Reborn as Sakura and Hinata: Lost in the Wind

A Slippery Slope

I sat awkwardly at a cafe table, staring at the two masked men in front of me. Both sat on the same bench, arms crossed with heads turned away from the other. I drummed my fingers on the table as I propped my face in one hand with a huff.

"So, are we going to talk now?" I glanced out of the corner of my eye at them.

They both sat in silent resignation.

"C'mon, let's talk about how we feel."

...

"It will all be better moving forward if we just let it all out." I sighed.

"I simply don't feel comfortable affiliating with a pedophile!" Ben threw his hands up in the air.

"For the last time! I don't watch her change!" Jerry shot back.

"Who am I supposed to believe!?" Ben turned angrily to Jerry.

"Me maybe!? The guy you've been working with for five years!" Jerry spat.

"I thought I knew you!" Ben shouted, sounding oddly near tears.

"You know what!? I think you just don't trust me." Jerry jabbed a finger at Ben's chest, "These relationships are about trust! And you clearly lack it!"

"Trust!? You want to talk about trust? I trusted you to not spy on children."

"And I haven't!" Jerry's voice cracked a little, "Why don't you believe me?"

"I want to!" Ben grabbed the sides of his head, "But I feel like I barely even know you anymore!"

"It's the foreign missions isn't it?" Jerry asked quietly.

"Yes! We used to do everything together!" Ben's shoulders were shaking a little with what I would assume to be suppressed sobs, "I thought we had something."

"I didn't realize you felt that way." Jerry turned to face Ben, "I'm sorry."

"Did... did you really watch her?" Ben turned to Jerry.

"No, I promise you that I didn't." Jerry answered adamantly.

"I..." Ben took a deep breath, "I believe you."

"Do you want to... get ice cream or something and catch up?" Jerry nervously asked.

Ben stood up and stretched out a hand.

"I would love to."

I watched the two of them walk away, arms around each other's shoulders. I suppose I could have told them I had just lied, but I think this was a better outcome.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now with Ben and Jerry out of the way, I got myself as quickly as possible to the armory. Kicking down the door with gusto I marched into the room. Anko swiveled around to face me with a large grin.

"Well hello hell spawn!" She gave a little salute.

"Hello sexy succubus!" I saluted back, making her laugh.

"Are you flirting with me?" She laid herself over the table she was working on dramatically with an amused smirk, "That's inappropriate you know?"

"Oh, I flirt with Jonin all the time." I gave a dismissive wave.

"Maybe you can tell me about your favorites while we train." She shouldered my sword with a teasing smile.

"Absolutely!"

We spent a good hour training, working on my arms to build strength.

"You need to work with your weapon." Anko tsked as she adjusted my arms, "You chose a rather large weapon, so you have to get used to using it. For now, you can't use precision, so you have to make every swing count as a killing blow."