“I can just…” Kohaku eyed the rest of the group hesitantly.

 

“Go for it!” Hotaru gave him a thumbs up as her seal of approval.

 

“Someone had to.” The sounds of shattering glass as orange juice and blood followed Makoto’s statement dripped from Hibiki’s fist.

 

He smiles with veins popping out of his forehead. He removes himself from the table and the green door is already open. “Do it before I contemplate murdering Makoto, please.”

 

Wisping shadows and hushed conversation could be made out on the other side before it all falls silent and the door vanishes.

 

“Ahaha…. He doesn’t mean that.” Makoto loosened his collar.

 

“As long as it’s not you-know-who. He’s probably joking.”

 

Silence befell the room while Makoto looked away, tapping his foot persistently.

 

Hotaru is the first to break the silence. “Mako, no…”

 

*Click*

 

-Kohaku's POV-

 

It’s been three days since we paid Miroku a visit. I got Oyashiro to trust us to go outside and play again if I got swimming lessons, but for now, we're taking a visit outside. I guess he didn’t like staying in one place for long since Chino seemed used to it.

 

My eyes were a ruby red and my hair was a strawberry pink with hints of the original white. Hibiki called me a sponge and Hotaru agreed, but saw me more like a paintbrush. They were right. The color was slowly seeping away, but for now; I had to wear black-colored contacts around the village. Switching my haori and regular garb to a purple t-shirt and navy pants.

 

‘Why did he have so many options anyway?’

 

Wig after wig, for such a humble home he had a master’s closet for all shapes and sizes! I wanted to ask if he ran a boutique on the side, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk. Neither is Kuda. He went under my sleeve, and you couldn’t tell the difference.

 

“Now, I need you both to remain quiet and stay by my side.” His smile dropped and he stared at us deadpan.

“Okay.” “Mhm.”

He took us both by the hand and sighed, “Good…”

 

Once we reached the village's borders, this somber atmosphere that grew more palpable replaced the tight security from a few days ago. Some ninjas would just glance at us and walk past.

 

Headbands littered the ground like leaves. They were a mass of blank expressions and weeping in the comfort of another. Oyashiro’s grip tightened, not saying a word, and neither did we.

 

Further in were colorful streamers attached to building, carts with menageries of food, and like a bat in the night, a high-pitched scream over the crowd that we now saw running away followed by manic laughter. We ran further in my eyes could help but linger at the spurts of blood flying through the air.

 

In one moment, I was being pulled along and in the next, I was holding my side in the pouring rain. A cacophony of pure unadulterated laughter resounded over the clashing metal before a person flew past me and crashed into a wall. Bloodied and bruised, barely able to stand on their own when two figures landed in front of the building.

 

 “Ugh, took you long enough.” Their voice was gruff.

 

A lady with stark white hair and a man with cropped brown hair drew their swords and my vision followed theirs, closing in on the uproar. More and more bodies painted the ground in a sea of red with sparks flying in the air.

 

“STAY OUT OF IT!!!!”

 

The same figure with slicked back gray hair and a black cloak patterned with red clouds nodded to what I could only assume to be his comrade, the same person I saw erm-… you know! In the same cloak with the wild hair flared gold as lighting coursed through his frame…

 

I-it was… *cough* Neither of them wore a shirt…

 

They rushed at the others. It jolted me back to the moment and the same laughter and screams. The people trying to restrain him were met with a strange red scythe weapon and their end.

 

Our eyes met and his wrath exploded outward. I could only describe it as merciless. So much so that everyone around him collapsed. My lungs screamed for air and blood rushed to my head before we entered an empty lobby.

 

Oyashiro pulled the two of us in close a held us tight. Breathing heavily, he tightened his grasp. Not a word was spoken, no. Not a word needed to be spoken as we huddled in close enough that nothing would break us apart.

 

We survived that encounter simply through luck, but my cheeks were wet. My arms shook around the two just as their arms were around me. It was bone-chilling. The way trained Jōnins dropped like flies at his feet. No one could stop him. It was… exhilarating.

 

‘What is this? What’s happening?’

 

My lightheadedness subsided; I barely recognized the liquid running down my cheeks as my own tears. While I felt hungry for a moment, and swiftly satisfied. I let that emotion wash over with the newfound warmth I felt… this comfort.

 

We were going further into the building and up some stairs when Oyashiro spoke. “Everyone is recovering from the scars the Third Shinobi World War has brought. Now that things have settled for the time being. At least here, the need for ninjas is being questioned once again.”

 

“What?!” (Kohaku)

 

“Kohaku, what do you think of when you hear the name Land of Hot Water?” (Oyashiro)

 

‘Hm...’

 

“Hot Springs?”

 

“Exactly.” (Oyashiro)

 

‘Phew!’ I wiped the figurate sweat off my brow.

 

“It’s been in the talks for a while now but, I should’ve known it’d get to this point, eventually.”

 

“So they want to turn this place into a tourist attraction?” Chino asked.

 

He nodded, “It’s not far from it either.”

 

“What does that mean for us then?”

 

The stairs rounded up to the second story where two other kids stared at us.

 

“Fūshin!” Chino ran up to the guy with long green hair and piercing yellow eyes, but under Hanashi’s gaze, this was pretty lackluster.

 

‘Huh?! Fūshin? THE Fūshin?! OH MY-’

 

I crouched behind to calm my nerves and tugged on his pant leg.

 

“What is it?” (Oyashiro)

 

I put my finger up to my lip and started whispering, “Get down here!”

 

He paused and knelt down to my height. “Yes?”

 

“We’re talking THE Fūshin?”

 

“I don’t think there’s another Fūshin at the coliseum.” He paused. “ Y- You know Chino won against him, right?” (Oyashiro)

 

“Yeah, Chino’s awesome, but we’re talking Fūshin, The Cyclone!”

 

He raised his voice, “Cyclone?”

 

“Shh!” I stuck my finger up to his lips.

 

We looked at the three sitting at a table looking back at us. I hid back behind him.

 

“How do you not know this and why didn’t you say anything?!” (Kohaku)

 

“I didn’t?” He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

 

“No!”

 

“I’m sure I told Chino to tell you then.”

 

‘Chino!’

 

She was asking me all sorts of questions about me and what it was like at the coliseum. I looked over at the table, and they were gone!

 

‘Where’d they-‘ I looked down.

 

“He’s the one who told me about you in the first place.” - and promptly after hearing that my brain shut off.

 

“Ah.” It was like a bomb went off in my mind!

 

The three of them were crouching around us. Chino was giggling to herself, making the purple-haired guy beside her confused, while Fūshin was right next to me staring.

 

‘HE KNOWS ABOUT ME!’

 

He spoke up first. “Cyclone?”

 

‘AHHHH!’

 

*CLICK*