The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

10: Some Partial Success

[OP: "Soldier, Poet, King"--The Oh Hellos--This is the one song everyone knows by them.]

Day 33:

The next morning, bright and early, someone knocked on their door.

It was one of the guards, there to tell them they had visitors.

"We would have told them to beat it--they looked like street rats--but they said you told them to come here expressly," the guard said.

"Yes," Shine said, rubbing her face because she was still sleepy. "And they took me at my word about morning time. You can let them through."

"If you're sure, Likstar-san," they said dubiously.

Ryuji and Lin were gawking at the refurbished jail.

"Never thought they'd put anyone in here," Ryuji said. "This place is creepy."

"Please, sit." Shine directed them to the dining room. "Hardly anyone is up yet. Did you bring your moms?"

"Uh...well, they're out...outside," Lin said. "They were afraid to come in."

"My gosh, people are so terrified of authority here," Shine muttered. "I guess I should get Gaara."

"The Kazekage?" Ryuji said nervously.

"Yes, don't worry, he's very kind," Shine said, exiting the room.

The boys exchanged looks.

"Not a lot of stuff here for the Kage's digs," Lin said.

"Mom said not to take anything," Ryuji said. "Stealing from a kage, that's a big deal. We'd get in real trouble."

"I'm not taking anything. I'm just saying, it's not very high class. You would think they'd put them up more." Lin shrugged.

"Shine, we need to get some kind of schedule for who handles breakfast." Temari ran into Shine on her way towards the boys' building. "I'm the only one who seems to be up other than you, and I'm not doing it every day for 20 people. Especially alone."

"I think that's a good idea, but for now maybe just see if the others are willing to pitch in, because we have guests," Shine replied, "in the dining room. Be nice to them."

She went out.

Temari went into the dining room just in time to see Ryuji flipping on a light switch, curiously.

He flipped it back when he saw her and sat down at once.

"I remember you," Temari said. "Remember me?"

They nodded silently.

"Don't try to take anything," Temari said, leaning on the wall in a pretty intimidating manner, "and we won't have a problem."

"Yes, ma'am," they squeaked.

* * *

 A lot more of a while later than Temari liked, the team was up, and some of them were making breakfast.

Wally often helped with that because he could make eggs really fast, and they were hard to mess up.

Though, eggs were expensive. The allowance they had could only go so far, but Kankuro said they could get more from Sand if they needed to. They never spent all of their allowance as the Kage's family, since he and Temari preferred to live simply. That meant they had more for occasions like this.

The "guests" didn't go over so well with everyone, but they didn't voice any complaints out loud.

But Sakura, when she was washing dishes, complained to Naruto--who was drying them and stacking them with his clones--that Shine and Wally didn't respect anyone's wishes but their own.