A/N: Thank you for making this art. I appreciate it a lot :D
"Report," demanded Kakashi. Shiori tilted her head before handing over the paper, informing her fellow comrade who outrank her in every way possible, "While Gato has hired more than just Zabuza and the fake hunter ninja whom name was not uttered in my presence, I have found that there are no ninja as Gato seemed to be under the delusion that Ninja was overrated and was weaker than they claim to be. As a result, even his bodyguards were not Ninja, much fewer ones that are of Zabuza's calibre."
Kakashi hummed, scanning through the report. Bless the ability of Kage Bushin, Shiori had managed to get most, if not all, of those hired. Even if she hadn't, Kakashi knew these Samurais were not a problem, a loyal Samurai was more dangerous than a rogue one and Kakashi knew, from experience, a loyal Samurai would not serve a man like Gato. He looked up at Shiori, "Well then, what are your thoughts on this?"
Shiori blinked in surprise. She had not expected to be asked on her thoughts, but supplied nonetheless, "I had been tempted to assassinate Gato on the spot, however, due to his profit-minded way of acting and speaking, I suspect he would refuse to pay Zabuza by the end of the task, if we would be able to exploit Gato, we may have one less enemy and two additional ally. Not to mention our mission is to protect Tazuna, thus would it be not a good thing for us to eliminate the mastermind? As they say, an enemy of an enemy is my friend. However, it does concern me if Zabuza is rational enough to hear us out and put aside our battle or would he kill Gato and end up aiming to kill Tazuna, either way, to compensate for being fooled."
"Wonderful deduction," Kakashi complimented. Shiori felt her lips tilt up and gave him closed eyes smile, "Thank you, Kakashi-senpai."
"Alright, tomorrow you'll be guarding the bridge builder, alright?" Kakashi asked he asked instead of command, why? Simple, as much as he is her superior, she was still his captain in this mission. Shiori shrugged, "I do not particularly mind."
"Come on, let's check on the boys to make sure they have no killed themselves," Kakashi commented casually as if the killing was a common thing between comrades. Shiori supposed it was quite the common thing, and snorted, "Of course."
(_̅_̅_̅(̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅()ڪے
Shiori peeked into the kitchen and spotted Tsunami, the daughter of Tazuna-san, cooking while humming under her breath. She felt her lips quirk up, her mother does the same thing too, humming while she cooked. It must be a mother's thing, neither Shiori nor does Sakura on rare occasions, hum while they prepared a meal unless they were bored... or perhaps she does without realising?
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Shiori approached the civilian and smiled kindly at her, "Excuse me, Tsunami-san, would you like some help?"
"Oh, no" She giggled, "I couldn't possibly ask help from you, you already protected my father,"
Shiori shook her head, "Doing my job and being courteous is completely different objectives, Tsunami-san. Now, I must insist on helping you, it is only right as we are free-loading in your house."
"What a polite child you are, your parents must be very proud," mused the young mother, Shiori stiffened and her smile faded slightly but stood in place on her face. She wondered if her parents were really proud of her? They were always stiff around her, and they showed more affection towards Sakura. Maybe she was to blame, it was most likely due to the fact she went on the trip... was what she'd like to think. But Shiori remembered that even before the trip, her parents were always awkward and cold around her as if they didn't know what to do with her as if she wasn't wanted. Hands wrapped around the handle of the knife, she shook herself out of her turmoil and worked on cutting the ginger into small pieces, "...yeah."
