The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

49: An Unexpected Reunion

[OP: "Where is Your Rider?"--The Oh Hellos]

Inside, they found nothing resembling a meeting room, but there were some chairs--not enough to go around, so all of them stood save for Gaara, Mirai, and a few of the council members.

Mirai really didn't seem to know how to begin.

"I really didn't think you would take us up on it," she said.

"You have a strange way of showing it--" Temari was not swallowing any of this still. "--sending three people to deliver the message."

"That was for their own safety more than anything else," Mirai said. "I'm glad they found you and returned in one piece."

No one said that they'd gotten lost, true to their word.

Mirai then cleared her throat. "Kosame, can we have some tea?"

"I'll see if there's any left." Kosame disappeared into a room that must have been like a breakroom for this building, though it didn't look like to had been used much. The door stuck when she opened it, the moisture no doubt.

"The atmosphere here causes a lot of sore throats," Mirai explained to them. "You'll want to drink a lot of tea if you can... Anyway, I digress..." She put her hands together. "How much did they tell you already?"

"Not a lot," Gaara admitted, still wary. "Just that you wish to become a part of the Peace Alliance. I hope you understand that that will be impossible without you having official status as a Kage Village."

"Ah, yes..." Mirai said uneasy. "Well, you may have heard that Pain--or Nagato, as I think he's called now--was treated at the Kage by this village. But was never acknowledged by the Five Kage Council."

"He wanted to be, but no he never was," Gaara agreed. "Yes, I've heard. And that is why your village was never invited to participate in the war. No one was sure what you would think of it."

Some of the other council members didn't look too happy with that, but Mirai took it in stride. "Yes, I understand that," she said, clearing her throat again. "But things are different now. We're in a new position... Since you came, I take it you're at least a little interested in an alliance."

"I'm not disinclined to it." Gaara still was talking like a politician, they all noticed. And he had not been this cold with Onoki or Mei. "But I still think it would be difficult. Are you acting as a Kage here?"

"I wouldn't call it that," Mirai said, "at least not fully... The council here is something like yours in other Villages I assume, making joint decisions, but I do lead it. I was elected by the people."

"Oh, a voting system?" Dabi said with interest. "Now that's more like it."

"The people voted?" Shine said cordially. "Was it all of them or just the community leaders?"

Mirai didn't seem to understand the question. "Well, each of us has worked in this district under Pain, in some way, so the people knew us better than anyone else. We just asked them to decide who should represent us to the world, and they voted on me and the other 5 of us. I got a little more support, so I took the lead role. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Gaara said. "Though that's not how we do things normally in the Villages, but I suppose this is not a usual case."

That seemed to make them feel a little uncomfortable.

Wally gave Gaara a disapproving look like he should be nicer.

"We discussed the idea of contacting you for weeks," Mirai went on, "and eventually we decided to make a move. We don't want the world to see us as the isolated village any longer. We'd like to be part of it, officially, and your mission sounds like the most promising way to do it. In order to grant your alliance, we can grant you access to our village and its resources."