Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Walls of Glass

Tiwul lingered uncomfortably, tapping her feet nervously. Mana's eyes barely picked it up while switching between the unconscious Menna and back to the Sunagakure kunoichi. The magician turned at her foreign friend and raised her eyebrows faintly to gesture that the girl's need to ask something was acknowledged and that she was encouraged to go ahead.

"Ummm... Look, we appreciate the help, me and Tala, even if that dick has a mean way of showing it. That being said..." she lingered still.

"You want to know why we came here?" Mana sighed.

"Yeah, I mean it'd be naïve to think that you just wandered into us, I mean us... Of all people." The girl shrugged before wiping her sweaty forehead with the torn rags of her purple t-shirt with a futon symbol on the chest.

"Yeah we... Were kind of hoping you guys would be willing to trade information. We know a bit of something about several teams, we need intel on certain others." Meiko butt into the conversation making matters short and clear.

"Frankly, given your situation, we wouldn't rule out an opportunity of an alliance as well..." Kiyomi looked at Tiwul with hopeful eyes. "We've got information on a lot of teams but we haven't picked off a single target yet. We saved your butts here that has to count for something."

"Very well!" Tala's firm voice cut Kiyomi's lingering suggestions down. "We agree to an alliance, to share information. Anything you want." The young man leaped down from quite a high distance up, the landing only deepened the few holes he already had on the knees and elbows of his black, white and orange jumpsuit.

Mana looked shocked at the Sungakure ninja for a brief moment before looking at Menna again. The boy's eyes were closed calmly, his teeth were no longer grinding together so hard that they cracked or broke off and he didn't look like bleeding that much. His chest lifted up and down peacefully as if he was sleeping. That deceitful tranquility... He wouldn't recover and Tala knew it.

"No." Mana shut the Sunagakure redhead down. "You're just trying to justify your own stereotypes here. You're trying to make it like we're just here because we need you for something. By agreeing to our terms you make Konoha ninja look as sick and twisted as they are in your mind. We will not bargain under those terms."

"You are here, are you not? Clearly you wanted something out of us... You can't back out from where you are to your usual moral high ground!" Tala snapped back at her with a cold stare. "We know plenty of information on Konoha's Team Walnut, Kumo's teams Cirrus and Stormcloud, Getsugakure's Team Iocaste."

Mana's heart jumped a few beats after hearing that Tala's team knew about Team Cirrus. The team of her target - a young kunoichi named Junipu-R.

"We didn't came here to use you, we came here for a trade." Mana realized that her shock after hearing a familiar name was evident to Tala who was already making a smug expression as he realized he was in full control. He had a chance to expose Mana as someone only he wanted to make her out to be. She was one of few people who, so far, didn't bend to his sick vision of foreigners and he'd never bend without playing the cards in his hands the best he could.

"And trade is something different?" Tala squinted at her almost mockingly.

"It is. Using you would be asking for something only because of something sentimental – using our past history and friendly feelings. Pressuring you to help us as we've just helped you. We want none of those things, we only want an honorable trade." Mana rubbed her elbow, she didn't like the manner in which her body language folded under pressure but she simply couldn't help it. Tala knew something that she had to have, if she didn't – it'd all be over for her, her time with Team Hokage, her chances at becoming chuunin and even her lifelong dream. She had no room to compromise her and she couldn't stop biting her lip because of it.