The Red String of Marriage

Tenchi's Newest Healer - Ino

Ino awoke in the morning to find herself in an unfamiliar room. Oh yeah, I'm in Tenchi, she thought. She walked downstairs to find everyone gone.

"Mizuka Sensei? Kakashi Sensei?"

No answer.

She made herself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table. She heard the back door click open.

"Hey, it's just me. I'm out - oh. Hello."

A very short woman with a squeaky voice stood in the doorway.

"Hello."

The woman looked as if she had a moment of enlightenment as she smacked her own forehead.

"OH! You must be Mizuka's new apprentice!"

The woman bowed deeply.

"I'm Yohe. I'm very pleased to meet you."

Ino stood and bowed as well.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka."

"I've heard exciting things about you. Lord knows we need a skilled botanist. Too many healers with brown thumbs around here."

Yohe poured herself a cup of tea.

"What does she have you doing this morning?"

"I actually don't know. She's not here, and neither is my sensei who escorted me here. I just got in late last night."

Yohe snorted into her steaming cup.

"This wouldn't be Kakashi Sensei, would it?"

"Well, yeah. You know Kakashi Sensei?"

"Everyone around here knows Kakashi. And of course he's your escort, Tsunade is the current Hokage."

Ino really wasn't sure what that meant. She should've asked questions on the way here, but she was upset about leaving her family. And Kakashi Sensei didn't press the issue.

"So they know each other pretty well?"

"Oh yea, they've been friends forever, and married for five years."

"Huh?"

"I'm not surprised that you don't know. Kakashi keeps that pretty quiet. At least, everywhere but here, but Tenchi isn't as open as Lady Suoh would like everyone to believe. We're actually a tight knit and private town with a serious security force. Oh, there they are."

Yohe craned her neck to look out of the window. Out in the distance, Ino could see her senseis sitting on a tree stump. Mizuka was reading a book and Kakashi had her cradled between his legs, reading over her shoulder. Occasionally, he would nuzzle his face gently into her hair or she would reach back and run her fingers lovingly over his masked cheek. Yohe made a fake gagging sound.

"Gross. They're so cute together. And they can't get enough of each other. But I guess that's what happens when you don't get much time together. Of course, it's the same with me and Darui."

Ino pulled her attention away from the window.

"How long have you been training here, Yohe?"

"Oh, since I was 14, so 15 years. I was supposed to be Master Suoh's last student, but she insisted on taking on Mizuka before retirement. Training takes two to three years, so Mizuka and I roomed together for a year or so in Master Suoh's cottage. But that first year is a taste of reality."

Yohe took a long sip of her tea before continuing.

"You see, a lot of students who com here asre revered by their villages. It's considered a great honor to train here, so when they get here, they think its going to be a lot of praise and special treatment. But it's not. It's a lot of cleaning, and field work, and blood, and wiping asses. This isn't a glamorous job. We have a lot of students that are asked to leave, which, in my opinion, is fine. We don't want weak healers much like hidden villages don't want weak shinobi. But, we've never kicked out someone who works really, really hard at it."

Ino was relieved by this.

"That's kinda how the shinobi world works as well."

"Yep. It's a world you will come to miss here, though. We have our own guard, and since they aren't shinobi, they don't have to follow the ninja code."

"A separate guard?"

"The current captains are a twin team, Kyo and Ryuu. Their tactics are... unorthodox, to say the least. I once saw Kyo cut off a rogue shinobi's ear when he tried to rob a villager. And Ryuu is something else entirely. They're called the "Demon Twins of the Mist." But, they're effective. We rarely have issues."

"Were you a shinobi, Yohe?"

"I am a Jonin of the Hidden Stone. Mizuka is a Jonin of the Hidden Leaf. Master Suoh is an elite Jonin of the Hidden Sand, practically a Sannin. All of the healers who trained under Master Suoh were jonin from hidden villages before they were invited here. However, Tenchi has fallen away from that in recent years. We invite healers from all over the Five Great Nations to join us here now. Besides, villages are a little more hesitant to send their elite away these days, especially since we have to put our headbands away when we come here. Here, we are not shinobi from deparate nations, we are a sisterhood of healers. We are one."

Mizuka stepped in the back door, followed by Kakashi.

"Good morning, sleepy. I see you've met Yohe. Are you ready to start your training?"

Ino nodded as her new sensei beamed at her.  She wasn't sure what she was getting into, but she knew she would give it her all.

"Great!  Let's get you settled in as Tenchi's newest healer."