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Harry jolted awake to the scent of
sterile citrus in a grey room, the still silence around him bringing
up a strange amount of worry.
Surely, silence was a bad thing in this
place.
He cleaned up and walked out of the
room he'd been given, taking off all the spells he'd put up, only to
find Hideo about to knock on the door.
Hideo lowered his hand with a relief.
“I'm glad you're already awake, Nidaime-sama.”
“What's happened?” Harry asked with
a groan of resignation.
Hideo blinked and then shook his head.
“Oh no, nothing. I was just coming to wake you because the leaders
from the other bases have shown up and I scheduled a meeting in two
hours. Enough time to review and go over any...”
Harry held up his hand. “I'm not
doing any reviewing.”
Hideo cleared his throat, eyes darting
around as though he was searching for the words to continue.
“But I'll eat and then go to the
meeting,” Harry said with a decisive nod. Showing up unprepared
would definitely getting him kicked out of this Nidaime position.
“What are they going to do with those two hours? Not cause any
trouble, I hope?”
“They're too busy enjoying the hot
showers to cause any trouble,” Hideo said.
Harry frowned at him in confusion. “Hot
showers?”
“Most of our power used to go to the
labs. But after your orders to shut them down, I re-routed the power.
And people are quite keen to use the large supply of hot water,”
Hideo looked at Harry with an expression of wonder. “I doubted your
orders about the labs, but now I can see the real sense in it.”
“Right,” Harry said in disbelief
and quipped, “Nice soap would be even more sensible.”
“You think so?” Hideo asked with
serious consideration and nodded before Harry could reply. “I'll
make sure to get it done as soon as possible, Nidaime.”
Harry didn't want to give Hideo any
more ideas, so he said, “Speaking of people, did Suigetsu leave?
It's awfully quiet around here.”
“Last I saw, he went to bathe a few
hours ago,” Hideo said.
Harry frowned. “You don't think he
went down the drain or something because he's, you know?”
Hideo shrugged.
“One can only hope.”
“Hideo!”
Harry said in as scandalized a tone as he could manage, even though
he too hoped for just such an event.
A sharp laugh
interrupted them. “Aw shucks, Nidaime, I didn't know you cared so
much.” Suigetsu materialized in front of them, a blob of water
rising and solidifying into a human form. With a fitted purple shirt
that seemed painted on his torso and baggy grey pants, Suigetsu
looked even more smug an annoying than before..
“Why
purple?” Harry couldn't help but ask.
Suigetsu tilted
his head with a sharp grin and waved his hands at his face. “It
brings out my eyes, don't you think?”
“Not
particularly,” Harry replied with a shrug.
“Are
you sure,” Suigetsu said with a breathy whisper, leaning forward,
never breaking eye contact.
Hideo, who had
actually been silent that entire time, actually snorted.
Suigetsu huffed at
the older man. “Way to ruin the mood.”
“What
mood?”
Hideo turned away
from them with a choked off sound.
“You're
the worst,” Suigetsu told Hideo.
Harry, who had
been replaying that strange moment in his head gaped in realization.
He turned to the other teen and accused, “You were trying to flirt
with me.”
“Trying?”
Suigetsu said, straightening with indignation.
“Why
would you flirt with me?” Harry asked.
“Gee,
I don't know. Why would I want to seduce the person in charge of this
entire place?” Suigetsu asked with a mock thoughtful expression.
Harry glanced at
an amused Hideo and rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Fine. Point made.
But if you must know, Hideo is the one doing things around here,
you're better off seducing him.”
Suigetsu shot the
older ninja a serious and thoughtful look, his irritated expression
shifting as he eyed the man from top to bottom with a leering smile.
Hideo sputtered.
“I'm married.”
“Really?
Congratulations,” Harry said in surprise and turned to Suigetsu.
“Tough luck.”
“Marriage
might be rare in Sound, but I can seduce married people,” Suigetsu
said and leered harder at a stunned Hideo with what he probably
thought was a seductive smile.
“I'm
starting to regret breaking you out of the tube,” Harry pointed
out.
“Just
for that, I'm going to seduce you both,” Suigetsu declared with
narrowed eyes. “You're both going to fall at my feet. Everyone
will.”
Though ridiculous,
Harry saw a use for the teen's attitude. “We're meeting the people
who've come in from... everywhere. You're coming along.” To
annoy everyone and get me fired, Harry thought with satisfaction.
“See,
you already want me by your side,” Suigetsu pointed out with
delight. “Who are we going to beat up?”
“We're
not beating up anyone,” Harry replied but glanced at Hideo for
confirmation.
But a stunned
Hideo still stood dazed.
“Fine,
I'll just drown them the moment they get unruly,” Suigetsu offered.
“Can't cause problems if they're dead.”
Harry stared at
the other teen.
“Right,
you're big on the cleanliness thing,” Suigetsu said with a
thoughtful look. “I'll give the bodies to the cannibals so there
won't be any mess to deal with.”
“Did
you just say cannibals?”
“Keeping
them fed will make them stay in line.”
“There
aren't...” Harry turned to the still dazed Hideo and prodded him
with an impatient jolt of magic. “There aren't any cannibals here,
are there?”
Hideo blinked and
rubbed his arm. “The prisons were a crowded mess and the prisoners
weren't fed very often. Some of the more desperate ones might have
resorted to some cannibalism.”
“There's
no such thing as 'some' cannibalism!”
“It
just means they didn't eat the entire body,” Suigetsu said with an
unconcerned shrug.
Harry sighed.
“There goes any appetite I might have had.”
Hideo glared at
Suigetsu. “But Nidaime-sama, you need your strength to deal with
the gathered leaders. They can be a headache on their own, but
gathered together they are unbearable.”
“Even
better,” Harry muttered. “Let's just get the meeting over with
quickly. Tell them that the meeting's been moved up and...”
With
a rustle of cloth, a masked man knelt in front of them.
“Nidaime-sama, there's been an incident.”
“Let
me guess,” Harry said. “Sasuke?”
"Not quite, Nidaime-sama,"
the kneeling ninja said. Two other masked ninja came forward, holding
an unconscious girl. A girl with long and vibrant red hair. “We
believe she was trying to revive Uchiha but your animals subdued her
before anything could happen."
Trouble rose from where he'd been
coiled around her neck and hissed. “I put her to sleep before she
could do anything.”
"Karin, huh?” Suigetsu scoffed
as he leaned closer for a better look. “Guess she still has a thing
for Uchiha."
"I want to talk to her,"
Harry said, his voice sounding like it had come from someone else.
"Alone."
The masked men bowed.
Suigetsu grinned.
Hideo sounded almost cautious as he
said, "Nidaime-sama, Karin is a valuable asset. She has sensing
abilities that are too valuable to lose so maybe..."
Suigetsu narrowed his eyes even as his
grin sharpened. "Are you trying to overrule the Nidaime's
decisions? Just who is in charge here?"
Hideo flinched back. “I didn't mean
to...”
"We're just going to talk,"
Harry said.
"Talk? She may not look it, but
she's a tricky hag." Suigetsu said. “Just feed her to the
cannibals and save yourself the trouble she'll bring.”
Harry glared.
“A joke,” Suigetsu cleared his
throat, his grin fading. “It was just a joke.”
It
took a long while for Harry's anger to drain, but once he had secured
the medical room's privacy with some spells, he turned to the
unconscious redhead and said, “Rennervate!”
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I'm pretty sure
that I keep writing this AU just for the weird dialogue.
In other news, I'm
glad July is over, there were just too many birthdays to celebrate.
I'm still feeling tired from all of them.
Polar
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