Dysfunctional

~14~

After the surprise attack from the puddle of doom, saying everyone was a little on edge was accurate. It didn't help their mentalities when Tazuna straight-up admitted that he did, in fact, have people after him.

"And you didn't think to mention this to anybody?!" Shikika exclaimed, yelling at Tazuna.

"Look at this mess!" Hiroto complained. "There's blood everywhere, Rin-sensei is pissed, and Kohaku-kun has gone silent!"

And Kohaku stayed that way.

"What else was I supposed to do?!" Tazuna snapped.

"Konoha accepts more than money for payment you know," Rin scoffed. "And knowing my tou-san, even if you couldn't pay he'd help your home out anyway. It's good publicity."

"Well what are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"The smart thing to do is turn our asses around and march right back to Konoha." Rin scoffed.

"She's not wrong." Kakashi shrugged.

"But the Land of Waves needs us!" Naruto exclaimed. "We have to help them! We can't ignore it!"

"H-he's right."

Everyone turned to Kohaku when he finally spoke up, giving him looks of hope, awe, or confusion.

"I-I want to go h-home," Kohaku mumbled. "But t-that doesn't mean we should. L-like Rin-sensei said, it's g-good publicity."

"Come over here!" Rin cried, grabbing his head and giving him a noogie. "What d'ya say Kakashi-kun? Up for some adventure?"

"With the looks, Shikika-chan, Naruto-kun, and Kohaku-kun are giving me, it's hard to say no." Kakashi sighed.

Tazuna sighed in relief.

~~~~~

"I'm a pirate!"

"Whatever you say Shikika-chan," Hiroto chuckled. "Just remember that once we enter the fog you have to be quiet."

"That's just so hard!" Shikika whined.

"I-it's really not." Kohaku mumbled.

"Easy for you to say!" Shikika replied, sticking her tongue out playfully.

"Rin-san is awfully quiet." Sakura noted.

"Probably because she gets motion sickness when on anything other than her own two feet." Kakashi chuckled, patting Rin's back. "Carriage, boat, although she's never been in the sky before."

"Never... Will I... Ever... Fly..." Rin groaned, holding her head off the side of the boat.

"I'd love to fly!" Naruto exclaimed.

Shikika grinned devilishly, rolling up her sleeve. Hiroto was quick to hit her upside the head.

"Bad Shikika-chan!" He scolded. "We don't send our friends flying!"

"Oh come on! He asked for it!" Shikika retorted.

"All you shinobi and kunoichi are crazy." Tazuna grunted.

"You have to be for this kind of work," Kakashi sighed. "We're all desensitized to pretty much everything, not to mention there are other people in this line of work that are even weirder than us."

"... Anko-chan..." Rin groaned.

"Yeah, Anko's crazy. A whole other level of crazy." Kakashi agreed.

"What's she like?" Sakura asked.

"Let's see," Kakashi hummed. "Wears clothing that leaves little to the imagination, has a fascination with blood, huge into snakes, and there was this one time where she managed to gather around twenty ANBU and they all went to her place and-"