Sown

thirty-seven

[Hope you all had a merry Christmas. I'm struggling to get through the boring war parts, but I feel they are important, so please bear with me]

-

Hanae absentmindedly stroked the purple silk cord wrapped around the midsection of her armor with her thumb. She sat kneeling before Mifune, the two joined by three other samurai. Shortly after the wartime speech held by the Fifth Kazakage the Fifth Division had left to the Land of Lightning, dispersing themselves along the peninsula. Being a close range fighting and hiden jutsu division, they were to wait until ordered to offer help where help was needed. Hanae didn't necessarily enjoy the role her division took but had to admit it made sense ; the Land of Iron was a passive country and, being led by the daimyo of the Land of Iron itself, the Fifth Division having a passive role in the war was almost natural.

Having made their journey, the Fifth Division had posted themselves throughout the land, and this is where Hanae found herself now. Mifune busied himself with studying a land map, marking where the other divisions had headed and planning the quickest routes if need be. She, on the other hand, allowed herself to become lost in the memories from earlier that day.

-

"Left over right," Hanae reminded Kakashi for the third time. The man knelt in front of her standing figure with both himo of her hakama in his hands. He stared up at her, expression annoyed yet enjoying the fact that part of her face was obscured by her breasts.

"Does it matter?" The jounin questioned pointedly. Nonetheless he crossed the right himo under the left and tied it into an overhand knot. "What now?" He allowed her to lead him through folding the left himo and winding the right over it until the remaining fabric formed a plus-shaped bow just below her diaphragm. He stood after giving the knot a poke. "I'm never dressing you again."

Hanae smirked at his remark, "you're the one who offered. Who am I to say no to such a sweet offer?" She twirled on the balls of her feet. The legs of her hakama flared, passing the faintest whisper of a breeze over his toes. "And yes, the order does matter. It's all about preserving my honor. Samurai are respectful creatures, we respect our enemies, uniform, armor, and equipment. Not just throw them away like shinobi do." The last statement came out as a teasing purr accentuated by the woman setting her hands on her hips.

"That pose makes me want to do something very disrespectful," Kakashi murmured, pulling her into his chest. His hands wandered down until they cupped her butt, pulling a squeak from the entrapped samurai. It was a sound he cherished, wanting to hear it once more before they were to head their separate ways. Offering to dress her came with the same reason.

To Kakashi offering to help the woman dress herself was as intimate as it was endearing. He got to appreciate her body while creating a memory he knew for sure Hanae would love. As if she didn't already love everything he did.

"Should I help you get dressed now?" The words were slightly muffled, Hanae's cheek pressed tightly against his shirt..

He looked down to both her and his clothing, brow arched. "I'm already dressed. Unlike you samurai, we shinobi don't have to go through a million steps to put our pants on." The hardest thing a shinobi had to do was wrap their ankles, and for someone as experienced as Kakashi it was no problem at all. He had already done it before she woke up.

The redhead wiggled out of his grasp, "well, I have to practice being a good wife, so let me help with your jacket. Unless of course you have a tie somewhere I don't know about." She plucked the unzipped flak jacket from the ground, tossed their haphazardly just as their promise to the other tenants for a quiet night. Okay, Hanae hadn't been that loud, but their last remaining neighbor had probably caught something through the thin walls. "Left arm," she sang, slipping his outstretched arm through the hole and repeating with the right.

She secured the zipper and pat the armored vest, popping open the button holding the front of the left shoulder pad down. Kakashi tilted his head while she moved to their now barren desk. Hanae returned with a small knotted purple cord, placing the loop at the top over the button before closing it again.

He fingered the loose tassels hanging from the bottom, "what is this?"

"An agemaki-fusa," she answered whilst retrieving her armor from the foot of the bed. Hanae held up the chest armor adorned with a much larger version of the purple cord wrapped around the midsection. "Normally an agemaki held the sode - shoulder plates - in place, but Land of Iron armor is made with large pieces of steel that are welded together like sendai-do. This agemaki signifies my rank in the kaze-gumi. And yours," she pressed her finger into the silk rope, trailing it down one of the tassels until the digit rested above his heart, "is a good luck charm. Our red thread of fate."

Of course it was something cute. Kakashi didn't really know what he expected, but that wasn't to say he was disappointed. He had a habit of surrendering to tunnel vision when things got heated. A habit he picked up in Root, the last Hatake was proud to say that he could now focus on the safety of the comrades around him rather than just his own safety and keeping the upper hand in battle. But seeing that Hanae was bound to be so far away, the agemaki-fusa would serve as a nice reminder that she would still be by his side, and a reminder of one of the things he was fighting for in this war.

-

"Nee-san."

Hanae turned her attention to her right. Tatsui knelt beside her a little ways away. Like his sister he had an agemaki wrapped around the midsection of his chestplate, his a calm blue in contrast to her deep violet, marking him the leader of the samurai with an affinity for water natured chakra. She smirked at her sibling, "you haven't called me such a cute name since you were ten."

The nineteen-year-old shook his head slightly. She had expected her brother to grow annoyed as he usually did at her teasing. As the eldest sibling it had become her arsenal against the boy who, despite being seven years younger, was much taller and stronger than her. "You don't need to worry so much. I'm sure your shinobi boytoy is fine."

"Hey!" Hanae hissed. Pink began dusting her cheeks at Tatsui's teasing grin.

A shinobi from the Land of Lightning burst into the room. He bowed before Mifune who had been more successful in ignoring the sibling's spat than the other samurai in the room. "General Mifune! We just got word from central command - the enemy is deep underground, passing right beneath our forces!"

Hanae couldn't stop her gaze from drifting to the wooden floor of the Japanese style building they had hold up in.

"If the sensors out in the field couldn't sense them, they must not be ordinary humans."

And now they were fighting ghosts, demons, or whatever unholy creature this enemy could be. They were already facing the resurrected, so this thought was not as outlandish to the phasmophobe. 

"Lord Mifune," Hanae spoke up. "This sounds like the Hidden Mole Technique ; it's an earth style ninjutsu that lets the user move underground. We should send lightning natured samurai to the Second Division. They are led by Iwagakure shinobi who can rupture the ground and force the enemy out." She sat a little straighter at the stare she received from Mifune, not realizing that she had been giving her leader orders until it was too late.

Mifune continued to stare but soon broke into a surly grin. "Having a samurai living among shinobi is turning out more useful than I thought." He turned to the samurai gilded in a yellow agemaki. "Lead a sonae to the Second Division and take any well suited shinobi with you. Report back with your finding."

The ordered samurai bowed before taking his leave. Mifune turned his attention back to the map at hand. He moved a few of the colored pieces towards the northern part of the Land of Lightning peninsula.

Hanae bowed her head once room had grown quiet. "Forgive me for my outburst, Lord Mifune. I got too excited." She heard Tatsui chuckle under his breath the her side. Mifune, on the other hand, cleared his throat. The sound dared her to raise her head.

The elder's expression had not changed from its usual wise glower, but his words upon speaking were somewhat softer. "Never apologize for knowledge. I made you a kumigashira for a reason, don't forget that. You are acting your role and I respect you for that." His words brought Hanae's smile back to her face. It was something she was quite proud to flash at her younger brother who only replied with rolling his eyes.