*Ignore A/Ns and general notes from past chapters. Things I've mentioned plot wise have likely changed.

{G}[]{A}

"Well, this is a twist." I had to hide my grin behind my hand, though I was doubtful it didn't reach my eyes.

"Probably the only time this'll happen." Sasuke threw out, somewhat amused with the situation himself.

"Are you jealous? Jealous of –" there was a pause in my speech as a rather awkward laugh from Naruto echoed from the front of our group – "Jealous that you don't have a noble vying for your attention?"

"Yes." Came the flat reply from my darker toned teammate. "So jealous."

We fell back into a comfortable silence, the only obtrusive noise the girlish giggles from up ahead and occasional high pitched laugh from Naruto as he embarrassedly rubbed at the back of his head…as much as he could with the bags on his arms. As a whole this mission was a lot more like a stroll through a park rather than the rickety roller coaster of the Land of Waves mission – probably quite literally a stroll in the park for our Kosuzu Yamaguchi, our client. The niece of the daimyo that had spent some time in Konoha, and was now in route back to the capital with the protection of our team.

Granted, as awkward or flattered as Naruto must have felt, her sticking so close to him in this bustling city was probably a good thing. At least in terms of being able to keep track of her in this place.

It was one of those more influential and prestigious towns you found the closer you got to the capital – hubs of trade or general leisure centered places. The one we had to pass through on this particular mission was somewhat of a vacation city – one of the ones built for leisure in the form of spas, high end clothing, and a rather large theater in the center of town. Food vendors lined the streets near the theater, the heart of this town, as well as little trinket booths with things that referenced whatever play was currently being shown. And it was much busier here than in Konoha.

And with the bustling streets of the leisure town it was a decent bit harder to keep track of the zigzagging girl-client that was yanking our loudmouthed teammate around, boxes and bags being piled in his arms as he dodged the crowds at her enthusiastic behest. Sasuke and I both already had armfuls of bags ourselves – though whether we were required to be shopping jockeys on this escort mission or not was questionable. As we endeavored to keep our client in our sights merchants and their employees were trying to reel in customers and civilians and other inhabitants of the capital around us, deftly maneuvering the crowds that acted as if they were ocean currents personified, crowds they'd likely grown up in. If we weren't shinobi we'd likely have been crushed many times over. Really, it was probably a miracle that nothing had –

"W-watch out!"

"Runaway cart!"

A hissed curse passed my lips as I reacted to the cart that was hurtling in Kosuzu's general direction, a similar hiss from Sasuke as we pitched forward.

Our young client's screech of terror left my ears buzzing as my fingers slapped together in the final sign for the Syrup Trap jutsu, molding just enough for a plate sized glob to catch the wheel of the getaway cart before pushing forward to help Sasuke brace it. Some plates and food still flung forward, and I could feel the heat and stickiness of it seeping into my shoulder and side. One look at Sasuke after stabilizing the cart showed that he hadn't fared much better, as he was brushing a noodle off his shoulder with a disgruntled look on his face, and one glance back at Naruto had us both scowling.

"You saved me!" The red haired girl swooned, arms flung around a red and stumbling Naruto, the fallen boxes full of her purchases forgotten. "I already knew you to be wonderful, and now you're my hero! Did you see everyone? Did you see?"

What was at first a reluctant bit of clapping started before becoming a short, dull roar. Some faces were confuse, clearly just going along for the heck of it, and some seemed genuinely impressed.

"Ahaha, it was nothing!" Naruto's face was plastered with a sheepish yet boastful grin, which only diminished some upon catching a glance of us. It seemed they'd been so caught up with some market display that Naruto hadn't even realized till he'd heard screams, only registering enough to get himself and our client out of harm's way, thus missing our own heroic misfortune. "Oh man, what happened to you guys? You should be more careful!"

For a moment it was like the world had went silent, aside from a high, keening buzz and the gleeful humming of our sensei somewhere from the side.

"You go high and I go low?" My voice came as a low drawl, fingers flexing at my side.

Sasuke's response instant, low and dark as we started to slink forward, "Sounds good to me."

"Now, now," Kakashi-sensei halted Sasuke and I's advance by grabbing the collars of our shirts, holding us in place and effectively stopping us from mauling our teammate and scaring the high born clientele. "Why don't we stop for the night? Seems like everyone could use some relaxation time."

"That, uh, might be for the best, sensei." One of the girl's two non-ninja bodyguards coughed, trying to hide both his amusement and exasperation. "Us non shinobi will need a good night's rest before the last leg of this journey."

It was something neither Sasuke nor I dared protest to, seeing as we both much desired a nice bath at this point in time due to our now cold, broth soaked tops. With the pleasant thought of steaming waters circulating my mind I quickly began the process of snatching up fallen bags and boxes of the young lady's purchases, Naruto and Sasuke doing the same. Once we started towards the hotel where our client's palanquin was being housed and warm baths and beds were waiting, the whiny voice of our client rang out again –

"Oh – Hiroshi, you release Naruto of that burden will you? He's the hero of the day!"

As the resigned civilian guard took Naruto's share of the purchases our blond teammate blushed and scratched the back of his head, clearly pleased with his new so-called title. Kosuzu delicately looped her arm with Naruto's and strode forward with great enthusiasm, babbling on joyously – though the words were lost to me in my slowly rising annoyance.

Kakashi-sensei hummed thoughtfully –

"Would this be a bad time to tell you that you'll be staying with her tonight, Nozomi?"

{G}[]{A}

It was with great haste and much relief that I separated myself from the Yamaguchi girl after we had woken early this morning. She'd spent a good part of the evening wanting to talk about boys – specifically Naruto. As much as I enjoyed the occasional girl time, I did not like being asked question after question about Naruto himself. Or the initial frigid questions about whether or not I myself liked "her hero".

"Oh, if only I could convince father or uncle to have you hired on here for my protection." Her hands cradled her reddened cheeks as she unabashedly stared at the swaggering blond.

"I mean, I'm totally capable if that, yeah!" Naruto struck some sort of pose – probably one that he thought looked heroic. "But since I'm technically a genin the Hokage totally underestimates me."

Kosuzu's mother scoffed a bit at this, a typical woman of the capital from what I'd heard. Meaning that they tended to look down upon those not from here, or at least those not of the same station. Then again, Naruto was acting boastful. Her father, on the other hand, was far more amiable in the way he could hide what he was truly feeling. Imayoshi Yamaguchi, the Fire Daimyo's younger brother, spread his arms out with a smile that reeked of falsity –

"Regardless, I thank you Konoha shinobi for escorting my dear Suzu home. Should I ask for some rooms be prepared for the night?"

"As nice of an offer as that is," Kakashi-sensei's hand fell lightly on the about to protest Naruto's head, "We have another mission to complete soon, so we need to make haste."

After the cursory bows and the tearful, sniffling goodbye of Kosuzu we quickly made our way out of the capital and off its stone streets and onto the beaten dirt road, Naruto sulking all the way.

"Why'd we have to go?" Naruto clasped his hands behind his head, a stubborn and pouty look on his face. "We coulda had nice rooms, Kakashi-sensei! And what other mission do we have anyways?"

Sasuke grunted a reluctant agreement before adding his own two yen into the conversation, "I don't remember accepting any other mission."

"Oh, I assure you, it's very important. Which is why," Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat, eye curved in a smile, "we will continue travelling through tomorrow and into the next morning. We need to get to Otafuku Town."

The three of us exchanged incredulous looks but followed Kakashi-sensei into the trees – a long-term travel style that we did need to get further used to. Perhaps this was just an excuse for such training – as well as working on low energy, which would make sense as we'd not done much of that training aside from returning from the Wave mission a month ago. Though I did have my doubts on that, seeing as he didn't just say the travel was for training. I heaved a halfhearted sigh and pushed on – why did jounin have to be so shady?

{G}[]{A}

Otafuku was a pretty town – and rather influential in its own right. It was one of the bigger towns a half a day's travel from Konoha if you were just traveling Civilian Style, close to half that if we pushed our current ninja tree-hopping skills. On one side was a splaying of rice paddies, the other was the more artsy side of the town – hand crafted things and more artisan type products. Kakashi-sensei was practically prancing in front of us as he led us towards a small crowd, and Naruto was glowering more than Sasuke.

"Why is he so excited?" Naruto grouched, arms crossed. "What are we even here for?"

"Oh, it's a real mission, worth it too!" Kakashi-sensei clapped, eye curving in a tell-tale sign of a smile. "It's getting late, and you guys did so well time-wise we'll stay here."

"Sir," the bright voice of the young woman working the stall rang out, "your order is ready!"

Kakashi-sensei paused for a moment to grab the hefty takeaway box, fitting it snugly into Sasuke's arms before deftly tossing a small coin purse my way, the little thing jingling softly as it landed snugly in my hands, "Nozomi, you're in charge of the money – book us a room and enjoy your food."

With that he shot off into the crowds, and though we were curious about what it was he was doing, the low whine of our stomachs had us moving away. We hurried along, and I made sure to put myself between Naruto and Sasuke – our team's luck would likely mean our meals lost if those two got too close.

The hotel we ended up in was the cheapest in town, but still nice. With two futons, a kotatsu, and a little kitchenette and it was even roomier than some of the smaller hotels in less booming towns. It hadn't even used up near all of what Kakashi-sensei had left with me, but if –

"Man, that other hotel we passed coming in had a hot springs. Couldn't we have gone there instead?"

"We have hot springs back in the village." Sasuke cut in, smirking in victory. "And we're not here to get pampered anyways."

I hummed in affirmative as Naruto began gathering our trash, grumbling as he'd lost the rock paper scissors match that decided this duty, "Besides, this isn't a vacation. We're lucky we're even staying in a hotel."

With a pleased sigh I finished off the last of my tea, handing the disposable cup to Naruto to add to his growing pile –

"Thanks, you're a doll. Taking up all our trash."

He made a face at my sarcastic smile, almost tripping as he edged out the door, "You said you'd slip laxatives in our tea if we made you carry all of this!"

"I lied."

Naruto groaned and grumbled as the door shut behind him, and I snickered as a smug little smirk crossed Sasuke's face. Our plan from the start was to pawn all the tedious tasks onto Naruto after what a fiasco this mission had been for the two of us. We were both perceptive enough to have caught onto Naruto's tells over time when it game to the childish game – though Sasuke may have quickly flashed his sharingan to make sure he got the win.

Naruto shuffled back in the door, pouting, and as he was closing it Kakashi-sensei caught it himself –

"Hey kids, good dinner?"

In his hands was a book – at first glance it looked like the normal Itcha Itcha book he had on hand, but it had a special golden reflective "Special Edition" marker on the outside and I squinted hard.

"Sensei…that book…?"

"Oh, yes!" Kakashi-sensei held it up high. "It's a special edition! It has an extra chapter to it, and profiles. I just got the last copy."

Naruto screamed –

"You made us run all the way here for a stupid book?! What the heck, Bakash –"

Kakashi slapped a hand over the still fuming Naruto's mouth, mumbled noises creating a new ambiance in the room. Sasuke and I were too stuck in our own incredulous looks to flinch at his volume, our sensei not even looking remotely sheepish. I groaned and fell back on one of the futons we'd set up earlier, legs jerking at the odd angle they were left in.

"Now, now. Everyone lets get to bed and get ready to go home." Kakashi waggled the book around more and removed his hand now that Naruto had calmed. "Up to you guys to decide on sleeping arrangements, as usual!"

He disappeared at that, leaving a faint smoke cloud, and I yanked myself back onto the futon I was already half on –

"I swear I will poison you if I don't get a futon."

Neither argued that fact, and after a short glaring contest and scuffle Sasuke found himself victorious and deserving of a futon as well. Naruto would have to deal with his sleeping bag and a cozy corner.

{G}[]{A}

My breaths came choked and shallow as I sat up in bed, hand twisted into a fist with the fabric of the top right over my chest pulled taut. Breathing continued to be hard as my mind raced, heart erratically doing the same. Because it has seemed so real – and maybe it was; I'd had these strange dreams before. Dreams of things yet to pass, things that did come to pass when I left them be or didn't look into them.

But this, this I knew somewhere deep in my bones I couldn't let be. A strange man, in a strange place was going to change Sasuke. My team – my family – would become brittle and break because if him.

A few tears from the anxiety eating at me and the pure emotional distress that accompanied it slid down my cheeks as a quickly padded down ways from our room to the bathroom. My hands clenched around the edge of the cabinet, aching slightly to the crescent marks left on my palms from my nails. I stared down my reflection – wide-eyed and frazzled; scared. But slowly, as I tried easing my breathing, everything that had been racing wildly slowed a degree, a tired numbness taking over the itch that had creeped through me and settled into my bones.

"I'm fine." My voice cracked and I pulled in a shaky breath, eyes clenching shut and a few more errant tears eked through. "I'm fine. We're fine."

I counted to ten in my head, eyes closed and hands relaxing their grip. My breathing was still shallow and shaky, but well on its way to mellowing out. I'd had a dream. A dream that could be real – but I had time. Even if it was something little, something seemingly insignificant that I could change to alter it, I would do it.

I will protect my family, I thought resolutely as I slid our room door shut.

"…'Zomi?" Naruto's tired voice barely registered and I tensed in surprise. "Yooou okay?"

Naruto let the stifled yawn out and I did my best to smile and not grimace.

"Yeah, just…couldn't sleep."

"H-heeere," he yawned again and limply held out his beaver sleep hat. "Sleep…better…"

After I took it he fell limp and his face squished into the floor once more. As I sat on my futon I laid it on the floor next to where my head would be and took a deep breath. Something hit the bedding softly beside me and I nearly did a double take upon seeing the piece or wrapped candy – it was a tomato chocolate; a weird candy that Sasuke really enjoyed and that I had an occasionally fondness for. Upon looking at him He appeared totally asleep facing away from me, and I knew he'd deny this until his dying breath.

The smile I had as I tucked myself back in was probably goofy, but –

I was for sure gonna protect this family of mine.

{G}[]{A}