The Way Into Mist Village (Naruto)

21: Mist-ified

[OP: "Torches"--The Oh Hellos]

Neji and Tenten joined the 4-man group that Camie was taking downtown.

Then Kankuro said he'd come too. He was sick of being cramped in the house with so many people, though he was naturally more of a homebody than his siblings were. It was easier for him to pick people he was less uncomfortable with.

But at least they didn't expect him to talk, and he and Neji kind of just were silent.

Neji had said that he was just tired of being inside so much because of the weather.

"Shine and Wally said we could go alone as long as we stayed together and didn't get into any trouble with anyone," Tenten announced as they walked down the hills toward the town area. "So don't start anything, Bakugo-san."

"Why did you direct that at me?" Bakugo said.

"You really don't know?" Neji said flatly.

"Shh, he's sensitive about it," Camie hissed. "Besides, technically, it was Ino who started that."

"I did not!" Ino turned red. "They did! And we'll just avoid that section of town."

The steps going down were wet, and so were the stones of the street, and puddles were everywhere.

The Mist natives didn't pay it any mind. Most of the fog had rolled away to the north side of the island, but it was still hazy at the end of the water still.

"At least," Kankuro finally ventured a remark, "with how this had gone here, going on to Stone Village should be no problem. Gaara will be able to send them a favorable report."

"Are we staying here the whole week?" Ino asked. "Or are we moving on? It's almost been a week since we left."

"Gaara didn't want to rush it," Kankuro said. " As long as we reach Cloud Village (if they invite us) before winter and make it back to our homes."

"The thing is, you'd think they'd be the most okay with it," Camei said. "Since the War was like... in their backyard."

"Eh, that probably means they want to hide how much weaker they are after it," Bakugo said.

"I was just about to say that." Kankuro was slightly impressed that Bakugo understood it so well. "That's probably why. And if they stall, they have more time to recover."

"Oh, gotcha," Camie said. "Geez, you're so smart, Bae."

"Hmpf, of course I am," Bakugo said.

"Too bad you're so grumpy that no one can tell," Camie added slyly.

"What the h---!? I'm not grumpy!" Bakugo exploded.

At this point, the ninja decided to just block him out. They were realizing the way to deal with Bakugo's yelling was to ignore it.

"I'm not deaf. I can hear you." Camie rubbed her ears. "Geez."

"By the way, how did Sakura turn out?" Tenten asked Ino. "That conversation was getting kind of dumb, so I left, but it seemed like it took awhile for you to finish."

Ino was surprised that Tenten cared and also embarrassed. "I guess she just needs some time to calm down."

"I thought you said that she yelled at you," Sai said.

Ino flinched.

"Duh, so she really needs time to calm down," Camie said lightly.

Camie managed to make it sound not quite so humiliating, and thankfully it seemed to work on Tenten and the other two boys.