I was happy with my progress in unsouring Kumoko. Whenever I summoned her, it was about seventy percent frustrated tail lashing now. A wonderful improvent in my humble opinion.
But today it wasn’t about stuffing her with so much honey that she went into a food coma. No, today it was ti to see if the badgers would accommodate the Aburas in their search for the biggest insect of them all.
Early in the day, we completed our village assigned mission, it hadn’t been hard. Sohow, babysitting Tora had beco a C-rank. I think it was just an excuse so Lady Shijimi could collect the sweets. Our team had that mission almost every week.
But again, not important.
We guarded Tora; I gave out pastries; kind Daimyo wife left satisfied.
Karin fled sowhere as soon as the mission was over. I think she was afraid I’d give her more training. Or maybe she went to et with her bae. Karin had been a giggling ss for a few days now.
Ino wasn’t here either. She left as soon as the mission was done. I understood it very well. Trouble with her mom, and I didn’t want to make things worse.
Tenten never joined in these things, unfortunately. I don’t think she wanted to be friends. Which was totally fine. I wasn’t bitter about it. Not one bit. I just didn’t understand why. Was it because I almost killed Neji? That seed excessive.
Enough procrastinating.
In the quiet of my apartnt, I bit my thumb, placed my hand on the ground and perford the summoning.
Kumoko showed up in a puff of smoke. She looked around, slled the air, then turned to .
“Snake-girl,” she greeted.
“Hello, Kumoko,” I greeted back.
“What is it you want today?” she asked, looking around and searching. Well, I guess she’d expected to try sothing. I shrugged. No need to be coy about stuff.
I pulled out a seal, and out popped so of my new confections: small, crusty cakes. I think they’re called galettes? I wasn’t sure. Honey flavored, of course.
“Here, try these and tell what you think,” I said.
Kumoko grunted, but didn’t argue. She bit into it, chewing slowly. Her tail lashed again, absentmindedly this ti. Interesting.
“So?” I asked.
“Too dry,” she said after a while.
“But did you like the flavor?”
She grunted.
“Here, there’s so crust,” I said and gave her a quick scritch disguised as cleaning her fur. Kumoko glared suspiciously, but I hadn’t taken long with my petting and she had no way of saying that I did what I did.
“But that wasn’t the reason I called you today,” I said after a while.
“What is it, then?”
“There’s a shinobi family that wants to et your clan,” I said.
“What for?”
I shrugged. “They don’t want the badgers, really, but the bees. The easiest way seems to co to an agreent with your clan.”
Kumoko lashed her tail. I couldn’t tell what that was supposed to an.
“Can you et them?” I asked.
Her tail lashed again. She growled, pacing in front of .
I waited, but she didn’t answer.
“Kumoko?”
“I can’t,” she squeaky growled. Tail lashing frantically again.
“Is it because you’re too young?” I asked.
Kumoko went still. She turned to , fangs bared. “I’m older than you,” she spat.
I raised both hands, trying to appease her.
“I’m thirteen, Kumoko,” I whispered.
“I’m over three decades old,” she growled again. Her tail snapped side to side in tight, erratic swings. Then, with a sharp glare aid sowhere past , toward nothing, or maybe soone not here, she muttered, “So why do you still treat like a cub?”
The last part wasn’t aid at . I could tell. Her eyes had gone distant, like she was seeing soone else entirely.
I opened my mouth, closed it shut. Mind racing. I hadn’t connected the dots before. I knew Kumoko was Tsuchigaru’s kid, but I hadn’t thought her mother was the badger who died because of the summoner's betrayal.
“Can you tell what happened?” I asked.
Kumoko stared at for a long while, her fur still bristling. Then she sagged. Her tail went limp, and she flopped onto the ground, silent, then shaking. Was she crying?
I pulled her onto my lap, resting my hand gently over her head. She didn’t resist. Didn’t complain.
“There isn’t much to tell,” she said, voice flat. She didn’t sound like she was crying. “When Mom died, I wasn’t born yet.”
Oh.
Later that day, I sent Kumoko back to check with her dad about eting the Aburas. Like she’d predicted, she wasn’t allowed to represent the badgers, but neither was her dad interested in dealing with other shinobi. Kumoko gave instructions about another badger to summon for the eting. Her na was Mitsuna. The na made little sense to . If I wasn’t reading it wrong, it was sothing like a secret vegetable? Weird.
I sent notice to the Aburas, and they agreed to a eting for the next day.
After that, I popped by the tower, hugged the prettiest secretary of them all, and dropped by the Hokage’s office.
Shisui seed happy to see , if only to distract him from the mountain of paperwork. Poor dude.
I reported my dealing with the Aburas and the badgers, then after a sloppy salute, and a “ganbatte!” kit, left the man to his work.
That got thinking. I could have just as well dropped that information with the intelligence departnt. There was no need to bug the Hokage at all. Was I a snob shinobi by flaunting my easy access to Shisui?
Well, who cared?
That night, I prepared a few pastries, honey, and other things for the next day.
Shisui had been kind enough to cancel our team missions, which left with morning and noon free. Which I spent training with Ino. Karin had fled as soon as I told them no mission for the day, while Tenten stayed to train by herself. She was improving fast with her seals.
When the afternoon arrived, I summoned Kumoko.
In a puff of smoke, she appeared, looking around. Her gaze t mine, then a smiling Ino.
“What’s it, snake-girl?” she asked, tail lashing. That tail lash looked almost anxious.
I extended my hand to her. Kumoko looked at it for a long while until she got closer. I picked her up and placed her on my shoulder. “You’re my bodyguard, rember? Not eting other shinobi without protection.”
There was a mont of silence, then tittering.
I exchanged glances with Ino, who hadn’t stopped smiling too.
“Any last-minute preparations?”
No one said anything, and we set out.
With Kumoko grabbing my shoulder, I didn’t have to worry about her not keeping pace, so we took the highways, jumping from roof to roof until we landed in front of the compound.
The first ti I’d been here, I was so preoccupied by a second marriage proposal that I had paid no attention to anything around, but now I had ti.
It was in the shaded outskirts of Konoha, shrouded by thick canopies. The air was quiet, aside from the occasional hum of insects. The trees around were dense and tall, so twisted into unnatural shapes, trunks hollowed out. Even from here, I could see insects slipping in and out of knotholes.
The compound itself was a series of low buildings crafted from dark wood and reinforced with paper screens. It blended well with the trees around; the architecture favoring function over flair.
Shino waited for us at the door. Sa high collar jacket, sa dark glasses, sa dark bushy hair.
We landed in front of him.
“Shino,” I said as a way of greeting.
“Hinata,” he said back, then turned to Ino. “Yamanaka.”
Ino planted her hands on her hips. “Really?” she asked.
Shino just looked on, saying nothing.
Ino rolled her eyes. “Ino is fine,” she said.
Shino nodded. “Ino.”
I pointed to the badger on my shoulder. “This is Kumoko.”
Shino gave a polite bow to the she-devil. “Welco, Kumoko.”
Kumoko sniffed the air. “You sll strange,” she said.
Shino nodded. “Pheromones,” that was all he said.
There was a beat of silence, then Shino turned. “Please, co inside. My father is waiting.”
Inside, paths laid with flat stone and moss, curving around ticulously kept gardens, led toward the deeper buildings. Lanterns flanked the path, and I rembered being here last ti for dinner: the dim amber glow making the place look surreal.
My perception had improved since last ti, and it wasn’t hard to sense small blips of chakra flying around. Blips I couldn’t see. I held back a shudder. I was glad I wasn’t part of the clan. Dealing with insects wasn’t for .
We followed Shino until the path opened into a wide, silent courtyard garden. Flat stones ford a central platform ringed by shallow water, where lily pads floated and dragonflies lazed. At the far end stood a low-roofed eting pavilion, open on all sides, its floor lined with clean tatami mats and simple cushions arranged in a perfect circle. Shibi was already there waiting for us.
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