It was difficult for most people to believe that Gin Kuroka had once been a civilian. The silver haired woman seemed to live a and breathe for the sake of battle and had a level of skill that most wold spend an entire lifetime to achieve. Moreover, she had become Kazekage at the mere age of eighteen, which without a doubt took a great many years of training to achieve. However, it was true that she had spent her early life traveling with a merchant caravan alongside her mother. It wasn't until the age of eleven that the option of becoming a shinobi was even presented to her. Gin's training began when she was about twelve years old - way above the age of the average first year academy student. She had had a great deal of talent for fighting at that age, though her skills were severely lacking in other areas - namely genjutsu. After training for hours and hours every day, however, she managed to catch up to her peers and graduate in a little under a year. Two years later, she was already a Special Jounin, quickly soaring through the ranks of the Hidden Sand Village. Remembering these things often gave the former Kazekage a small surge of pride and confidence - not that she was usually lacking in either of those. Most people were of the thought that she had too much of both.

There were brief instances during which she sometimes decided to remember her old roots and usually did so by going out of her way to help out whatever civilians there were in the surrounding areas. Whoever saw Gin doing something so selfless would probably assume that she was scheming something or that she was being blackmailed into doing someone a favor. That was the reason why she was now in the Hidden Cloud Village's rice paddies, soaking her bare feet in water that came up to a few inches below her knees and crouching over to help with this year's harvest. So far, she had filled several baskets worth of rice and had sped up the day's schedule significantly. At this rate, the farmers would be able to take the second half of the day off and rest.

Gin wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead with the back of her sleeve. She had forgotten how humid this area could get, making the village's usually cool temperatures almost hard to breathe in. The young woman shook her head and returned to the task at hand, looking at the shallow puddle of water and dipping her hand into it once again. This time, however, it brushed against something rather hard, or at least harder than the rice plant. She reached deeper into the murky water to get a better feel of what it was. She pulled it towards the surface, only to find a large pair of dark eyes staring blankly at her, surrounded by green fur. Startled, Gin jumped back and landed unceremoniously in the water. "A cat?!" She yelled in surprise.

At that moment, the small fuzzball's upper body flew out of the water. It took a deep breath as if it had been deprived of oxygen for minutes, which was likely the case. "Kero thinks holding his breath is hard," she head that cat say. Great. A talking cat with green fur. Gin really had to stop getting drunk in the middle of the day. Maybe she was having a heat stroke. The cat stared at her and swished its tail from one side to the other, looking at her curiously. "Pretty!" It - he, apparently - said as he looked at the silver haired woman. He crawled onto her lap happily.

Gin simply kept staring. "Who - what are you?!" she asked, her eyes still wide and her brain till scrambling to decide what to think of this situation.

"Kero's name is Kero and Kero is a frog. Who are you?" he said, keeping the same joyful expression. Funny, because this thing definitely looked like a cat.

Gin shook her head once more. "I'm Gin," she said simply. Ok, it was time to call it a day and head back home to where Sanosuke was. She needed to sleep this off - whatever this was. She stood up slowly. As she did, the cat - frog...? - climbed onto her shoulder and nuzzled against her.

"Where are we going?" He asked. Gin ignored him until they reached the Raikage's mansion. The ca- Kero, didn't seem to mind and kept asking questions that went unanswered. Gin refused to talk to a figment of her imagination.

She opened the door to the mansion and hoped to whatever gods existed that Sanosuke was waiting there, read to call a medic.

[837]

"And I'm telling you that the terms were over seen by not only me but the other representatives of Suna before I even signed anything." Sanosuke mumbled into the telephone while he was in his office in his estate. From the tone of his voice walking into the room would be a bad idea, just listening to the man rapidly tap the end of his pen on his table was enough to indicate he was not enjoying his time on the phone. The creation of the phone was made by the top inventors of Kumogakure and distributed only throughout the inner circle of Kumo's brightest minds. Sanosuke, being the leader of the village, was of course given one. Which he kept sealed and in a scroll whenever he was done with it and hidden away in his home office. The phone was in testing so far, but can only connect to other people with a phone and for some strange reason it included takeout restuarants as well that somehow recieved the signal from phones. That being the reason why, Sanosuke decided it was best to not have Gin anywhere close to the phone or else the next thing he'd know there'd be an ungodly amount of pizza delievered to their home; all at his expense.

Currently he was going through a game of telephone with all the Kumo council regarding the details and the perks of the alliance Kumo was getting out of it. So Sanosuke had to tell every councilmen about the benefits, which were all agreeable to what they had to say. The annoying thing about the process was having to go to tell everyone one by one. It played to one of the Raikage's pet peeves: repeating himself. His last phone conersation with old lady Michiko had him wanting to pull his hair out of his head. The old lady was as sweet as could be, but terrible hearing. After repeating the terms 9 times, she seemed to have gotten the jist of it and left it at that. Now his phone conversation with Koga was ending with that he hung up and relaxed in his office chair. A groan could be heard from the Raikage as he rubbed his eyes in annoyance. His mini office in his home was cluttered with papers, inkwells, pens, and a pair of black panties.

Even though he would use this office to finish work that was left over at the administration building, whenever he was gone for too long in his office and not in bed yet Gin would come down late at night to keep his company; in more ways than one. Letting out a sigh, Sanosuke let his mind wander and extend to his environement. His nose could pick up on the smell of dinner that he had prepared in the oven. It was almost done, from the smell of seasoned rosmary going into meatpot that was cooking in the pot. Sounds of footsteps alerted him that Gin had come back from the rice paddie fields. So that meant it was time to stash the phone somewhere. Getting off from his desk, he stretched his body and moaned to awaken his body. Doing kage duties in a pair of sweatpants and a white vneck was very satisfying to him. Walking into the fridge, Sanosuke got out 2 cold beers and put them on the table in the living room.

Already opening the first one, Sanosuke left the other one for Gin whenever she got in. While drinking that one beer, he began working on the old puzzle that Guru Pathik gave him to figure out. It's been 2 years and is still making slow strides to completion. Either way it was a time killer and a destressor. At the sound of the door opening with Gin's copy of the key, Sanosuke called out for Gin that he was in there on the couch with his entire body stretched out on the couch wokring on the puzzle. What he didn't expect Gin was to come in with a cat behind her that was covered up in dry mud.

"Okay...I'll bite. Why are you investing on underground cat fights for Kumo?" Sanosuke asked with a raised eyebrow at the cat. Although he was joking, still the question was: why was this cat here?

It was nice to see Sanosuke in the living room. That meant she didn't have to search the entire estate to find the man. Gin let a heavy sigh escape her lips. What she wasn't expecting was for him to comment on the muddy cat now sitting on her shoulder. "W-wait, so you can see it to?!", She asked, unable to really hide the relief that was washing over her. "Thank whatever gods are out there. I thought I was having a heat stroke," she said, walking over to the leather couch and plopping herself on it rather unceremoniously. The cat bounced slightly, but otherwise seemed not to react at all. As the silver haired woman made herself comfortable, so did he, nuzzling closely to Gin's neck. Gin would have thought it was adorable had she not had a preference for having clothes that were not stained by mud. It was worth mentioning that she was also quite fond of her personal space. This... closeness and open display of affection made her feel uncomfortable.

Even so, something in her didn't have the heart to toss the cat out a window and call it a day. "Great, that only leaves the question of a talking cat," Gin mumbled, rubbing her temples. "And what's this about cat fighting rings in Kumo?" She asked, her interest actually peaked by the idea. The former Kazekage had always been a sucker for gambling and it seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. Of course, Sanosuke would likely disapprove of her rather unethical use of her newly found cat.

Speaking of which, Gin felt him shudder slightly. "Kero doesn't like cats, they're scarry," he said timidly, looking at Sanosuke with wide eyes as if begging the Raikage not to throw him into a ring full of felines.

"Oh, right. I forgot to mention, he thinks he's a frog," Gin said, once again considering the absurdity of the situation.

"Kero is a frog!" The small animal confirmed, once again returning to his happy demeanor.

Gin shook her head. "Yeah, yeah." It dawned on her now that she hadn't explained to the man in front of her how, exactly, it was that the cat had latched on to her.
"I was going about my day as usual. I was about to finish the shift when I found him swimming in one of the rice paddies. He latched onto me and now he refuses to leave," she explained. The words coming from her mouth sounded made up. She knew Sanosuke wouldn't let her live this down.

"Kero thinks Gin is pretty. Kero loves Gin!" He said, now nuzzling into her shoulder and cheek, staining it with more mud. Gin could only sigh at this point.

[1309]

"Of course I can. Have a beer, it'll make sure you don't actually have a heatstroke." Sanosuke pointed at the beer he had out for her. It was odd seeing Gin working some honest work for once and not taking shady jobs. It was actually funny in a way that the fearsome Gin Kuroka, would be doing honest work outside of the mindless killing. When she plopped down on the couch, Sanosuke made room for her by sliding his feet on top of the desk itself. Comfort put out his nerves from the stressful series of phone calls he was engaged on earlier as Gin sat next to him on the couch. Something about having Gin close to him put his nerves at ease. But then again that odd cat splattering mud everywhere he walked was being a real annoyance.

A glop of mud splatted on the floor from his nuzzling of Gin that resulted in him gulping down a large portion of his beer to calm himself down before the tabloids will get a hold of the story 'Furious Raikage Murders Cat for Ruining Couch.' "Of course, no cats will harm you Kero. Just be careful of this one right here." Sanosuke said while poking Gin's right side that he knew was a spot that was surprisingly ticklish for the fearsome ex-Kazekage. Sanosuke snickered as he put down his bottle. While he was talking with them, Sanosuke was exercising his chakra control once more by using a combination of senjutsu chakra and his own to control the environment in the kitchen. Sounds of the oven being opened, the meat pot coming out of it landing on the counter, spices from the cupboard being opened and sprinkled onto the meat to maximize its flavor, plates being distributed towards the table, and rice being placed at the able as well. All these things were happening thanks to Sanosuke controlling them all with his chakra from the living room.

The only thing that was giving away what he was doing was his eyes glowing slightly brighter from the chakra usage and the veins close to his temple were flexed slightly larger than usual. Once he was finished he let the control go and could feel himself trying to get back his breathing. The practice left him winded from how much control he had to exercise. One small mistake and there was dinner. But from the smell of the food still apetizing in the air, it seemed that it was a success. "Come on, dinner's ready, Make sure Kero is washed up or no dinner for you Gin." Sanosuke said while getting up to be sure that the table was indeed set how he wanted it to. Teasing Gin with waging his finger, he pecked her on the lips gently before grabbing his beer from the table as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hope you like meatpot Kero." Sanosuke said from the kitchen as he got another beer from the fridge for himself. He got some fruit juice and poured it a bottle for Kero that would work like a baby bottle so it would be impossible for him to spill it. If it was one thing Yoshita taught him was showing hospitality to his guests. Besides Kero wasn't causing any trouble and it was funny seeing Gin being annoyed at something that he had no hand in. Call it cosmic justice from all the times Gin made a ridiculous purchase and put it under his name and not her own.

Gin stared at Sanosuke with caution. He was acting... Strange. "You are acting surprisingly blasé about this," she finally said after a moment of silence. She took a sip of the beer he had offered and savored it for a bit. Yes, heatstroke or not, she definitely needed a good drink. This wasn't usually her go to, but it would do until dinner, when she could get her hands on some sake. The young woman watched as Sanosuke treated Kero with uncharacteristic sweetness and kindness. She suppressed a shudder. Maybe the possibility of her being in the middle of a heatstroke was still on the table. The young woman could smell the savory spices coming from the kitchen and smiled. She could tell what it was without asking.

Gin had always found it odd that Sanosuke opted to make his own meals rather than have the estate's staff take care of the daily chore. He wasn't a bad cook at all, but the former Kazekage knew how time-consuming his job could be. That he still made time for things like these - stuff he probably did every day as a Jounin - was somewhat endearing. "You know, last time I tried to bring home a cat, it was because I was mad at my mom and I knew she hated them. She made me give it away in less than an hour," she told the story having expected the current Raikage to react in a similar way. "Kero is happy that Gin doesn't have a cat," piped in the small creature. Gin Pat its head reassuringly. She shot a glare at Sanosuke when he threatened to take away her food.

"Oh yeah?! Well I'll order takeout! You think I don't know you have a phone?! I know whe-" he pecked Gin on the lips before she could even finish the sentence. She sighed in response, her anger mildly dissipated. She still looked somewhat annoyed, however. "Alright, you heard the man, time to get washed up, Kero," she said, beading upstairs into the room she shared with the Raikage. She filled the tub with water and made sure it was warm and comfortable. This was slightly reminiscent of when Misao and Shinji were still toddlers. She would always add bubbles to make them excited about bath time. She wondered if Sanosuke kept liquid bubble bath in his bathroom. She rummaged through the cupboards while Kero dipped his toes - if they could be called that - in the water. Gin found some cherry blossom scented liquid soap and put a few drops in the water.

The young woman couldn't really picture Sanosuke keeping something smelling this sweet for his own use. He probably had this for some of the women he used to sleep with often. Gin chuckled and shook her head. That he would decide to be exclusive with her still boggled her mind. "Bubbles!" she heard Kero say happily as he began to splash around in the water. The mud began to float away, leaving behind his green fur. Gin lathered her hands with shampoo and began helping him get himself clean. She could have sworn he was purring. "Keep your eyes closed, it'll itch a lot if any of this gets in," she advised.

After a while, Gin pulled him out of the bath and rummaged around again to look for a towel. After a few seconds, she began to hear crying. Seriously, she turned around for less than a minute and he was already bawling. Gin sighed and turned around, towel now in hand. The green cat was standing in front of the mirror. "K-Kero didn't want to believe it. Kero really is a cat," he said between sobs. Ah. So the small thing had never seen himself in a mirror. Gin's eyes softened as she began to dry his fur gently.

"Now, now, frog or cat, it doesn't really matter. You are who you are," she said. The silver haired woman had never been the best at giving advice. She wasn't really good with words in general, really. His sobs still quieted a little bit, though. Gin pulled out a scroll from one of her items' pouches. Once a small puff of smoke dissipated, a pink frog onsie with black spots on the back appeared on her hand. "Here, try this on if it'll help," she offered. After putting it on and looking at himself in the mirror again,all Kero could do was hug Gin,his eyes still watery. She hoisted him up onto her shoulder and headed downstairs again to meet Sanosuke.

[2129]

Sitting at the table, Sanosuke got out one file he was still looking at prior to his phone call he had to answer from the Kumo council. It had on the list of shinobi that have applied recently for a promotion. What he had before him was a list of candidates and under their names were a list of abridged noteable accomplishments that were noted as reasons for their rank up. Of course he had more information on these achievements in his office where there are full length reports about them. Most of the shinobi he was reading about sounded like hopefuls, but others he had his doubts. The reason he was trying so hard to figure out who should be promoted was to put face to name. It helped in his decisions if he could see meeting them before. It was taxing on his mind plus his other responsibilities were pounding on him. A sigh came out of his lips as the refreshing, chilling taste of his beer wet this throat. It also would explain why he was acting so blase about the whole Frosh thing in his home. He was simply too mentally exhausted to care about it. Gin would be acting suspicious of his laissez-faire attitude and was actually pissed when he kissed her just to get her to stop ranting and do what he said. Of course Gin would be upset with him for using such a dirty trick to do his whim.

Letting out a sigh, Sanosuke put the paper on his face and moaned into it frustrated at the angry woman that he was going to be eating with. The smell of the cooking rice tipped him off that it was done so he got up after taking the paper off his face and placing it on the counter. Heat rushed into his hands as he grasped onto the cooked rice pot and placed it on the table along with the meatpot with a padded surface to not leave a scorch mark on his table. With that being done, Sanosuke would sit back down at hearing Gin coming down the stairs. "Oi Gin, mind setting the table?" He'd raise his voice so she would hear. Of course she wouldn't be too happy about it but again he was too tired to care. Taking another swig Sanosuke knew it was time for an awkward dinner with Gin starring daggers in his eyes while Frosh would most likely be looking at the two as Gin used her eyes to communicate danger to Sanosuke. He treated it with a sigh as he took a bite from his food.

"Try some of this. It's better than I usually cook it. I added in new ingredients this time around." Sanosuke said in delight as he tasted his cooking. Knowing how hungry Gin was, he was sure she would have a hard time trying to not make an audible sound from how good the food was. Of course Sanosuke would give her a knowing and look of pride as she would continue to eat. He's not ashamed to admit his head is sometimes fill with hot air. When it comes to his cooking, he's very prideful.

Gin rolled her eyes at Sanosuke's request to pull out the dishes and set the table. She was carrying Kero in her arms now, his little feet dangling freely as he smiled happily. That seemed to be his default mood and expression. Gin wondered if it was because he was consciously happy or because his mind was 90% air and had little more capacity than to feel just one thing at a time. She set the tiny bipedal cat on a chair and soon realized that he would need a booster seat to eat properly. Seeing as Sanosuke lacked one and Gin had no real reason to carry around a booster seat sealed in a scroll, she would have to improvise. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out the silverware and plating that they needed. She took the opportunity to serve the meal and everything. She would have liked to do the same thing Sanosuke did. That was, to use chakra as extra arms that would extend and move to her will. Unfortunately, she lacked the fine chakra control needed to do that. She would have likely ended up crushing the entire kitchen if she tried. It was a well known fact that she lacked finesse.

Once she set the plates on the table properly, she walked into the living room and pulled out several - around seven - large volumes from the book case to place under Kero. The green cat hopped on top of the pile once Gin set it on his chair. "Itadakimasu!" She said, ore out of habit than anything else, before starting on her first dish. She knew that she would have at least three servings. After all, she had a large appetite and was particularly hungry after an entire day out in the sun. She looked at Sanosuke for a moment and cocked an eyebrow. There was a slight expression of distaste on her face, and it certainly wasn't because of the food.

"That your paperwork? You should burn it. We can make a bonfire and roast fish," Gin said as she began to munch on her food.

"Fish!" Kero echoed happily. "Fire makes fireworks, too!" He added as an afterthought, all the while staring at his food, seemingly unsure of where or how to start eating it. He poked it with a fork hesitantly, as if testing whether or not it was still alive. Once he started to eat, he tried to fit as much of the delicious food into his small mouth as he could.

"That it does, little one, that it does," Gin said idly, focusing on her own dinner, seeing as this was likely how things were going to go down for the rest of the... of the... oh dear, this was going to go on forever. As in, this was going to be her new routine. It was much too domestic. Sure, she had a feeling that she was going to grow fond of this little guy, but the entire situation irked her in a way that she couldn't quite put into words. She was conflicted, feeling both incredibly happy and almost trapped at the same time. No matter, these were things that she would figure out eventually. Now really wasn't the time.

She looked at Sanosuke when he started talking about his cooking and smirked. "As much as I hate to admit it, this is great. You have a talent for cooking," she said. She was silent for a minute, eating her food with gusto before she spoke again. "You'd make a lovely housewife," she added for the sake of getting on his nerves.

[2739]