Behind Paper Fans and Tea Ceremonies

One step forward, and two back

AN: Okay! Here we go! Not much plot advancement and still awfully short, but I'm trying for it to be so on purpose. I was hoping for this to go in 'small flashes of time' fashion. No idea how I'm succeeding so far.

Enjoy!

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"Dialogues"

'Thoughts'

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Chapter 3: One step forward, and two back

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Uchiha Sasuke had spent a month at the Daimyo's mansion by now, the last two weeks in which he'd taken to following the chambermaid Mibuchi Naruto with great discretion. And to be quite honest, he was doubting his own suspicions now.

So far, the only places the woman had visited was the personal rooms of Junichiro-sama, the maid's quarters and the kitchens. The major part of her day was spent around the young master, dutifully following him everywhere he went. He had been slightly surprised to know that she also sat in during his study time with the royal tutor, but dismissed it as the idiosyncrasies of the nobles.

'Really, what should have I expected?' Sasuke thought morosely as he trudged back to their base.

The shinobi serving the Daimyo had been given a whole five story house to themselves at the edge of the grounds. It was a perfect place to set up headquarters; switching for border patrols and keeping an eye on every entrance to the property was also easier due to the minute distance they had to travel. Plus, they could take to the roofs and scout the woods better by being so close to the edge. No sane ninja liked walking when they could jump across trees.

"Sasuke! Change in patrol timings," Misaki called out as he entered the house, "Team 2 will have to go out with the Daimyo's serving staff to the village this evening!"

Sasuke blinked. Then he sighed, taking a seat at the kitchen table, "My team was to be stationed in the court today. Not follow a bunch of gossipping maids to the market."

Misaki grinned at his tone, "Yeah, no. The old geezer's gonna be having a meeting with the Hokage today. All shinobi are to be outta the court, only the Hokage's guards allowed."

Ryo snorted, entering the room and nosing around in the fridge, "It's the usual. A bit of showing off, ANBU vs Twelve Ninja Guardians."

"I never knew that people took it so seriously," Sasuke commented dryly. "And make yourself useful, Ryo, pass me a tomato."

"We don't," Ryo corrected, gulping down half a bottle of water in a go and tossed the requested tomato at the raven, "They do – there's a difference. If your team returns early enough, you might even see it. A couple of the Ninja Guardians are gonna be on patrol duty today – the tension between them is insane!"

"Hn," Sasuke replied, narrowing his eyes as he bit into the red fruit. Then, he tuned out of the conversation and the others let him be, by now knowing his methods of recuperation after a tiring morning.

Sasuke spared a thought to wonder why the Hokage was coming in person. All the way to the capital to meet with the Daimyo when he could send a message with those "trusted" ANBU. Then, deciding he cared little about it, he cast it out of his mind.

***

"Why are we doing this again?"

Haruka, one of the two kunoichi in Sasuke's team, groaned as they walked through the market crowd, a bag of groceries in one hand, the other intertwined with his. Sasuke agreed with her statement, but refrained from saying so. Hidden discreetly behind their hair, a communication device crackled in their ear.