wanted to shake my head, or grab at my aching hand, but not a muscle could move. The feeling of being helpless while Sanosuke could stand over me was horrible and humiliating. This day was really going off the deep end into my 'unfortunate blunders of me' folder within my memory banks.

Did he feel bad about burning the jounin's hand? Yeah, but slightly. She was trying to arrest him and he resisted. He had been to jail once thanks to a silver haired woman, not the one before him, but one that annoyed him to no ends. Going back to jail again wasn't something that he wanted to go through again. But that left the fact that her hand was burnt because of his ability he had used on Suzume. It was a burn that shouldn't be too much of a bother, but then again Sanosuke did have some rather thick skin. He couldn't say the same about her. It wasn't anything sexist, he just doesn't know much about the woman to say for sure that she could indeed take the pain. "Sorry about that, here let me get some healing balm for you. It'll help with the healing process and also relieve some pain." Sanosukke apologized as he walked over to his traveler's knapsack that was leaning on the tree and materialized his burning balm that he got from his teacher, Guru Pathik, that time when he asked Sanosuke to stand on heated coal with just one finger holding him up for 12 hours. The only reason why he didn't lose that  finger was the amount of chakra he had around it to protect it, though it didn't spare him from having some burns.

When he got it out, Sanosuke walked over to the woman whom was probably now beginning to become free from the stun. The jounin walked over to Suzume and this time spoke from the heart and nothing else. "Listen, I know I screwed up.  You were just doing your job, I get it and I was getting in your way. I only lied so that I can look into a forgotten culture without the possibility of being treated differently because I'm a ninja from a different village. That is the truth." Sanosuke began to say as he laid down the burn balm on the ground for Suzume. She might still be very much mad at Sanosuke. Hell who wouldn't be? Sanosuke had deliberately made her job complicated by lying to her face. It was true, he had heard of many villages that would treat traveling shinobi harshly and differently because they were form a different village. He had seen it done in Konoha too many times for him to count. Some of the racial things they would do a shinobi from a different village was down right disrespectful and close to violent acts.

"Hurting your hand was something that I didn't want to happen intentionally. Please forgive me."

My eyes turned to stone as I watched Sanosuke apologize to me. The eye jutsu he had placed on me had worn off thankfully, allowing me adjust to a better sitting position, leaning back against the tree again. He was trying to explain himself, but either I was too mad and did not want to understand or I just did not get what he was saying. It made no sense to me. Follow the rules and you get what you want. Disobey the rules and you ask for trouble.

I fumed beneath my blank facade, his actions did not make sense to me. Looking at my hand now, testing the skin by touching it, I winced again. One thing about him, he did feel sorry for hurting me. Though I was sure that was all he was sorry about and not being sorry about lying. He was sorry he got caught, just as one would expect a child to be after taking cookies from a cookie jar. Would the child be sorry he did it? No. Would he be sorry he got caught? Definitely.

"Well, if you really do want to study whatever it is about ancient cultures then we'd better get you over to the Customs Office." I snatched up the gauze he had slid my way, stood up, and walked to the door, giving him a glare to make him follow. "Come on, we gotta make a truther out of you."

So, I would lead Sanosuke out of the greenhouse and to the Customs Office if no fight was brought up. Lathering up my hand with gauze, I would stop by a clinic for bandages before resuming the path to Customs. The process would not take very long. Not many people came to Suna, a village hidden in a horrid and vast desert. Once we were done with that, I would stop him again outside in the street.

"Seeing as you're a shinobi, I'm wondering why ancient and lost cultures are so important to you? I aske him, studying his face once more. Seeing that the books weren't just to cover his lie but an actual interest of his, I was curious to why the interest. "I've only read about this land's well documented history. Never really thought past that myself."

There was one thing that Sanosuke had to give credit to however, the fact that Suzume can mask her pain so incredibly well. Normally someone with those kind of burns, when they clenched their fists, would have shown some sort of facial discomfort. She did not. What kind of training and mind state did she go through to ensure that she was able to endure pain to that level was what Sanosuke was trying to figure out. It was definitely impressive.

Even though she didn't directly exclaim that she was still angered at Sanosuke for embarrassing her, Sanosuke could tell. There was the fact that she didn't even acknowledge his apology that he truly meant. He wasn't sorry that he lied about his identity which was what he had to do in order to get the information he wanted without having to face possible racial profiling from a foreign village's customs and people. However the silver haired jounin did apologize for burning her, that was not his attention. All that Sanosuke wanted was for her to back away from him. He'd have to make it up to her somehow.

Needless to say that Sanosuke didn't argue with Suzume when she demanded him to follow him to the Custom's Office of Sunagakure. That glare she gave him was the most he had gotten out of her the short time they had met. The last part of what she said, when Suzume said that she's make him a truther made the jounin laugh a bit before getting the books from the ground and followed her out of the Greenhouse and towards the Custom's Office. When they got there, Sanosuke noticed that they were the only ones in the office. It was rather large and filled with many books. So this looked to hold quite the bit of information about the multiple ancient cultures that Sungakure has filed on.

He was taking in the sights and looking at them all in awe and wonder before putting down his set of books on a nearby table. With his books down at the table, Sanosuke sat down in front of them. Right across of him at the same table was an empty chair. It was probably the seat that Suzume would sit in to look at Sanosuke from; after all he doubted that she would let Sanosuke be on his own with this much information. As he began opening his books, Sanosuke noticed how she was inspecting him while he was reading. "I'm wondering why ancient and lost cultures are so important to you?" She asked. This was funny, so Suzume actually showed a genuine interest in what Sanosuke was studying. No acting, she actually wanted to know. "I'll tell you but you gotta promise to not throw me in jail again." he teased before actually answering her question. "I'm researching a certain senjutsu clan that has disappeared from history 1,000 years ago. I'm trying to find it again and to hopefully learn from them."

Patting his books that he had collected in Suna, the sound of his hand hitting the cover of the book echoed through the room. "And these things are going to help me find them. I've been searching for about 2 years and I think I'm coming closer to where the clan is located" Sanosuke said. Looking back at Suzume, he figured that he might as well learn more about the person whom was watching. "Mind if I ask you a question though? Have you felt the urge to get stronger to protect someone close to you?"

He came willingly now, which I appreciated as I fixed up my hand with the bandage I grabbed from the clinic along the way.  As expected, the Customs Office was rather empty.  Lately, even the village seemed to be dead.  Not many people bustling about during the summer heat, I guess.  Sanosuke still complied with my wishes and got himself sorted out with the customs officer — the only one on duty — and met back with me outside.

"I'll tell you but you gotta promise to not throw me in jail again.  I'm researching a certain senjutsu clan that has disappeared from history 1,000 years ago. I'm trying to find it again and to hopefully learn from them."

His answer was rather odd and curious to me.  Why would a thousand year old clan, senjutsu or no, be of such importance that even looking it up could get one thrown in jail?  It didn’t make sense to me, but I kept myself calm as he continued to explain.  If there was a joke there, I had completely no idea to it whatsoever.

"And these things are going to help me find them. I've been searching for about 2 years and I think I'm coming closer to where the clan is located"

So the clan still thrived?  Why were they so important?  The whole thing produced an interesting web of questions within my mind.  It was definitely something that I was interested in, even though I didn’t completely understand what he was saying.  Senjutsu was a word I had only heard in very seldom conversations that I wasn’t even a part of.  Only gathering from hearsay, I assumed it to be another form of ninjutsu, nothing too big about it.  Yet when Sanosuke talked about it, somehow he made it seem like it was a bit more than just a variant form of ninjutsu.

"Mind if I ask you a question though? Have you felt the urge to get stronger to protect someone close to you?"

And then his question came and hit me like a surprise windmill shuriken right in my face.  My reaction was subtle, but still quite extraordinary from my clan’s perspective.  My mouth hung slightly ajar as I went to respond immediately, but found myself without words.  The question was one I was going to flick off with a quick ‘of course’, but as I came to say it, I realized that wasn’t true.

Thinking about it now, his question seemed to hit me much deeper than what was most likely intended and more so than even I had expected it to.  I struggled with the thought of why I was so motivated to get stronger.  Was it to protect anyone?  The more and more I thought about it, the more I saw that there was no one I was trying to protect.  In fact, it was really the other way around.  My whole life I had been protected by my family, by my father and mother, by my life trainer Daisuke sensei.  The only reason I forced myself to train and get stronger was to make those people proud, to live up to expectations, and to not have to be protected by anyone else.  Even my two last squad mates, may they rest in peace, had been more protective of me than I had been to them.  Was that the cause of their death?

”I… uh…”  for the first time in my adult life, (for as a child I was quite shy and soft spoken) I found myself hard pressed to speak.  ”I have not felt such an urge, actually.  Instead, I guess you could say I want to get stronger to protect myself.”

My heart started to beat a little faster, a bit in panic.  My mind was burning against me as well as my heart.  How could I have been so selfish!  They had been my squad mates and yet I did nothing to act as a proper comrade in arms.  Sure I played the defensive role to help them out, but it was only in the interest of getting the job done.  When I thought back to how they died, it had been to save me.  My own weakness and lack of skill causing them to have to extend themselves far beyond their capabilities, which was why they were dead now.

Tears welled up in my eyes, involuntarily.  I cursed myself within my head at my own weakness.  Showing such emotion in front of someone of a completely different village was even worse than showing to one of my own village, or even my own clan.  I quickly turned my head away for a moment, blinking my eyes rapidly to fight off the tears that welled up, making sure none fell.  A brief sniff to summon myself back together again and I refocused on Sanosuke.

”Forgive me, but what about you?”  I could not look back at Sanosuke, merely staring at the ground in front of his feet.  I had shown emotion and had shamed the name of my clan.  Even if he knew nothing of the fact, I would.  Still, I needed to be strong once more.  One break must not let the whole mask fall off.  And so I regained my composure, the thoughts of my squad mates still in the back of my mind.


5001 WC

He honestly believed that his question was something that was asked amongst other shinobi as someway to get to know each other. In no way did he expect this sort of response from the woman. Suzume was baffled for the first time. Her impeccable mask to safeguard her emotions crumbled in seconds and revealed the face of a woman who honestly didn't eve know how to answer the question that was supposedly simple to answer. Her jaw hung open slightly while she tried to compile an answer. Sanosuke noticed this, even though she most likely believed that it was something that most people wouldn't have noticed, he was beginning to understand just a little bit about the woman's mask. After she spoke her answer, it sounded as though she regurgitated the answer despite the struggle it took for her to find the words needed to answer the question she was given. That was when it happened, and it even took Sanosuke a brief moment to reprocess what he saw: Suzume of Sunagakure no Sato was crying, and well on the verge of full on breaking down.

Sanosuke honestly had no idea what to make of the situation. He didn't mean to make her cry or to bring about memories that would've caused her pain. Suzume did everything she could so that Sanosuke wouldn't see her tears, but that didn't stop him from hearing the teardrops hit the ground. The amount of guilt Sanosuke was feeling was far greater than the one he experienced after he burned the woman's hand when she tried to capture him. He wanted to do something for her but his conscious was telling him that she might take it the wrong way and you could land yourself in prison. But at the same time, she looked just like he was after the Anthos' Keep incident happened 2 years ago. Sanosuke was a raging torrent of emotions after the event that he still blames himself for to this very day. From the small amount of time Sanosuke had known Suzume, she was the person who would bottle her emotions up and hide behind a mask to mask her pain. If she was this conflicted and torn up from her facial expressions, Sanosuke could only image the rampage of emotions that was taking place within her. At that moment, Sanosuke threw caution in the wind. He had to stay true to himself despite the consequences.

While her face was turned so that Suzume wouldn't have Sanosuke look at her tears, he took the opportunity to move in closer to the woman and wrap his arms around her for a close hug. His touch was gentle and supporting as Sanosuke held her close. She was so frail compared to how his body was that he took extra care. "You fight to protect the life that someone risked their own life to protect. Your life was that precious that they would have gladly thrown their owns away to save it. Treasure that gift they gave you, and protect it with everything you are." Sanosuke said soothingly into her ear. Slowly, Sanosuke brought his hand from behind Suzume's back and began to slowly stroke her head if she allowed the hug to continue. With the suna jounin this close, Sanosuke could smell her shampoo. Her scent had a wonderful scent of cinnamon. While she was this close, there was no way Sanosuke could visually see Suzume cry should she. He'd hold on to her until she wished it, where Sanosuke would let go and answer her question.

"Miao, Inari, Ace, Amy, Kaede, Yusuke, Lee, Michael, Xin, Lilly, Kokorina, Ayami, Kurogami-san is expecting twins; although I'm sure they've been born since I've left Kumo almost a year ago. The children of Kumogakure, they're my reason I want to get stronger." Sanosuke listed down the names of children from his village, he smiled fondly at each of the memories he made with them as he patrolled his village getting to know them. He played games with them to pass them time while he was patrolling, there were also times where he would let the children play with him whenever he was free in the mornings. The very last thing he said there was no smile on his face as he looked at Suzume solemnly. His eyes piercing into the ruby mirrors of the Sungakure jounin before him. He had to get stronger for them, just repeating his morale reveved him up and he clenched his fist tightly as memories of the past as a child swept through his mind. For an instance, he heard the shouting, the fire, the smell of blood. It was like he was back in his very dark past. His body shook slightly as sweat was coming down his brow. Sanosuke focused on the present and his mind was back where it should be, looking at Suzume. He focused on his breathing for it to return before speaking once more. "My village took me in when I was 5 when I had nowhere to go. The only way I can pay back Kumo for what they've done for me is to protect the next generation with my life. I never want any of the children in my village to go through anything I went through."

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WC: > 5000