Daybreak | Kakashi Hatake

17

"He won't forgive me for this," Mare muttered under her breath as she watched Nuibari being rewired by the Kirigakure swordsmiths.

Chojuro stood beside her, a puzzled look spreading across his face as he contemplated her words. After a moment of silence, he asked nervously, "Who won't forgive you?"

Mare cut her eyes at the teenager and replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Nubari."

"Oh," the young swordsman melted in embarrassment. "I didn't know they had feelings. Hiramekarei hasn't ever showed me theirs."

"Probably because you aren't bonded with your sword like I am with Nuibari. He has been my companion from the moment Kushimaru Kuriarare drew his last breath. I know him and he knows me. Some of the old Seven said it was bullshit that the swords could feel because they had never been called to by their blades, but they were wrong about that, amongst other things. Only those meant to wield the swords will feel their sorrow and their joy."

Mare noticed Chojuro wilting from her words. She sighed, immediately apologizing, "I'm sorry, Chojuro. That came off harsher than I intended..." She laid a hand on the kid's shoulder and spoke once more, with a reassuring smile, "You just haven't had them long enough. Once you spend some more time with Hiramekarei, the twins will reveal themselves to you."

The swordmsiths called Mare over to infuse her chakra with Nuibari once more. The blade hummed gently and warmed as she let her energy flow into it. After that, she strapped the sword onto her back and clapped Chojuro on the shoulder as she commanded, "Let's go. Mei wants to see us."

As they neared the Mizukage's office, Mare faintly heard snippets of Mei and Ao's conversation.

"...I still don't think we..."

"...Deserves to know... She's asking..."

"...Not yet... She's..."

"...I suppose..."

Mare paused for a split second before swinging the door open. She kept her face stoic and observed carefully for any tells from Ao or Mei. There was a passing look of anxiety on Mei's face and Mare watched as she swallowed a knot in her throat. Suspicion prickled her skin, but she brushed it aside for now. They didn't need to have one of their knock-down-drag-out fights in front of Chojuro.

"How's Nuibari?" Ao asked, smiling thinly.

Her reply was simple, "Healed."

"Good, good... and Chojuro got to see the swordsmiths at work on a mystical blade? Pretty neat stuff, huh?" Ao changed the direction of the conversation to the teenager.

"It was so cool!" he chirped, unusually outgoing. "Mare told me all about how if you're really meant to be one of the Seven, that your blade will like reveal its feelings to you and you become bonded with it."

"Sounds like you have much to aspire to then," Mei chimed in. She smiled brightly at Chojuro and added, "Ao was going to take you to the records room and show you some history of Hiramekarei, if you'd like?"

Chojuro nodded with excitement and followed the older man out of the office, leaving Mei and Mare facing off.

No one spoke for what felt like ages. Finally, Mei sat at her desk while Mare took a seat on the windowsill. She watched drizzling rain coat the village as the mist began to move in. The Mizukage asked, "Is Kisame stronger than before?"

"He's learned to use Samehada to its full potential."

"That's..." she paused and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "Not good."

"It would have been worse if Itachi Uchiha would have participated," Mare confessed. "I spent so much time learning to defend against the Sharingan, just for him to watch from the sidelines."

Mei followed Mare's gaze out the window before commenting, "Perhaps he was sizing you up."

The hunter-nin shook her head gently. She didn't believe that. He was Itachi Uchiha, not some regular level jonin. Mei had been cooped up in this office for too long if she thought someone of his power needed to size anyone up. She said nothing in reply, only stared at out the window at the fog and waited for Mei to speak again.

"You think Konohagakure is truly trustworthy?"

Mare was silent, calculating an answer, before responding, "As much as anyone."

"Will they honor our alliance if we are attacked?"

"Yes."

"Tsunade is a Senju descendant. Very strong..." Mei trailed off.

"I like her. She's loyal. She defended Kirigakure against the elders. They kept calling it the Bloody Mist and saying you were a puppet kage–that Yagura's evil had infected our village so deeply that we could never be absolved."

Mei nodded. She asked in a breathy voice, bordering on the edge of contempt and frustration, "Do you believe that?"

"What?"

"That I'm a puppet kage?" Her eyes narrowed. 

Mare and Mei stared at one another, faces stolid for a moment before they both began smirking. Mei burst into laughter soon after and Mare chuckled quietly.

"No one lives longer than annoying ass village elders. Ask me how I know," she sarcastically laughed. She had complained numerous times to Mare about how much she hated meetings with the Kirigakure village elders.

"I think Konohagkure's might have ours beat."

"Oh god," Mei muttered. "Next time you go, take Tsunade a case of the Land of Water's best soju. If her elders are worse than ours, she'll need it."

"That's actually..." Mare trailed off, thinking of their drunken night together. "...A perfect gift for her."

"She drinks? Good, so she's not some hardnose, huh? I don't know much about her, outside of her accomplishments."

"She's a lot of fun. We went out drinking one night with some of the jonin."

Mei's eyes lit up. "Was your sexy masked man there?" she asked with a wink.

"Oh my fucking god," Mare mumbled under her breath. "Will you give it a rest? Kakashi is nothing to me. Leave it alone. This is distracting me from my job."

"Come on, Mare, please! Spill!" Mei pleaded with enthusiasm.

Mare rolled her eyes, but knew she could gain leverage with this. She smirked, "Fine, I'll tell you all the details, but–" she emphasized, "in return, you have to answer a question of mine."

"Fine, fine, fine!"

Mare dove into telling Mei all about her night at the bar, who she met and what they talked about. She added some dramatic flair for the Mizukage's entertainment, and stretched a few innocent details when she got to the portion of the night she couldn't remember. She relied on some of what Genma told her to finish the rest of the story and when she was done, Mei was grinning from ear to ear.

"Can we please trade jobs? Ugh, this is so unfair. You get to hang out with all these fun people and I'm stuck with Ao..." she whined.

"Well, to be fair, I was stuck with Ao for most of my life," she countered with a chuckle.

Mei rested her cheek on her palm and sighed, "Maybe we can have a Kirigakure bar crawl on my birthday... Of course, we'd have to import the cute men from somewhere else... Maybe you can get your Konohagakure friends to come!"

Mare interrupted Mei's rambling, "Okay, now my question."

"Alright, go on," Mei leaned back in her chair.

She thought she already knew what Mare was going to ask. It was the same question every time. Was there any news about Ezume?

It felt like a punch to the gut whenever Mare asked the Mizukage, "How come you didn't tell me my brother was dead?"

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