the deep moans round with many voices

This is the sequel to "The Way of the Apartment Manager," which can be found in clean draft here on ff.net, or in rough draft with comments here on my livejournal. It also has fanart, which can be found here.

This is, again, a transitional sort of chapter, in which I continue to build a rather complicated domino structure so I can dramatically knock it down later. *insert maniacal laughter* And Yukiko does not appear at all -- see, all four POV characters really do have (roughly) equal importance. :-)

There are three things I'm particularly concerned about in this chapter:

1. I'm infodumping in Naga's section -- if you can think of a way to smooth the exposition, or tell me which parts I can chop out, please tell me!

2. I'm trying to hook Eiji more tightly into the rest of the story, but I'm afraid he may still be breaking the pacing/tone/flow/whatever. If you have suggestions for smoothing that issue, I'd love to hear them, too!

3. It would be extremely OOC and unnatural for Sasuke not to be screwed up and unstable at this point, but I'm not sure how his thoughts, emotions, and actions are playing out on paper. In other words, how is he coming off to you? I'm inside his head, so I don't have a good perspective on that.

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The Guardian in Spite of Herself: Chapter 7
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Kakashi was chronically late, but Naga didn't know if that extended to serious A- and S-rank missions. She made sure to be at the west gate ten minutes early, just in case he decided to be early for a change. As it happened, Kakashi was late... but only by five minutes, not his usual half hour or more.

He handed the non-classified part of their mission description to the guard on duty, who scanned it, nodded, and shoved open the massive gate.

A person looking out the west gate of Konoha would never realize she was leaving a hidden village -- a heavily traveled road wound through fertile farmland, and not so much as a single stand of trees was arranged to conceal the massive village wall. Of course, the western side of the village didn't need to be concealed, since the entire valley it faced was hidden from outsiders. Besides, it would be damn stupid to hide the village from the farmers who fed at least half the population, and whose endless fieldwork kept new genin teams too busy to cause trouble. Naga resisted the urge to make taunting faces at the sunken rice paddies beside the river.

Kakashi stretched idly as Konoha dwindled behind them. "We're heading for your campsite," he said. "With any luck, it hasn't rained there and my dogs can pick up Itachi's trail. With a bit more luck, some of the Grass border patrols have already started tracking him. We know approximately where all the missing Uchiha were before they dropped out of contact, so once we know which direction Itachi is heading..." He shrugged. "Of course, Itachi is a genius. You escaped, so he knows we're on his trail; he may well have written off his assassination plans and decided to vanish instead."

"Sorry to make your life so hard," Naga said, irritated despite the glorious blue sky and the soothing warmth of sunlight on her shoulders.

"If you hadn't escaped, we wouldn't have this chance. You made the opportunity; don't sulk because the situation is more complicated than we'd prefer." Kakashi winked. "Nobody can control all the consequences of their actions; the trick is to take advantage of the useful effects and minimize the others."

"How?"

"Ah, now that... that you're just going to have to learn on your own." Kakashi waved a finger and smiled under his mask. Naga concentrated fiercely on placing one foot exactly in front of the other, and balancing just so on the balls of her feet, so she wouldn't embarrass herself by failing to punch the jounin.

"Shouldn't we be going faster?" she asked a minute later, as Kakashi held their pace just over a lazy stroll.

"Mmm, probably. But I don't want to be exhausted when we reach the border. Why don't you summon that incredibly convenient raven of yours and ask him to carry us? That would save at least a day."

Naga glared at Kakashi's back. "Kuroba-sama isn't my raven. We have a contract, and I won't insult him with frivolous summons. He's a fighter, not some cheap excuse for a horse. Besides, calling him exhausts me."

"You'd have at least twelve hours to rest..." Kakashi wheedled, dropping back to her side and attempting to use Iruka's puppy-dog eye attack. He wasn't very good at it -- he had the physical movements down pat, but the emotional effect fell utterly flat.

"Stop that; you look stupid. And I said no. Once we know where Itachi is, if we really need to move fast, I'll think about calling Kuroba-sama. Not now." Naga kicked the road, raising a satisfying puff of brownish dust. "You're supposed to be a genius. Stop being a jerk and think -- the Grass-nin would flip out if we dropped in with a high-level summon-creature. Not a good first impression."

Also, she wasn't sure she could get Kuroba-sama's attention without the adrenaline-fueled desperation of a fight, but the reasons she'd given were perfectly valid and at least in this case, what Kakashi didn't know wouldn't embarrass her.

It wouldn't hurt their mission, either, which would've outweighed any other considerations. Smaller ravens were better for tracking; they could get closer to the ground. If they kept their beaks shut, they could pass as normal birds. (While there were some natural giant birds, anything much bigger than an eagle or a buzzard was automatically reported and attacked if it got within range of shinobi outposts.) Finally, a flock of small ravens was usually more effective in a fight than a bird Kuroba-sama's size. They were much harder for enemies to target, for one thing. For another...

After she'd signed her contract with Kuroba-sama and his family, her summoning instructor had demonstrated every trick he'd heard of or used, making sure she understood the theory behind them. Then he'd clapped Naga on the back, told her to practice hard, and vanished back into whatever Anbu division her father had dragged him out of. He'd used her as his test dummy during his demonstrations. As a result, Naga had a very personal understanding of how hard it was to keep your concentration while a flock of sharp-clawed birds scratched, pecked, and buffeted your head and shoulders with their wings.

She stole a sideways glance at Kakashi, and wondered if she could ask a few ravens to claw his mask off. She'd known the jounin for over a year, and she'd still never seen the bottom half of his face -- his deliberate mysteriousness made her skin itch with curiosity, even though the fabric molded closely enough to his nose and jaw that she knew they weren't deformed. He probably hid his face just to annoy people, but still, she wanted to see it for herself. Naga weighed her chances... and decided to hold off, at least until she had a camera, or until they were back in Konoha so Iruka and Yukiko could help out and see as well.

"Yes, I suppose we should at least try to make a good impression on the Grass-nin -- peaceful yet strong," Kakashi said, breaking into her half-formed plans. He sighed theatrically. "I'm the picture of innocent sincerity, but I suppose your glares plus a giant raven would be a bit too warlike for me to offset. If that green-haired boyfriend of yours is around, it might be a different story, of course..."

"Bastard."

"That's commander bastard to you, Naga-kun," Kakashi said with another wink. "Pick up the pace -- we can't afford to waste time and let Itachi vanish." He darted off the path, heading northwest toward the valley's edge, the cool shadows of the old growth forest, and the distant Grass Country border.

Naga dashed after him, cursing under her breath.

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The forest was cool and filled with the quiet noise of insects, birds, and small animals going about their business. Now and then, Sasuke heard something larger moving in the distance -- probably a deer, but maybe a fox, or a wild pig. The giant insects and rodents didn't usually stray this far from the Forest of Death, and the larger predators steered clear of Konoha.

If Sasuke carefully ignored the occasional crunch of dry leaves or the swish of underbrush on fabric, he could pretend he was alone. This was a better place to be alone than anywhere in Konoha. If he was in a park, sooner or later people showed up, no matter how well he hid. If he was in a building, sometimes when he closed his eyes the walls would warp into his parents' dojo, blood would spread across the floor, and he'd have nothing left, because everyone was dead and Itachi didn't want him--

Rooms were good reminders.

But Sasuke liked the forest better.

A hand closed on his arm and jerked him backward. Sasuke spun into Naruto's grip, left hand raised to smash down on the moron's extended elbow.

Naruto flung Sasuke's right arm into his face and jumped back. "Hey, hey, calm down! And watch where you're going -- you almost stepped right into a pit-trap. Some genius you are."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder. Naruto was right; he had been about to step into a pit-trap, and one that wasn't even particularly well concealed. Pathetic.

"I was going to jump," he said.

"Liar! You didn't crouch down or anything."

Sasuke favored Naruto with his best disdainful look, which he'd copied from his cousin Akaro. "Moron. A skilled shinobi could leap ten of these traps in a row, from a standing start, without giving any sign beforehand."

Naruto stuck out his tongue and pulled a face. "Yeah, yeah, but you're still at the academy, just like me. And maybe you can fight better -- maybe -- but I'm stronger than you are, and I couldn't jump that without running. Stop acting like you're better than me. And come on, we have to hurry!"

Naruto turned his back on Sasuke and charged around the pit trap, as if it hadn't even occurred to him that Sasuke wouldn't follow. Sasuke fumed at the implications. He wasn't following Naruto, even if this was the moron's plan. He wasn't Naruto's friend, or teammate, or even his equal. He was better. He had to be better. He didn't need anybody's help. This entire plan was impossible and a waste of time; he should turn around and go back to Konoha.

Sasuke fought himself for all of ten seconds -- a very long time, really, for a shinobi -- before he tore up his list of objections and sprinted ahead of the moron.

He felt like he'd torn off a piece of himself, but when Naruto cocked his head and grinned, Sasuke almost smiled back. For half a second. Then his palms throbbed, still tacky with blood and fluid from popped blisters, and he clenched his fists instead. "Slowpoke," he said. "Try to keep up."

"Bastard," Naruto panted, but he didn't really sound angry.

Sasuke scowled, and ran faster.

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Ginji's internal clock was accurate nearly to tenths of a second. Therefore, when Eiji's office window slid open at precisely three o'clock, and a dark figure slipped in with a quiet rustle of fabric -- the shinobi's equivalent of a polite cough -- Eiji only glanced up to prove that he wasn't being overly complacent and making himself an open target for assassins.

"Rika is bringing Takeshi," he said. "They should be here any minute-- ah." A brisk knock echoed through his office. "Come in!"

Rika pushed open the door and strode over to lean against Eiji's desk. "Boss," she said, nodding her head in his direction and tucking her work gloves under her belt. "We'll have the Trailing Mist loaded by five, and ready to catch the tide, but I ought to get back in case some idiots need their heads knocked together. Will this take long?" Behind her, Takeshi crossed his heavy arms and leaned patiently against the doorframe.

"Probably not," Eiji said, shuffling the warehouse inventory sheets into a neat pile and looking over toward Ginji.

Ginji shook his head. "No. But I need to talk to you, after." He flicked his fingers toward the window, and shrugged minimally. Shinobi business, then.

Eiji sighed. "Fine. Rika, I assume Takeshi told you about Akatsuki, the group of missing-nin who helped him in River Country?" She nodded. "I've decided to meet with a member of the group. Ginji will be running close security on the messenger and me, which means he won't be available to break up any fights by the docks. You need to settle things with the new security forces -- pick some shift bosses, establish procedures for fights, and so on -- so you'll be ready to handle any problems."

He shifted his gaze toward Takeshi. "I'll want you at the first meeting, to make sure your report of the incident matches the shinobi's account. Do you trust your second to take the Crane on a short run along the bay?"

Takeshi frowned. "Why? Crew won't cause trouble. They know what's good for them."

"That's not the point," Eiji said. "At least some of them have seen these mysterious shinobi. If negotiations go sour, I don't want this Akatsuki organization to get ideas about 'removing' potential witnesses who could report them to their original villages."

Takeshi's frown deepened as the thought struck home. "Damn. Send them off."

"Good. Rika, on your way out, please tell Tetsuko to plan a short voyage for the Crane, and see if we can clear out one of the warehouses while we're at it. I'm expecting several overland trade caravans in the next weeks, and we need space. Don't tell her about Akatsuki. Thank you both." Eiji handed the inventory sheets to Rika.

"No problem, boss," Rika said as Takeshi opened the door. "Say, you want me to take Mitsu-chan off your hands this evening? I'm watching my nephew, and another kid won't be much bother."

Eiji looked at Ginji and quirked one eyebrow. Ginji shook his head; bad security. "Thank you, but I think Tetsuko and I can manage," Eiji said.

"Your call, boss. But don't say I never tried to do anything nice for you and Tetsuko-san," Rika said with a melodramatic leer. "When the romance dies, remember this moment -- this is where you started to go wrong."

"The Trailing Mist. Loading gangs. Heads to knock," Takeshi reminded her.

"Yeah, whatever. Later, boss!" Rika swept out of the office. Takeshi nodded to Eiji and followed her, closing the door behind himself.

"So," Eiji said, folding his hands on his desk. "What did you want to tell me?"

Ginji left his position by the window and began to pace back and forth in front of Eiji's desk. "Two things. No, three. First, I picked two of the missing-nin. They're skilled, and willing to swear personal loyalty above and beyond the standard contract. Accept it; if you do, I can work them past any Cloud investigations. Second, Akatsuki sent a message. Their representative is coming overland, and will arrive in five to seven days, depending on traveling conditions."

He raked a hand through his hair, trailing static from his bare fingers. "Third -- and this is the problem, Eiji -- I just got a message from Hidden Cloud. Something big went down in Konoha a week ago. Nobody has details, but apparently at least ninety percent of Uchiha clan is dead. The Hokage sent patrols and messengers all over -- apparently the Leaf-nin are hunting the killer and any Uchiha who were out on missions, and might have survived. As a result, all of Cloud's information on the Leaf's mission priorities is screwed up."

Ginji raked his hand through his hair again; visible sparks snapped into the air. Despite himself, Eiji felt a twinge of worry over what catastrophe could bother Ginji enough to break his professional mask.

"Look," Ginji said, bracing his hands on Eiji's desk and leaning forward. "Cloud has always been interested in the Leaf's doujutsu bloodline limits. I told you about the way the council hardliners almost started a war a few years ago, trying to acquire a Hyuuga. The Raikage and the council will move heaven and earth to get hold of an Uchiha before the Leaf-nin track them all down, especially since any deaths can be blamed on whoever or whatever killed the rest of that clan. I haven't been ordered to search myself, but we'll have Cloud-nin moving back and forth through Tengai for weeks.

"This is inescapable, Eiji. We have to build a better cover."

Eiji steepled his fingers, blocking out everything but the simple pressure of skin on skin, and forced himself to breathe. They had come too far to lose now. He couldn't afford to panic.

After several seconds, he looked up and met Ginji's eyes. "So. We need to keep our shinobi close, or they may desert and spill our secrets. But we can't keep them here, or the Cloud-nin will discover them. We need to meet Akatsuki in a position of strength, but we can't appear too strong or, again, the Cloud-nin will discover our plans. Does that cover it?"

"Yes."

"Damn." Eiji leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose; he was going to have a nasty headache this afternoon. "This is shinobi business. So. What do you think we should do?"

"Move faster," Ginji said promptly. "You wanted to start sending missing-nin with the ships. I'd rather indoctrinate them more before trusting them that far, but that will remove them from Tengai. If they get caught at other ports, the captains can claim they were hired locally and we have plausible deniability. Also, it keeps the missing-nin feeling obligated to us, which wouldn't happen if we shipped them off to hide in the woods or on one of the uninhabited islands."

"Explain and educate, not indoctrinate," Eiji corrected absently.

Ginji shrugged. "All education imposes an implicit ethical and behavioral code. I prefer yours, but it won't work if you only ask people to listen. You have to offer tangible benefits, and even then you have to knock heads, as Rika would put it, until you've persuaded enough people to believe the evidence."

Eiji sighed. "We can argue human nature later. For now, why don't you fetch those missing-nin. I'll play daimyo and accept their oaths."

"You're the closest thing to a daimyo this town's ever had," Ginji said dryly. "It isn't much of an act." He paused with one leg out the window. "You know, sooner or later Tetsuko is going to find out how much we've sped up your plans, and then she's going to kill you."

"I know," Eiji said, not meeting Ginji's eyes. "But the less she knows, the better chance she has of surviving if things go wrong."

Ginji's ghost-smile flickered across his face. "Maybe. In an ideal world."

"Which is what we're trying to build. Go fetch your shinobi, before something else comes up."

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"There it is." Naruto pointed -- unnecessarily -- down the hill toward the way-station. It was a low, sprawling structure, with brown walls and greenish-black roof tiles, that did a reasonable job of blending into the forest. Beyond it, the trade road stretched north and south in a broad, dusty ribbon.

"I'm not blind," Sasuke said. "Where's the guard?" He pressed himself a bit deeper into the leaf mulch under a fallen tree. A tangle of vines and underbrush hid him and Naruto from casual observers, but that didn't mean much against a high-level shinobi. Sasuke was surprised they hadn't already been noticed.

"He's... over there. Up on the roof, see?" Naruto pointed again.

Sasuke blinked; he hadn't actually expected an answer. He followed Naruto's finger. Yes, there was the guard, lying in a deceptively casual sprawl on the ridgepole and staring upward at the sky. From that position, a shinobi could watch the road and the forest at the same time with a minimum of effort.

Also, the moron had spotted the guard before he had. Sasuke dug his fingers into his palms. Warm fluid seeped into his sweaty, dirt-stained bandages; he'd popped another blister. "He has line-of-sight all around the building. He'll see us no matter which direction we come from. Do you have any more brilliant plans?"

The sarcasm flew right over Naruto's head. "You'd better believe it! I have four plans!" He grinned proudly. The smile made his eyes squint shut and stretched the whisker marks on his cheeks. He looked like an idiot.

Sasuke wanted to punch the smile off his face.

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Don't look so pissed off, bastard; I told you I'm good at plans! So, so the first plan is to wait until the caravan gets here, and we sneak in while there's people all over as a distraction. That's the safest way to get past the guard, but Yukiko-neechan might see us, and then we'd be in trouble." He held up one finger.

"The second plan is that I get the guard's attention and you sneak in and hide in a wagon. I don't like that one, 'cause I'll get caught, but you're the one who really needs to go -- it's your brother -- so I'll do it if I have to. But only if I have to." Naruto raised a second finger and gave Sasuke a significant look, as if trying to make sure Sasuke appreciated what he was offering to give up.

"The third plan is to pretend we're not ninja. We walk up and say we're here to surprise my sister and go trading with her, or we say we're running away from a farm, or that we're from a caravan that got attacked a long way away, or something like that." Naruto raised a third finger. Then he looked at Sasuke and frowned. "Hey, hey, if we do that, you have to change your shirt -- you have that police mark on yours, and they'll know you're from a Leaf ninja clan.

"Anyway, the fourth plan is that we actually sneak past the guard, right now. 'Cause there's two of us, and if we work together we can make sure he doesn't see you or me." He held up a final finger, and then clenched his hand into a fist.

"So, pick a plan!"

Sasuke shoved Naruto's fist into the ground. "That's only three plans, moron -- the last one is like saying you'll grow wings and fly just because you want to."

"It is not!" Naruto protested. Then he made a face and pointed at Sasuke. "Okay, maybe it is, but that's your fault! I can't plan stuff for you to do unless you tell me what jutsu you know, and how fast you are, and stuff like that. Real ninja don't keep secrets from their teammates -- it's bad for missions. So come on! Tell me!"

"No." Uchiha copied other people's jutsu; they didn't give away their own. This wasn't a real mission, and Naruto wasn't his teammate, so Sasuke had no obligation to tell the moron anything. Besides, he didn't think fire jutsu would really help them stay unnoticed.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, his blue eyes narrowed to angry slits. "If you're gonna be such a jerk, maybe I won't help you at all. I can go home right now, and you'll be stuck here with no plans at all. Then you'll never know what happens to your brother -- I bet it's classified, and they won't tell you anything, 'cause you're just a kid and not even--"

Sasuke's world went red. His hands clamped around the moron's throat, and he dug his thumbs in, searching for the carotid arteries to slash or the trachea to crush. Naruto thrashed, hands clawing at Sasuke's arms and face, distracting him from his goal. "Shut up," Sasuke hissed. "You shut up. You don't know anything!" He pulled one hand back, scrabbling for a kunai.

Naruto thrashed again, more purposefully, and pain shocked through Sasuke's body. He curled inward, arms crossed over his stomach and eyes watering. The kunai fell to the ground, skittering over the matted leaves.

"Serves you right, bastard," Naruto panted, drawing his knee back from Sasuke's crotch. Then he reached over and shook Sasuke's shoulder. "Hey, hey, get over it and listen to me."

Sasuke drew a ragged breath and met Naruto's stare. "Why?"

"Because we still have to get into the way-station," Naruto said, as calmly as if Sasuke hadn't just tried to kill him. "And you're a jerk, so we're gonna have to use plan number three, so change your shirt. Then shut up and follow me. This is gonna be fun." He smiled, and offered his hand to help Sasuke sit up.

Naruto's teeth were too sharp to be normal, Sasuke noticed, and this smile was anything but reassuring.

He knocked Naruto's hand aside and sat up on his own.

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End of Chapter Seven

Back to chapter 6

Continue to chapter 8

Read the clean version here on ff.net. (Trust me, you want to read the clean version. Think of the lj version as what I'd send to beta-readers if this were Harry Potter fanfic.)

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In unrelated news, I've been trying to write down some reactions to Angel Sanctuary. So far, I have about 4,000 words, and there's still so much more I want to say and clarify. Eventually, I will be able to distill that back down to something coherent, at which point I promise I will post it.

Right now, I'll just say that despite some conceptual holes you could drive a freaking army convoy through, I am still in love with the series. There are three reasons for this. First, it's pretty. (Yes, I'm shallow.) Second, I love the characters and the emotions. Third, I love the themes. And yes, there are themes. Oh my freaking god, there are themes. And the way those themes play out in the plot and characterization manages to hit a lot of my story-kink buttons. (By story-kink I mean a character type, plot element, or something that just works for a person and draws you in, whether or not it's objectively well-written or suitable to the story as a whole.)

Um. As you can see, I have a problem staying concise when I'm talking about Angel Sanctuary. But I'm working on it!