Obana supposed he’s lucky enough to only suffer a real headache now, three days into their C-ranked mission. With how… eccentric… his team had turned out to be, he had expected to have a headache as frequent as breathing oxygen.

The source of his headache didn’t share the same worry, however.

“You were about to show rock!” Somi whined. “Cheater!”

“What, cheater?!” Yeonjung rebutted, “It’s not a rock until I fully showed rock!”

Obana rubbed his temples. When he told them to spar against each other, he had been sure he didn’t mean sparring in an endless rock-paper-scissors game.

“I’m sorry, sensei,” Chaeyeon apologized.

Obana was tempted to believe that at least Chaeyeon was sane. He turned to the concerned genin, smiling—

“They don’t usually go against each other, so right now you’re witnessing their first ever brawl in this game,” Chaeyeon continued.

His smile faltering, Obana felt his head throb even harder as Chaeyeon left his side to keep the other two from damaging their vocal nodules too much.

“Your method is strange, Obana-san,” their client mused from the biggest tent. They had set up tents to camp in the middle of their journey, having walked a good third of their supposed trip before the sun set.

“Method?” Obana parroted.

“Yes.” Uchiha Yasushi eyed the genins with an amused smile. “I would have thought that by sparring, you meant a friendly spar with ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, or exchanges of kunai, at least.”

“I was actually referring to that.” Obana massaged his forehead. “But, they said it’s too loud and they could be drawing unwanted attention to spar that way—“

“YAH YAH YOU WERE GOING TO SHOW PAPER! SHOW PAPER, YOU CHEATER!”

“OMONA YEONJUNG UNNIE DIDN’T YOU HEAR YOURSELF? IT’S NOT A PAPER UNTIL I SHOW YOU PAPER!”

“—Kami-sama, just kill me,” Obana groaned, while Yasushi cackled in reply.

So much for not wanting to draw unwanted attention with loudness.

“Guys, let’s not get upset over games,” Chaeyeon’s voice carried over to the men. She was holding back Somi from poking Yeonjung’s stomach with a stick she had picked up when they first entered the forest.

“Games!” Yeonjung gasped. “Unnie, you were livid when you screwed up monopoly!”

“What is monopoly?” Yasushi asked to Obana.

“Beats me,” Obana said, trying to make out what his genins were saying from such distance.

“—even so, I didn’t scratch anyone!” Chaeyeon ranted, her hold on Somi loosening up.

“Yeh, but the walls would want to file a complaint on that, unnie.” Somi gravely said.

“The walls and the couch,” Yeonjung nodded.

“You both can choke,” Chaeyeon deadpanned.

Yasushi stared at Obana over the crinkling campfire.

“Your team is more violent than I initially thought, Obana-san.”

“You and me both,” Obana said. By Kami, he couldn’t figure out his team. He was starting to second-guess his position as their jonin sensei. Maybe their teammate’s     death had had a greater impact than he anticipated, and this was how they coped with grief.

But that didn’t explain Somi.

“Obana-san.”

Obana wasn’t sure about the expression he had as he faced Yasushi. Yasushi’s look was sympathetic.

“Will you be okay?”

The tentative question was spoken quietly. Obana didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I will be,” he sniffed. “Probably.” He wondered how much worse his headache would get when he sat them down later to explain about his way of sparring. Hopefully not too much worse.

Kami-sama, who am I kidding.

Mina was going to check if the weather was alright when Kakashi arrived on time. Such rarity, according to Hana, was a sign of unbalance in the Naruto world. Unbalance equaled chaos. Though, Mina amended, at least Kakashi showed up on time when they were not planning to be extremely late like yesterday. She didn’t dare to think what Hell they would have to face if they made Kakashi wait three hours the only time the jonin was on time.

“Chakra affinity?” Yoojung parroted.

Kakashi nodded, holding up three pieces of blank paper. “These are chakra affinity detectors,” he explained. “They can tell you your primary element. Secondary can come up, if it’s obvious enough, but don’t hold your breath.”

Doyeon made a show of letting her breath loose. Mina, for her part, eyed the paper while munching on her dango. She wasn’t sure if Hana ever mentioned chakra detector papers. Maybe she had. Maybe she hadn’t. Hey, this dango jjang.

The uninterested air made Kakashi twitch.

“Well, if you guys aren’t interested…” He moved to stuff back the chakra detector papers in his pocket, when a blur of grey swirled before him and snatched the papers out of his hold.

“We are interested!” Yoojung beamed brightly, waving the papers she held between her fingers.

Instantly, they burnt down.

Kakashi twitched again. Mina facepalmed. Doyeon was hollering with laughter, pointing at a panicked Yoojung flapping her hand from the hot remains. When she was done, Yoojung looked up at him, crestfallen and scared.

“I’m so, so, so, so very sorry, Sensei,” she murmured, her face taking an expression of a kicked puppy. “I didn’t think—“

“So your primary element is fire,” Kakashi noted dryly.

“Calm down, Yoojung,” Doyeon soothed. “Don’t break into the Fire dance and shout bow-wow-wow.”

“Sod off, Doyeon,” Yoojung gritted, before looking back to Kakashi with her kicked puppy expression again.

“While I’m curious about this Fire dance,” Kakashi began, “we still have you two to test.” He produced two more papers, carefully holding it high so Yoojung wouldn’t be able to reach it this time.

“Would you forbid us from learning other elements’ jutsus?” Mina asked, curious as to why their jonin sensei suddenly put them through this.

“No,” Kakashi replied. “I will, however, reference you to someone proficient in your element. I expect you to excel in your primary element, without losing a flexibility to use other elements’ jutsu for surprise attacks and urgent needs.”

“You just want us to have someone else to teach us if you show up too late,” Doyeon airily said.

“Doyeon,” Mina scolded.

“She’s right,” Kakashi said in a bored tone. Mina gave him a dirty look, and his visible eye crinkled to a smile. “Didn’t mean what I said is untrue, though. I do want you to excel your primary element, and I do have the people I want you to learn from. Now let’s get to it.”

“I hope you got a lame element,” Yoojung told Doyeon when Kakashi gave her a piece of paper.

“Like what?” Doyeon challenged.

“Snow,” Yoojung beamed. “Since there’s no snow here.”

“What should we do?” Mina asked, looking over her paper with a studious expression. “How did you do it, Yoojung?”

“Er, just release a chakra pulse, I guess,” Yoojung recalled. “Like, the little stream we feel inside whenever we channel our chakra to run on the trees or water. I was using chakra to enhance my legs and hands to snatch them away from Sensei. Then it just went whoa.”

Before Yoojung finished her sentence, Doyeon’s paper was suddenly soaked in water. Doyeon yelped, dropping the drenched paper, her other hand immediately holding her wrist.

“What?” Kakashi asked, picking up the wet piece from the ground.

“It stung,” Doyeon whined, “like a slight zap.”

“You got static hair,” Yoojung pointed out.

Doyeon bent down, and the shorter girl sighed as she ran her fingers through Doyeon’s long locks to fix her teammate’s hair gently.

“Primary element, water.” Kakashi stared longer at the wet paper. “And it seems like you got lightning as your secondary element.”

Mina pursed her lips, eyes closed, her eyebrows furrowing in concentration. A beat later, her paper was shredded into pieces.

“Your primary element is scissors,” Doyeon said.

“WHAT?” Mina opened her eyes and stared at the remains of her paper, horrified.

“Scissors is not an element,” Kakashi began.

“It was not, now it is,” Doyeon quipped.

“She’s the first scissors bender,” Yoojung joined in.

Kakashi sighed while Mina reached out to rap the two in the back of their heads.

“Okay, so…” he examined the shredded remains he managed to get. “Primarily air, obviously. But some edges look burnt. So, secondary element is fire.”

“Not fair,” Yoojung sulked. “I’m the only one without secondary element!”

“You probably have one too,” Kakashi said. “Just not obvious. It can also mean that your control of your primary element is the best out of this team.”

“Sensei’s right, shorty.” Doyeon ruffled Yoojung’s hair. “You’re not lame. Just less cool than I am.”

“Say that to your static hair, giant,” Yoojung gritted.

“What did you say?!”

“Well, what did you say???”

“Before you go into another hair-grabs brawl again,” Kakashi dryly interrupted, “I want to inform you that we will not have a mission today.”

Yoojung looked up, her feet halting mid-air from stepping onto Doyeon’s. “No?”

“No,” Kakashi repeated.

“Why?” Doyeon asked, scooting away from Yoojung’s reach.

“Because I need to do a one-day mission by myself,” Kakashi said. “As such, I prepared this chakra affinity test for you. I want you to spend the day by visiting the names I’m going to give you.” He produced a scroll from his pocket.

“Names?” Mina parroted, receiving the scroll. “The ones proficient in our primary element?”

“Quite right,” Kakashi nodded. “I want you to visit the first name together. And then each of you can visit one of the next three names, according to your primary element. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sensei,” the three chorused.

“Good.” Kakashi smiled down at them, making a hand seal to disperse from the site. Before he completely disappeared, he left them a parting advice.

“Don’t die.”

The three twitched, staring at the empty space where their jonin sensei had formerly stood.

Kanzo stared at his charge—or rather the two of them.

“Where’s Yuki?”

Sejeong nonchalantly shrugged. “Maybe his shoulder still hurts.”

Chungha nodded. “Sometimes a dislocated shoulder traumatizes you enough to still feel the pain several hours after it’s fixed.”

Kanzo twitched.

“We can’t do missions without a complete team,” he told them.

“We can train, can’t we?” Sejeong mused.

“That, or we can visit daimyo’s dog,” Chungha agreed.

That was it.

“Sit, you two,” Kanzo commanded, sitting on the ground himself. “We need to talk.”

The two stared at each other, then shrugged, following their jonin sensei to sit on the ground. Kanzo looked at each of them carefully, his expression serious.

“How does a genin team like yours survive?”

The two stared at him. It was Chungha who answered,

“Teamwork, sensei.”

Kanzo inclined his head to acknowledge the answer. He continued, then, the stern tone in his voice never faltering,

“What do you think about your teamwork?”

To their credit, his genins flinched. Kanzo felt his glare soften. Before… that day, when Sejeong suddenly showed them that she had ten-tailed bijuu, his team showed a great teamwork. Not the best, nor was it without flaws, but it worked – and with great results, too.

It all seemed to crumble after that day.

“We’ve changed, sensei,” Sejeong said slowly—loud enough for him to hear.

Kanzo found it strange that he didn’t hear a ‘sorry’.

“Changed, how?”

He noticed Chungha taking a glance at Sejeong as the latter spoke again.

“Before… how do you think about our teamwork before, sensei?”

Kanzo blinked, not expecting the question.

“Was it excellent?” Sejeong continued. “Was it great? Was it smooth? It probably was, in your eyes, sensei.”

“Sejeong—“ Kanzo began, but Sejeong shook her head, her gaze downcast.

“It probably was, because Yamanaka was always the one in charge. Chungha unnie would back him up and clean after his messes, so you wouldn’t notice. And me,” Sejeong shrugged, a flicker of black chakra began to thinly envelop her shoulders, “I would do whatever he commanded because what did I know anyway? I was the dead-last, always the no-brainer.”

Chungha sighed, silently taking Sejeong’s hand in hers.

Kanzo noted that the black chakra slowly faded after that little gesture, though the tense air around Sejeond didn’t dissipate.

“Yamanaka never took my ideas or strategies into account,” Sejeong muttered. “Never looked back when he was ahead.”

Sejeong looked up slowly, and Kanzo couldn’t believe that she was smiling.

“When we discovered that I have ten-tailed bijuu sealed inside me, Yamanaka didn’t speak at me for two days.” She gave out a chuckle. “But of course you wouldn’t know, would you, sensei?”

“What Sejeong meant to say…” Chungha started, picking up where Sejeong left off, “…is that teamwork you’ve always seen before, sensei, was Yamanaka taking the lead as well as taking our presence for granted. He didn’t like the prospect of Sejeong being stronger, or me being right more than he is, and he didn’t even try to see our perspective when we gave him ideas.”

Sejeong grunted. “We understand that he’s a top-ranker. That he’s brilliant and all. But the teamwork you thought working was the teamwork with Yamanaka thinking he’s rowing alone and deciding only he knows what’s best for the ship we’re boarding in—when in reality, Chungha unnie and I row together with him, too.” She sighed, closing her eyes and relaxing her shoulders. “We might be wrong about how he visions us as his teammates, but until now he never shows us otherwise.”

“Maybe you should ask him too, sensei,” Chungha quietly said. “About our teamwork. If he sees himself as the center, and if he understands the burden a center actually carries.”

Kanzo frowned, “Center?”

The two looked at each other, sharing a smile over something Kanzo couldn’t comprehend.

“Nothing, sensei. Never mind.”

“But really,” Chungha muttered, “the fact that we still called him by his surname should’ve clued you in about our closeness as a team, sensei.”

“It’s just recently that we’ve started pushing for our opinion to matter in our teamwork dynamic,” Sejeong added. “And voila, he started having problems with us.”

“Well,” Kanzo sighed, “I guess I haven’t thought about that possibility yet.” He wondered if Yamanaka was truly at fault, or if the Kims were merely trying to shift the blame to him. Kanzo shook his head. It wouldn’t do if he started being biased—males could make mistakes. Especially pre-teen males with big ego and high scores.

“Thank you, sensei,” Sejeong said, smiling sincerely at him.

Kanzo paused. “…Thank you?”

“For talking to us,” Sejeong explained. “For not turning blind eye to our teamwork state.”

“We appreciate this,” Chungha softly added. “And we’re sorry for the headaches we have caused you.”

Kanzo blinked.

He couldn’t figure out his genins at all—except maybe Yamanaka, a little bit.

Probably because he was a male?

“Alright,” he said, looking up at the sky and narrowing his eyes at the bright clouds overhead. It was still early. He looked back to his genins, “I will visit Yuki.”

“Tell him we said g-w-s,” Sejeong said.

“What is gee-double you-s?” Kanzo asked, confused.

“She meant get well soon, Sensei,” Chungha supplied.

“Huh.” Kanzo stared oddly at Sejeong, who innocently blinked back at him. “Okay. For today, I will expect you guys to train by yourself.”

“Hai, sensei!”

“And,” Kanzo paused as he rose and dusted off his pants, “I will expect you to welcome Yuki if he joined you today or tomorrow.”

“Yes, sensei,” Chungha answered.

“If he deflates his ego,” Sejeong mumbled.

Kanzo smiled. Past the… oddity… his genins had, they were good kids. Sometimes he forgot that tiny little detail, along the missions he associated with them. Maybe he should’ve talked more frequently with them.

He shook his head, performed some seals, and disappeared from the ground—a destination in mind.

Nayoung decided to sit Uchiha Hemo down and had a talk with him when he appeared to be having his third panic attack in one day.

“Okay, Hemo, listen—“

“In my opinion, we just have to hit him with a genjutsu,” Sohye proposed.

Uchiha Hemo’s eyes widened as he scrambled away from Sohye, squeaking in fear.

“Do we know that an excessive use of chakra to dry clothes up for days in a row can result to this?” Jieqiong wondered, scratching her chin. “He was pretty okay yesterday.”

At the word ‘clothes’, Hemo screamed and curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth with shifty eyes and sweating palms.

Nayoung sighed. “You guys aren’t helping,” she said. “Leave us alone, please.”

“You heard her, Sohye,” Jieqiong absently said, waving the younger off. “Bye bye.”

“You too, Jieqiong,” Nayoung glared.

Jieqiong blinked, slowly gesturing to herself, mouthing, really, me? And when Nayoung’s glare didn’t soften, she huffed indignantly, “Fine.”

Nayoung waited until Sohye half-dragged the Zhou away before turning back to Uchiha Hemo, one of her genins. The memories about her team had graced her mind around the same time the memories about the other Nayoung came. And she was intrigued by the Uchiha.

The memories she had witnessed about him weren’t… pleasant.

“Hemo,” Nayoung called, trying her best to sound like the Nayoung Hemo knew.

The Uchiha looked up.

Here goes nothing. “Look into my eyes, and don’t blink.”

“Kami?”

Said divine being jumps in surprise, turning around clutching scrolls only to see Fate frowning in concern.

“Yo, Fate.”

“Yo.” Fate peers on the scrolls Kami brings, and the latter steps back, grinning nervously. “Kami, what are these?”

“Um, scrolls? Keke.”

“No ,” Fate scowls. “What I meant is why you bring them around—when those scrolls have the stamps of Life and Death. Okay. Wait.” Fate glares, “Kami, please tell me you aren’t messing anything up.”

“On the contrary, I’m fixing things up!” Kami defensively replies, hiding the scrolls from Fate’s line of sight.

“How, exactly?” Fate asks, eyes narrowing, and Kami swallows.

“Well, you see, when Dream asked me to handle the dream thingy, Merlin shared with me that…”

Kami hurriedly goes over the things Merlin has told, and with each passing seconds, Fate grows more and more alarmed.

“And that’s why I’m doing this,” Kami finishes, beaming.

There’s a thunder, indoor, and Fate takes a step forward, a murderous aura swirling between them.

“YOU WHAT!”

Hemo blinked, and the first thing he saw was his jonin sensei looking as white as a sheet of paper. He tilted his head, trying to recall why he’s alone with Nayoung sensei, or why his sensei looked horrified.

“Nayoung sensei?”

Nayoung blinked, refocusing to him, and Hemo furrowed his brows at the glint he briefly saw in those eyes. Was his sensei okay?

“I’m okay,” Nayoung answered, not really smiling, but the edge of her lips turned up just slightly—and Hemo exhaled. “How are you feeling, Hemo?”

Hemo stared at his jonin sensei. What I’m feeling?

“I’m feeling alright,” he carefully answered.

“How’s home?” Nayoung asked, her tone light and without pressure, but it froze Hemo up.

Home.

His eyes shifted uneasily over the tatami floor, and he wanted to ask if he would be forgiven if he refused to answer, but his lips parted open and before he knew it—he spoke.

“I’m not sure I know what you meant, sensei.” A pause, and Hemo’s gaze flickered towards the wall. “But if you’re asking about house, then house’s alright.”

He felt Nayoung’s gaze shifting away from him, and he breathed again.

“House, Hemo?”

Kind of. “Yeah.”

His jonin sensei hummed easily, as though his answer didn’t bother her, and he really thought that it didn’t, until she spoke again.

“Then why are there dry wounds on your back?”

The question was spoken softly, as though if asked louder, Hemo would crumble. And he did. He crumbled inside at the question, but outside he’s just sitting once more frozen.

“How—how do you…”

“How’s your fire jutsus, Hemo?” Nayoung asked, her voice even more gentler. “Are they better?”

Hemo nodded mutely. They did come out better, ever since Nayoung pushed him to use his element more often. Drying clothes, grilling meat, burning trashes—his eyes widened. Is that why…

“Does it hurt less, now?” Nayoung’s quiet voice had an edge of fury now, but Hemo could strangely sense that it wasn’t directed at him. “Everyday, when you came back from missions—does it hurt less, now?”

Everyday, when I come back…

My family would command me to practice fire jutsus, and punish me when they aren’t up to their expectation.

The punishments hurt…

But now they hurt less.

Hemo slowly turned to look at his sensei.

“Sensei, how did you—“

“I can’t speak loosely about your clan, Hemo,” Nayoung murmured, her fingers itching to cast a Muffliato, except they weren’t in a Harry Potter universe. “But I have the general image.” It’s not pretty.

Hemo nodded stiffly.

“If you’re wondering whether to inform this little tidbit to your clan,” Nayoung continued, “it’s up to you. I would like it if you don’t but I wouldn’t hold it against you if you do.”

Hemo stared at her, surprised.

An outsider who knew more than they should about the Uchiha clan would be watched closely from the moment it was known. Being watched meant that every slight mistake could end up with strange accidents, or even death.

“Why…”

“Because you’re my genin,” Nayoung answered simply, looking into her pupil’s eyes. She smiled slowly, and Hemo thought—his sensei looked warm, smiling like that. “And I’m here to help you become a better shinobi, not to put you against your clan.”

Hemo looked down, swallowing the lump in his throat. He couldn’t believe this. What would his clan say if they knew a jonin sensei had to baby an Uchiha…?

I’m a failure either way, he thought to himself, blinking back unshed tears.

“You aren’t a failure.”

His head snapped up, surprised. Nayoung smiled at him, but her words were firm.

“What you need is the right practice,” she slowly took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently. “And time.”

There was guilt flickering before those eyes, and Hemo couldn’t believe any of this, what even…?

“I’m sorry to always pile up works on you,” Nayoung nodded when Hemo tilted his head in wonderment, “I was doing that to make you exercise your chakra. I hadn’t thought you’d reach a trauma…”

“That… would be because my private practice,” Hemo sputtered finally, red in embarrassment. “I—I exhausted myself. That’s why, today—“

“It’s okay.” Nayoung released her hold. “I should’ve told you sincerely about my intentions. But you’ve been saying that I’m an imposter,” I kinda am, “and your teammates’ prankster nature has rubbed off on me…”

Hemo chuckled weakly. “Y—yeah, about that, I’m sorry, sensei…”

There was a stretch of silence between them, a silence Nayoung let to descend, because Hemo needed that. He needed that to build up a courage.

A courage to open up.

“I’m a failure, sensei.”

Nayoung didn’t say anything, only a slight nod to encourage him to continue.

“For an Uchiha, I am.” Hemo fiddled, uncomfortable with the vulnerable feeling that had started to drown him. “I’m—I’m not smart. I’m not agile. I’m not quick at learning jutsus. I don’t have the greatest stamina. I’m just—not up to par. I’m a failure.”

Nayoung nodded again. I know.

“No one in our clan wants to befriend a failure,” he shakily continued, his right hand slowly coming up to rest on his left shoulder. Nayoung knew there’s a wound underneath the fabric. “Failures should be punished. The punishments… were weak, once. But they got harsher. Maybe when the punishments are severe enough, at least, the failures would reach a point between awaking their sharingan or…”

Or die.

Nayoung swallowed as the unspoken words hung heavily in the air.

“So I keep wondering why I’m still alive.”

Something stung her heart when the Uchiha chuckled bitterly, as though laughing at his inability to die.

“Doing missions with you and them were fun, sensei,” Hemo mumbled when his chuckle died down. “But then—you started to give the loads onto me—and pushed me to do things you didn’t make Zhou or Kim do… and I thought you’ve grown to hate me too.”

And it took Nayoung all she had to not pull him into a hug, whispering countless sorrys and promising to make it right this time. This time. She didn’t mean all that, but she could’ve done it better. The Nayoung before me was ignorant too. Or she might’ve just too obedient to the system, playing right into the clans privacy rights too tightly. Well, that will stop now.

“Hemo,” she called softly. The genin had his head down, and the light shakes of his shoulders indicated that he’d been silently crying. Nayoung felt her heart broke.

“I’m sorry, sensei.” He choked out a laugh. “I don’t know what comes over me. I shouldn’t have...”

“Please, cry.”

There was a sob, and Nayoung scooted closer, her long limbs awkwardly enveloping the Uchiha in an embrace. Is this how Jieqiong hugged Somi to comfort her when she’s sad after watching Lion King? Am I doing this right? Nayoung exhaled slowly when Hemo broke down into more sobs. Kami-sama. To have this much struggle, at such a young age…

“I thought you were kidding when you said that you’ve made a Naruto version of Fred and George’s Extendable Ears,” Sohye said, staring impressively at Jieqiong.

“Well, I have too much time on my hands,” Jieqiong mumbled, sending a pulse of chakra to the ochoko—a small, cylindrical cup—in her hand to erase the sound transmission jutsu she had crafted on it, linked to another ochoko inside the room.

“Thankfully Nayoung unnie hasn’t had enough time to make the jutsu version of Muffliato, then,” Sohye mused. Then she frowned, gazing at the ochoko in Jieqiong’s hold. “I… didn’t know that Uchiha has such burden on his shoulders.”

“Yeah.” Jieqiong pocketed the ochoko, glancing to the closed doors behind them. “Kinda make you feel bad about all the teasings we’ve done to him, yeah?”

Sohye mummed. “Nayoung unnie is so cool as a jonin sensei, don’t you think?”

Jieqiong tilted her head. She’s always cool. She smiled slightly, turning to Sohye’s raised brows.

“I suppose.”

“Giving vague answers, now, aren’t we?” Sohye teased.

“What vague answers?” Jieqiong shrugged, playing innocent. “The only vague thing is how should we act in front of Uchiha, now that we know all these supposed secret.”

“Let’s befriend him,” Sohye proposed.

“We’re already friends,” Jieqiong replied.

“Last I checked, he still thought of us as imposters,” Sohye retaliated.

Jieqiong’s shoulders sagged. “…You have a point.” She sighed. “And we can’t just hit him with a Cheering charm then befriend him after, either. Ugh, being a ninja .”

“It’s not that bad,” Sohye mumbled. “We’ll just have to cheer him up like a normal human would.”

“Oh?” Jieqiong cocked an eyebrow at that. “You sounded like an expert. How do we do this, Miss Kim?”

“Firstly, we start a talk with him.” Sohye smiled softly, reminiscing a certain memory. “Ask him trivial things about himself. Share to him trivial things about us. Assure him that we’re trying to know him for several days.”

Jieqiong smiled, too. “You’re reminiscing that time, huh?”

Sohye nodded. “I was elated when Sejeong unnie first talked to me. Even though it’s a given, since I was in her team.” She grinned, “I was in the clouds when you dragged Nayoung unnie and greeted me in a loud voice—that one time, when we were going to have lunch.”

“Just from a greeting?”

“Just from a greeting.” Sohye smiled earnestly, and Jieqiong wanted to hug the younger girl as she heard the next words— “Because somehow, I was certain that you’d stay, next time—which you did.”

“That’s what we should do, huh?” Jieqiong mused, ruffling Sohye’s hair, her lips breaking into a big grin when the younger whined. “Thank you for the tips, Miss Kim! I’m glad to have these hints, now.”

And thank you for believing that we’d come around the next time. I’m glad I stayed, too.

Cub?

Erm… Kex?

Heh, yeah, it’s me. Hi.

Hi. What’s the matter? You sound… nervous.

Well. About the Naruto series you mentioned last time…

I mentioned it?

Oh, come on.

Sorry, sorry. I have memory of a goldfish. Okay, I think I mentioned it. What about that?

Well… have you read the series until the end?

I haven’t read any of it.

…come again?

I have never read a chapter, let alone finishing it. Sorry—is it important? Do you want me to retell it to you?

Well, no, but—

Oh, good. I don’t think I’ll be able to recall everything Hana unnie said.

Hana? Flower? You encountered a talking flower?

What? No. Hana unnie. A human, Kex. Shin Bora, you don’t remember? I thought you have my memories…

Oh. OH… that one. Sorry.

No problem. A talking flower… hah. Just don’t let her hear that.

Well. About the Naruto universe…

Yeah. What about that?

Cub, what do you think about staying in it forever?

……………

……………

……………

What do I think about staying fore—WHAT??

When Fate still goes on glaring at Kami, Cupid silently regrets the decision to be the middleman. When they aren’t speaking, they’re silent. And when they’re not silent—

“I understand why you do this,” Fate begins.

“Good to know,” Kami nods.

“BUT THAT’S VERY SELFISH OF YOU, KAMI!” Fate shouts, starting to get agitated.

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SELFISH, YOU BUTTERCUP!” Kami yells, veins popping up.

—when they aren’t silent, they’re holding a shouting competition that it gives Cupid a headache.

“OF COURSE I KNOW!” Fate snarls. “SELFISH IS YOU!”

“I’M SO HONORED TO BE THE SELFISH ONE,” Kami derisively replies, “WHEN REALLY, WHO’S BEEN CRUSHING ON DREAM WHEN WE KNOW IT’S FORBIDDEN TO?”

Cupid claps. Shots fired, Fate’s slack-jawed, and Kami instantly panics—for the words uttered are starting to cross the line.

“KAMI…”

“LOOK I’M SORRY!” Kami screams, “Forget about what I said, what’s rules anyway? We break them all the time—“

“Dream has had enough of you guys messing things up!” Fate snaps, too angry to accept Kami’s screamed apology.

“It doesn’t have to be a mess!” Kami retorts, “That’s why, listen to me first, will you? I have a solution, I’m just waiting for Dream to sober up enough before bringing it to you guys.”

Fate curses, and Cupid nonchalantly bleeps the words to keep the purity of the place they’re in.

“You know what, fine, keep it,” Fate scowls, obviously unhappy to utter those words. “Keep it for now, but I’ll come again to look over your mess. I want explanations.”

Kami shrugs. “Whatever,” but Cupid can see the immense relief on those gestures, “just, ask Merlin to come along when you do.”

Cupid blinks. “What about me?”

“You always meddle even if no one invites you along,” Fate remarks snidely.

“Right on that,” Kami huffs.

“Why am I the one getting the burnt of your emotions?” Cupid cries.

“Oh, stop being dramatic,” Kami waves. “You can come, just don’t be dramatic during my explanations—or I’ll beat you to death with a handkerchief.”

“Can you beat someone to death with a handkerchief?”

Kami shrugs.

“I’ll have fun trying.”

(to be continued...)
if I actually manage to get around to finish a chapter five. *is bricked*
whoops the story took a slightly darker turn! le brain somehow wanted to delve a bit into the backstory of team Nayoung and team Kanzo, so that's what we have now. I have several drafts I want to put in the next chapter, but I wouldn't promise when to upload it. I hope the next chapter will be a funnier one (yeah I really didn't plan where this story will go, I'm discovering along with you guys, lol). I hope you enjoyed this one too and thank you for reading <3 stan out. :D