Hoshigaki

A Lion on a Leash

"I'm gonna kill him."

Sakura brought a hand to her forehead and tried to stave off the oncoming pain. Eighteen hours into their first mission as chuunin and they were granted their first break, and honestly, she didn't know how Kiba had yet to burst a vessel.

"No, you won't."

"I swear to god, if that fucker calls me that one more time—"

"Mutt, Foreigner. Are you ready to continue to travel?"

She exhaled and dropped her hand. And there was the headache.

"Stop callin' us that!" Kiba snapped. "We have names! Kiba!" He gestured wildly to himself. "Sakura!" He pointed at his friend beside him. "Shino!" An arm flailed in the general direction his other friend had gone to run a perimeter. "Akamaru!" He motioned to his partner growling at his feet. "Use! Them!"

Sai smiled the same, bland smile that never seemed to leave his face. "It states in Traits of a Good Leader that a leader must try to bond with his teammates. I had been confused on the aspect of 'bonding', so I researched the term in Ways to Approach Others, and it suggested using nicknames as an attempt—"

Kiba groaned and rubbed his eyes so hard he started to see stars. "This guy can't be real, right?" he muttered mostly to himself. "Like, he's messin' with us. He's gotta be messin' with us."

Sai continued to speak though his primary audience was no longer listening and Sakura stood silently with her arms over her chest. Their current leader, for lack of a better term, acted alien. Reading books to make up for social interaction? Not knowing what the word "bonding" meant outside its dictionary definition?

That was not a typical shinobi.

Shinobi needed to learn how to blend in and mingle, act like they'd been in one place for weeks when in reality they'd only appeared for a few moments. Shinobi were actors, deceivers, the background, and even with her bright pink hair she had no trouble slipping in a crowd and lurking in its shadows.

But Sai?

His rigid stance screamed suspicion and his expressions weren't right.

That was the first red flag.

Shino re-appeared in their presence with nothing more than a whisper as his insects crawled down from his face and back into his coat. "The area is clear and all our tracks within a kilometer radius have been covered up. We are set to move out."

"You competency is noted, Four-Eyes."

Silence.

Kiba bristled and Sakura narrowed her eyes, but Shino took a calming breath and faced their leader.

"I do not understand your penchant for nicknames, but it would be appreciated if you changed mine to something different. Why? It would be... appreciated, senpai."

Sai tilted his head to the side, but this time his eyes didn't get lost in the crinkle of his smile. His eyes were as dark as they were flat, and he granted his subordinate with nothing more than an empty canvas of expression.

"It is merely a nickname," he said. "Nothing I say should bring any form of discomfort. A chuunin should be stronger than that, wouldn't you say?"

Shino swallowed and turned his head.

Rage blazed through Kiba like a fire in a forest, but before he could even open his mouth Sakura was across the clearing with a fist in Sai's shirt and their noses almost touching as she dragged him up to the tips of his sandals.