Isamu-brave

If Ritsu could describe his teammate at this very moment-- other than downright annoying-- it'd be enthusiastic and just... really, really annoying.

He didn't know what Temari-senpai saw in her.

Suzume was currently running around visiting the different wagons and their merchants, befriending the camels and the livestock and impeding the merchants from packing up and getting ready to leave.

For some reason, Baki-sensei didn't seem to mind it and the distracting flitting about continued. Was he the only one who cared about how they were completely off schedule?

When they were finally done prepping, Suzume came over to them looking like a walking petting zoo with a chicken nesting in her hair and a goat in each hand, the goats looking lame as one only had three legs and another walking bones. She also had a bag of fruits around her wrist the goats were gnawing at and a belly dancing belt wrapped around her neck like a scarf.

The boys blinked at the sight of her, bewildered.

"You bought goats?" Ritsu said.

"And a chicken," Suzume said unnecessarily and brightly, "a rare species of chicken. Her name is Isamu."

"I didn't know you had a sense of irony."

"I also bought this for Gaara-sama." Suzume looped the leads of the goats' ropes and the bag around her wrist to be able to use her hand. She pulled the hip scarf away from her neck so the decorative coins rattled. "The lady said it would bring out his eyes."

Gaara-sama... wear something like that... The rest of the team imagined the serious individual swaying his hips to music as he wore the belt.

Looks like Suzume's the type of person who gets easily roped into sales pitches... Baki thought. "Suzume, how about we leave souvenirs for when the mission is over?" he said.

Suzume nodded, the rosiness of her cheeks which comes when she's cheerful ebbing away and her mouth sinking back into a frown. She tugged the goats along and went about dropping off the merchandise she purchased for the merchants to hold onto.

They began their journey, estimated to last two weeks, at the edge of the oasis town they'd been preparing for the last hour. As they trekked, the covered wagons clattered and left behind them a trail, the camels oscillating, their humps swaying to and fro along with the bulking packages of silks and the like. Apart from the carts containing silks and spices and jewels and other wares, carts stocked to the brim with water barrels and food supply were handled carefully, the sloshing of water tantalizing as the heat rose, or so it seemed since they were putting more distance between them and the oasis.

The team established a square perimeter around the group, the procession was extended out like a skinny line so the two assigned to the rear could just only make out the ones in the front. They have plans of picking up another company at the quarter mark.

Ritsu was stuck in the front with the one person he didn't want to get stuck in the front with or anywhere for that matter. He looked sidelong at Suzume. Now he had to choose between continuing the awkward silence or actually speaking to her. Akira had told him that he should make some effort to get to know her since they were an official team now.

"You lied before," Suzume said vaguely.

Ritsu was shocked. He never thought she'd initiate conversation! What an unexpected turn of events!

"Uh... what do you mean, exactly?"

"When you told Otaki you didn't have any training secrets. You do."

"How do you know?"

"Because." Suzume looked over at him for the first time and her dark eyes peered through him. "You lied."

Creepy ass Freak of Nature. Ritsu sighed, the conversation hadn't gone anywhere after that and they walked silently.

Sure he had training secrets. Who didn't? It only mattered if those secrets were actually good for something. He should've asked her about her own and once she refused to say she did then that would've proved his point (he was kind of curious about how she did it. Probably broke a few laws. He might be teammates with a criminal). But mentioning it now, when that subject of conversation was dropped nearly two hours ago, would just be weird.

Ritsu sighed again. He wished he'd been paired with Akira. They would have been having a blast.

"I meant you're too strong."

Huh...? Ritsu stared at Suzume incredulously. You want to carry on the conversation like it never stopped? Are you sure? Are you sure you want to start again with this awkward timing?

"O-oh..." He really wasn't compatible with this girl.

If he was expecting Suzume to elaborate, he was sorely disappointed because she didn't and uncomfortable silence fell between them again. The discomfort of it all was more sweltering than the desert heat around them.

Ritsu wanted to scream in frustration. Why?! Why would you do this to us?! Akira, rescue me!

It was then when Suzume stopped in her tracks and bent down to pick up a rock and throw it into the expanse in front of them. The rock slowing sank into the sand until it was gobbled up.

"Quicksand." Suzume got to her feet again. "We should make our way around it."

"Get some more rocks and find the edge of it," Ritsu said as he retraced his steps back to the merchants and directed them to start making their way around the quicksand.

Suzume flicked the pebbles into the air so they soared and landed with precision across the stretch of sand to her left. The first ten pebbles were gone as she walked the length of it and she tossed the next few pebbles forward and with less order so they sprinkled around. By the time Ritsu caught up again with the merchants in tow, Suzume had ensured a path wide enough for them to walk on and the two shinobi leapt forward a few paces in front of them again.

Ritsu spotted something hanging from the strap of Suzume's sword. It was a talisman, for luck on the battlefield.

"You should put something like that inside your forehead protector."

Suzume followed his gaze down to the charm and she hid it in her fist protectively. Ritsu met her strangely wary gaze and unusually decided not to poke further. He tapped his finger twice onto the metal of his forehead protector which was tied around his preferred place, his neck. "That way you won't lose it as easily."

Suzume didn't stop staring even after Ritsu returned to looking out into the desert before them.

Ritsu assumed, and he was sure he was assuming right, that the charm was a present the Sand Siblings gave to Suzume and felt a smidge of jealousy, just a smidge. They probably heard about the luck test fiasco.

Inevitably, there came the moment when a regular person's stamina ran out (although merchants had more than other civilians) and they set up camp for the night. The four shinobi were assigned their watch. Suzume had the first as the others don't trust her to stay awake later on.

Ritsu once again was wondering how she managed to become a shinobi.

They were assisting the merchants on building their camp for the night and Ritsu finished his side and was strolling toward his cot. He noticed Suzume doing her job on the border of the camp, sitting atop a couple of rocks. She was holding something in her hands, staring down at it pensively. She then untied her forehead protector and tucked the talisman she'd been considering into the metal plate, then returned the band around her head.

Ritsu would die before he admitted he was pleased.

Their job was simple: protect-- and everything that goes along with it.

Another part of a shinobi's job was to please the customer. More than any other nation, the Sand prioritized good customer service since they have the lowest rate of commissions as they were in a pretty out of the way place and a trek which put the traveler's life on the line.

Image and reputation was everything. This meant doing extra, behaving hospitality- like adding frosting on a cake so to speak.

On top of the bodyguarding and providing safe passage through the desert, the shinobi helped set up camp, did little errands such as helping feed the livestock, for the more charismatic there was sparking up conversation with their employer or giving massages or entertaining.

This all required being a decent human being- a trait most people lacked.

Baki was out and about sweet talking the wives of the merchants, seriously discussing the state of business and the questionable decisions of the Daimyo. Akira was floating around giving massages and giving tips and letting people teach him things he already knew --a tactic to make them feel better about themselves by teaching to a shinobi. Suzume performed shows with tricks she'd taught the animals, receiving huge applause from the merchants or else making meals everyone came back for for seconds, thirds, fourths.

Apparently he was the only one who wasn't a decent human being.

He was guarding the perimeter a few days later while the merchants cooked dinner and he was content with being set apart from the mingling people.

Baki came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'll take over. You should go eat."

Ritsu resigned himself and hobbled over to the campfire. A lady filled his bowl with rice and stew and he nestled himself a bit to the side.

He was lifting a spoonful of food to his mouth when around ten people brought chairs and made themselves comfortable around him. The spoon hadn't even made it to his mouth and suddenly he was compromised.

The merchants were unashamedly staring at him and he felt put on the spot. He knew he should do something with his open mouth and the food so he finally completed the action of eating and chewed as the group kept ogling him.

"Heard you're a big shot," a man with a mole on his chin spoke up. "Something about a two star Genin."

"Two stripe," corrected his lean companion.

"Yeah, that."

"Uh," Ritsu sent Akira a dirty look his way but his friend just smiled and waved, "I guess."

"You're pretty humble." A big buff woman nodded in approval. "I've hired some of you shinobi before and most of the time they look down on us, even if they were little kids. I'm not asking them to be over us hand and foot, just be nice, you know?" 

"You're a business person, right?" asked the mole man.

"Uh huh, just tagging along with you guys. Safer in numbers and the sort."

"Your group is great," a pudgy, kind faced lady said, "so helpful and kind."

"I think we oughta request you lot every time we travel," grinned the mole man.

"Thank you," Ritsu decided on saying honestly.

"Mmhmm," the lean one hummed, 'shinobi should take you guys as an example."

"I've never been so comfortable during travel," said the kind faced lady. "Those massages are heaven."

"I've never had such fun. We've never had entertainment before."

"Beats the ordering around and derogatory looks we got before."

Ritsu scowled. "I'm sorry about the behavior of some of our shinobi. They sometimes forget that without civilians we have no purpose. I think the people are more important than the force.'

The buff woman pounced onto him in a giant hug. "Oh, I'm falling in love with you more and more! Stop it!" She then punched him genially on the arm.

It was during the fifth day of travel when the first attack came. They came from the right flank where Ritsu and Akira were protecting, their camels leaving trails of dust behind as they slid down the dune while howling insulting battle cries.

Baki and Akira stayed behind while Ritsu and Suzume rushed them.

Suzume jumped into the cradle Ritsu made with his hands and he vaulted her over the heads of the bandits.

She made her seals, "Futon: Air Bubble!' She drew a great breath and blew through the gap she made with her fingers. The air grew and swelled until a giant sphere lazily floated down and over the bandits, encompassing them.

They hastily pulled back their mounts and backed away as the bubble began to shrink and gathered them into the center.

Ritsu dashed over and sent a kunai out before him. It sunk into the surface and the huge dome popped, sending flurrying clouds of sand up into the air and blinding the bandits.

As Ritsu charged into the dust, Suzume was diving down from the sky. The next few seconds were of ass whooping and once the dust cleared, the two of them were standing over the damage, scattered groaning and bruised bandits at their feet and confused camels clopping around.

"You little... brats!" one of the men coughed, hanging on to consciousness.

Ritsu and Suzume recognized him and a smirk spread on Ritsu's face. "Horrible to see you again, old man."

It was then when the bandit's fuzzy eyesight cleared and he had a good look at the young soldiers and he took in a sharp intake of breath before Ritsu sent a good smack to his head that knocked him out.

"Didn't think we'd run into the same people who attacked us though," he said conversationally as they were heading back to the caravan. "Guess those guys just crawled back to their nest and picked up where they left off."

Suzume just kept staring ahead.

We actually have something to talk about and now you won't engage?! Give me a break already!

They arrived at an affluent city in the Saboten territory where they dropped off some of the merchants and picked up another batch. Their next stop would be a port town along the southern shore and then they'll travel along the shore because the town was a lot farther than the last and it would be a hard journey on their employers and their livestock otherwise.

But first they needed to get to the shore.

"What if we cut through here?" Akira asked, tracing a route on the map with his finger.

"That's too arduous." Baki shook his head. "Perhaps if we split up it would work but then it will affect our manpower."

"How about," Ritsu also drew a line, "through here."

"Bandit country," Akira said, exasperated at his friend, "we are not going through bandit country."

"But that only leaves..."

The smooth tracing of a finger on paper and the boys saw Suzume's route through uncharted territory.

"What if we get lost and run out of supplies?" Ritsu crossed his arms. "We don't know if there'll be any oases...oh."

The realization of the newfound possibility hit them all and they looked at the route with more regard.

"Are you confident in your ability?" Baki said. "We can't rely on it if it'll fail us halfway."

"It'll cut our traveling in half," Suzume asserted. "We have enough supplies for three times the distance."

"You didn't answer my question."

Suzume met Baki's eye and they glared at each other. "Are you confident or not?" Baki challenged.

She closed her eyes and focused. When she next opened them, she drew the same line again.

"Very well." Baki took up the pencil and went over the route in finality. He then tapped it at the end and then swung it so it pointed at his student. "But you have to be the one to explain our decision to the merchants."

Suzume's mouth sunk into a thoughtful frown and she spun on her heel and plodded over to the merchants. The boys were surprised at her immediate actions without so much as a minute of deliberating and went after her.

She searched around for a bit before climbing on top of a camel.

She didn't do anything to get their attention. In fact, she just stood there, waiting, until everybody noticed her and gradually the chatter died.

"Did you decide on a road, Kunoichi-san?" a merchant queried uncertainly.

Suzume's arm raised up with a snap and it pointed in the direction of the bandit territory. "Scary men. Certain death." Her arm swung and everyone's eyes followed it. "Scary weather. Certain death." She then gestured to the decided route. 'Uncharted regions. Uncertain death."

"She's not serious." Ritsu already knew the answer to his question.

"We're... going through uncharted regions?" the lean man from before deciphered.

"Are you nuts?" squealed a bald, twig of a man. "We don't know what's out there!"

At least we're not going through the Dead Desert," said in dry sarcasm.

"But that's the only good thing about this plan."

"No, duh."

"We can keep you safe from anything out there," Suzume assured.

"Can you protect us, for sure?"

"We can protect you, for sure," she repeated.

"What makes you so confident?"

"She can't just say that she knows how to locate oases," Ritsu muttered under his breath. "Even we don't know how it works, how is she going to explain something so unbelievable to them."

"I can navigate," Suzume seemed to decide to say.

"What're your credentials?"

"I have a compass." A drawn out pause. She eventually pointed at her chest. "In here."

Ritsu staggered dramatically in astonishment, "Even more unbelievable!"

"Are you messing around with us, kid?" asked a gruff merchant.

"No..." Suzume said, tensing up.

"You should take this more seriously," someone chided. "Maybe hiring such young shinobi was a mistake.:

Suzume seemed to grow smaller and smaller under the merchants' criticisms.

Ritsu who had been covering his face and shaking from trying to contain himself, broke away from the rest of his team after a tremulous groan. "I can't take this anymore."

"Ri-chan?"

He leapt over the crowd and landed on a camel next to Suzume unnaturally gracefully.

"To clarify," Ritsu's voice snapped over the crowd and called back their attention, "what my teammate is trying to say is, there's more than enough supplies, and there are plenty of skilled navigators in our company. If anything, we just need to be able to travel straight and keep from veering off course. Any other route, as my teammate said, is known to cause certain death, which means even with our efforts, at least a quarter of you would die.

'The path we've chosen is uncharted territory, which means no other person including bandits know how to navigate it just as we don't so there won't be a high possibility of attacks. The topography of the area will be easy to travel across as well since it's located next to a charted area which is also leveled and an unchallenging trek. And above all," Suzume jumped when Ritsu clapped her on the shoulder and her hanging head popped up to see his face serious and confident, "I'd like you all to trust my comrade to keep you safe. I can assure you of her ability to use that compass to keep us all safe."

Ritsu felt Suzume staring at him from his side but he didn't break eye contact with the merchants to be able to see her expression. Baki, however, saw it clearly.

She's thinking about how much Ritsu reminds her of Gaara.

"That sounds reasonable enough, don't you guys agree?" Came a loud voice from the crowd.

Ritsu saw the buff lady grinning as she stood with her arms crossed. "Unless any of you want to be that quarter he told us about." Then she swung her head back and burst out laughing like she said something hilarious.

The merchants chattered nervously amongst themselves and the shinobi waited for their verdict.

"If we die!" said one small man, "you get no money! So... make sure we don't die!"

"Roger," Ritsu said casually as he jumped off the camel. "Can we get going now?"

After realizing that was the abrupt end of the meeting, the merchants hastened to pack up their belongings. Ritsu and Suzume went back over to Baki and Akira.

"Good job, Ritsu," Baki commended. "That was very well done."

"Talking is easy," Ritsu said, "it's whether or not we can make what I said true that matters."

"Suzume," Baki turned to her, "learn from this. Learn from Ritsu who has a honed skill you lack."

"Yes, sir," Suzume said meekly.

While the merchants were getting ready, Ritsu had the chance to talk more with Akira while they helped out.

"Are you going to be alright, Ri-chan?" Akira asked as he handed him a package to load onto the wagon.

"Yeah," Ritsu grunted. "If not, I have to be."

This was a test Baki had for him too, on whether or not he can shake off his bad habit of freezing up when something unexpected happens.

"How's your private tutoring going?"

"It's harsh, man," Akira sighed, his whole body sinking. "Baki-sensei's a spartan. I feel so sore from all of those exercises."

"I was kind of surprised when I found out." Ritsu hopped off the full wagon and the pair of them went to work securing the merchandise. "I suppose I can live with not being partnered up with you if he's trying to help you. I don't give the guy enough credit."

"I mean, in terms of combat, I'm way behind you and Suzume-san. So, I'm glad about the extra help."

"You have more experience than her though, and more knowledge than me."

"Yeah, I'll just knowledge people to death. Give them what for."

Ritsu laughed. "You know what I mean."

They finished their work and moved on to the next.

Akira slapped him lightly on the arm with the back of his hand. "Hey, I'll catch up to you. I gotta check something."

"Alright."

After he ran off, Ritsu went to the next waiting wagon. The buff lady from before had just finished loading and lowered herself back on the ground. "Why if it isn't Mister Two Star."

"Stripe," corrected the man with the mole as he passed by.

She snapped and pointed at the man as he went, "Yeah! That. Come to speed things up with your shinobi prowess?" She held out the other end of the rope.

"Sure," Ritsu said as he accepted the rope and together they latched it onto the wagon, anchoring the hay.

"That was truly breathtaking." The lady clapped and smiled good naturedly. "Your very presence helps this run so smoothly."

"Stop messing with the kid and get to work!"vwas the lean man's prompt. 

"These guys can't take a joke." But all the same, the lady went to the next wagon and Ritsu followed.

"You did impressively," she said now as she handed him bales of hay. "I'd say you're much more dependable than the other two."

"I wouldn't underestimate them so much," Ritsu replied. "If anybody is going to save your life it'll be one of them."

"You seem close."

He shrugged.

"What's it like being a shinobi? And a renowned one."

"People bug me about everything and anything all the time."

She guffawed. "I can imagine. Do you ever wish you could quit?"

"That's not a choice for me and never will be."

"Interesting," the lady frowned, "let me change the question a bit. Would you ever quit being a Sand shinobi?"

Ritsu's eyes narrowed and he crinkled his nose. The next words out of his mouth were scathing. "Are you suggesting I'd defect from my village?"

After examining him for a good while, the lady dropped her gaze, sighed, and returned to lifting up the hay.

"We are a poor nation, and unlike the rest of the Five Greats, we live under the rule of the councilors on the Suna board instead of feudal lords ever since the First Shinobi War as the lords were few after an attack made upon them and the shinobi took it upon themselves to look after their land. The Daimyo and the lords under him receives most of the income and the best produce without any work of their own."

"The councilors have slowly been relinquishing control. It can't just change in a day."

"Of course there are a councilors who are sensible and a few feudal lords who are kind and strong enough to have broken out of this system. Such as the man who owns the port town ahead. But it doesn't change how the people are suffering and most in power are turning a blind eye. In order to curry favor with the lords, the councilors of Suna neglect the people within their country and suck the life from them and leave nothing behind to feed the poor. They only pay attention to the big trade towns and don't see the destitute growing more and more each day.

"I think, the lady lifted her eyes back onto Ritsu, "the shinobi under the counselors are in part responsible for this. As of this time in history, Wind Country is the poorest it's ever been and Suna continues to prosper in ignorance behind its walls"

"What you're saying is beginning to sound like anarchy," Ritsu hissed under his breath.

"That may be. Though what can I really do about it? Maybe I was just too happy to see sincere and smart shinobi. I heard there's been tension in your politics lately, something to do with somebody attempting to rise in power."

Ritsu kept his eyes from flicking over at Suzume, the thought of her guardians immediately coming to mind.

"So, maybe if you have some sort of power to get a word in edgewise with your title, you can change things for the better."

"I may have a title, but I'm also of the lowest minority there is in the village, thrice over."

"But you have a title, there's that." The lady gestured to herself. "I'm just in business."

I have a good reason why I haven't been updating. I have three chapters written already, they've been written for a while. But Wattpad refuses to let me copy and paste the chapters from Google Docs. Then I tried to C+P into Word then C+P into Watt but then there were multiple miscellaneous symbols scattered across the chapter. I could've erased it then which I ended up doing but I was just too jaded at that point that I didn't.  If anybody knows how to fix it, please tell me, you'll be my hero forever.

So here you guys go, hope you enjoyed it.