A Growing Affection

Chapter 57: The Birds and the Beans

"But  we have more important matters to attend to," Haruna said pointedly.  Toki nodded in sharp agreement, and they both turned on Sakura, leaning  towards her, their eyes sparkling. The Kunoichi cringed back, but she  had nowhere to go.

"Is it true you know Yukie Fujikaze?" Toki asked, breathless with curiosity and jealousy.

"You have failed again," the Grass Jonin told them dismissively. Despite being equal in rank to two members of the intercepting team, he was in control of the mission. And despite being the second shortest, he looked down on the other four shinobi. Other than his somewhat noticeable lack of height, he was the most unassuming of the group, with shoulder length black hair, and a plain, forgettable face.

"Don't give  me that crap," the trident-haired warrior snapped, "You're not some  criminal mastermind, and we're not your stooges. We completed our mission. We delayed them for more than half a day's travel time, and then reported the situation, so you could plan your move."

"And  don't try pinning this fiasco on us," the computer expert warned,  flashing his palmtop, "I had already filed Ayameko and Saburo's  reservations about the impersonation scheme. Our leader already knows we  warned you that the Leaf Ninja were making up lost time, and that we  didn't have enough intel to pass a more than passing inspection."

The  second Kunoichi chuckled. No longer wearing the form of Haruna, she now  wore a green patch over her right eye. Her dirty blond hair was cut  severely short, and her shozoku was ragged around the edges, and more  than slightly revealing.

"What now?" Ayameko had dropped Sakura's  guise, and was once again in her civilian styled garb. Her light eyes  showed worry over the conflict between her allies, and her interruption  and gentle tone were intended to forestall further bickering.

"Our  leader is going to contact us within the hour," their appointed  commander explained, "He has been informed of the situation, and will  decide how to proceed."

"Okay, what's going on here?" Naruto demanded grumpily. After the boys had met up with the girls again, Sakura quickly foisted the giggly princesses onto Naruto. Haruna and Toki had proceeded to spend nearly an hour interrogating him about the Daimyo of the Land of Snow, and her actress alter ego. After they had dragged all the information they could out of the younger Chunin, the Ladies started to talk about summer plans and then the latest fashions. It was after another ten minutes of that that Naruto lost his temper.

"I mean, I thought this was  supposed to be some kind of negotiations," he complained, "But you're  acting like... like this is a slumber party."

Toki looked chagrined, but Haruna not the least bit off-put by the challenge.

"To be honest," the princess of the Birds admitted, "the basic structure of the alliance was set five months ago."

"So, what have your meetings been about, all this time?" Neji kept his voice down, but his tone was just as recriminating.

"We  still had minor details to hammer out," Haruna answered defensively,  "Various merchants and ministers who had to be assuaged, terms to  tweak."

She did not seem convinced by her own argument, and both  of the male ninja prepared to press their assault. But before they  could, Toki spoke again.

"It's a lonely thing," she said in a sad  voice, "Being a female ruler. People are much quicker to second-guess  you, to try to bully you. Until I met Ha-chan, Chishima was the only  friend I had. But even he didn't fully understand; how could he?"

"As  we went through the early talks," Haruna picked up, "We realized we had  a lot in common, beyond just being Daimyos and women. Along the way, we  became friends, and so we drew out the negotiations, so we would have  an excuse to visit."