Dinner was tasty and Shisui put a great part of his share into her wooden bowl. 

She ate slowly and truly enjoyed herself talking with the others. Miyo was talkative and the complete opposite of her silent, and serious daughter that, more often than not, was the more grown up. The two boys, Haruto and Akira, mainly sticked to themselves while whispering about something she couldn't hear. Shinji and two of his guards on the contrary were quite the storytellers. 

Only Aoki is silent.

She thought and observed cool stone faced Aoki. The Archer was expressionless and fiddled around with the feathers of his arrow. Gene couldn't quite help it, after having seen this kind of stuff only ever in TV or while playing Video Games real life was amazing. 

"Do you want to try?" Aoki asked her, noticing her interest and she nodded. Aoki looked at Shisui silently as if asking for permission. 

"She is her own person. Ask her not me.", Shisui replied and Aoki shook smiling his head. 

"Not that.", He said, "I did that because I know that she is dear to you. From what I am guessing is your identity I prefer caution." 

"My Identity?" He smiled back and shook his head. "All I am is a simple farmers son and nothing more." 

"For now. The name Shisui is no unknown in certain circles." Aoki picked her up and took her with him a bit away under watchful eyes. "Take this." He said and placed an arrow into her hands. She touched the smooth wood and the black feathers at the back. 

"I prefer crow feathers.", He said and took his bow. "Not many learn archery. In the Land of Iron, my home, it is still practiced, but others prefer Shuriken and Kunai for distance attacks." 

"Why?" She asked him.

"It is slow. Throwing a Kunai or a Shuriken requires a well done sleight of hand and in the right moment. It works on every distance. Archery is slower and is limited to longer distances." He explained, and took her hands. "A bow has only a single advantage. It works on greater distance than Kunai and Shuriken." 

"There is another, it is silent and no one expects a Shinobi to use a bow.", Shisui said and looked at Aoki.

"Correct." Aoki agreed. "But it is time to go to bed now, for normal children." 

Then he handed her over to Shisui who picked her up. Together they went back to the camp fire. There a pair of obsidian black eyed observed her, the fires dancing in them. 

She smiled and felt the familiarity as a suspicious feeling rose inside her. "Say Shisui, do you know normal Chess?" She asked him and Shisui shook his head. "No I don't. I heard about it before, but that's it." 

"Then how does a normal girl that age know one of the most difficult chess variants?" It felt strange to her. 

"I don't know, but you are not one to talk. Maybe you come from the same place." 

"The same place." She looked at Tsukiko who was next to her mother covering her under a blanked while stoking her hair back. 

"Maybe." She muttered and cuddled next to Shisui under a blanked and closed her eyes. 

"Don't worry, we will get to Konoha." Shisui said. "There we are safe." 

She closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

---

Warm, and comfy. 

She cuddled closer to the warmth and happily signed. She was happy, full and it was comfortably warm. 

"Gene, Gene." She heard a voice and opened her eyes. 

"What?" She said with a dry voice and looked right into Shisui's eyes. "Morning." He greeted her and she smiled weakly. 

"Morning." 

"How are you feeling?" Shisui asked, and she nodded. "Fine." She muttered. "Are we starting?" 

"Already did, look outside.", He nodded toward the outside, and she looked towards there. She saw how the carriage proceeded, and the sun was standing high.

Oh, it has to be midday already.

Outside, Shinji called out and screamed a loud. "Brace yourselves and hold on." Suddenly, their carriage sped up. It was shaking and Shisui drew her closer to him and held her tight. 

Something hot approached and Gene looked to the outside. Her eyes widened and Shisui suddenly turned around blocking her view.

All she could perceive was a hell of red. Holding out her hand she channeled her Chakra and pumped it into her hand. 

No!