The Way Into Mist Village (Naruto)

26: Located

[OP: "I was Wrong"--The Oh Hellos]

"That was interesting." Dabi surprised Shine once Sasuke had left the room.

"I thought I saw you in the hallway," Shine said. "Keeping an eye on him?"

"Yeah. You should know that he and Snowflake almost had a fight again. Princess broke it up, but it got ugly. The prick said some more stuff about you...but I didn't think he'd take what you said that well. What happened there?"

"Perhaps he just knew I was right," Shine said.

"So you're seriously going to let him do stuff?" Dabi said.

"If I don't he's going to only get more resentful," Shine said. "And perhaps he's right to think he should do something rather than nothing while he's here. More importantly, I got him to accept the condition of not using those powers. That's a miracle in of itself. I never thought he'd do that... Perhaps something here is working on him after all. I really couldn't tell."

"If it is, why is he still such a little pill?" Dabi said. "Can't he tell that you're doing this because you want to help him?"

"I think it's safe to say that if he understood that, he would leave," Shine said. "He couldn't accept that. He's decided he doesn't need anything from us, and he must earn everything, in his mind. I'll let him earn it for now. I hope someday he'll stop thinking that way, but what can I do to make that happen? Only God can heal. All I can do is try to meet him where he's at for now."

"I get the vibe you're starting to like him," Dabi said. "But how could you?"

"You know me too well," Shine said. "I sometimes think, though you've known me the least amount of time, that you seem to understand that better than the others."

"You did the same to me. I've seen it firsthand," Dabi said. "I was dislikable too, but you found a way. You don't like abuse, do you?"

"Perhaps I'm just desensitized to it after my experiences. But I don't like Sasuke, really. I only think that I could like him if he was less resistant to it. He wants me to hate him, and he can at least get under my skin. But he is starting to attempt to use rationality to get his way... That is better than violence. So if he's learned one thing in the last week, it's that we will not respond to violence. Can't you at least be glad of that?"

"Imagine if he's being less of a jerk to us because it's not getting him anywhere," Dabi said. "But I don't like him any more for it. It's all selfishness. And I know I was just the same as that, but he's got other flaws I don't care for either."

"Well, let's not focus on him," Shine said. "Perhaps if they plan to attack us again, we should just go after them. Once Suigetsu returns, we should leave as soon as we can. All of us probably can't go. Sasuke is risky, but I figure that, if we leave him here, they could come back and snatch him once we're out of the way. So he'd better just stay with us. Maybe we can keep anyone else from getting stolen if we don't split up so much. But I can't portal us to this island, not without finding it first. If they do that, then we can make a plan."

"Then let's hope they found it," Dabi said. "I don't really like Bakugo that much, but we need him to work as an attack dog, and Camie at least distracts some of those annoying airheads from bothering us too much. And if Neji dies after all that effort to keep him alive, I'll be pissed off."

"I'm sorry that you're worried so much," Shine said. "I am too. But, consider who we have working with us: Suigetsu may have been a Godsend. Perhaps all this was already foreseen by the Spirit and provided for. It's remarkable how things work out."

Dabi had to think about that.

* * *

Suigetsu had more ease completing his assignment than he expected to.