Bygone

Part 8: Storm

Bygone

Part 8 • Storm

It's been about a week and a half since they've entered the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Sakura has worked out a schedule for them to follow until they can finally leave. She doesn't like the thought of staying in one place for more than a month and they still need to plan out their escape. That leaves just about two weeks for them to find the archives and sneak in.

Hidan has been the one to look and scout around, Sakura doesn't trust him not to blow their cover as merchants. Him being temporarily mute is just a small consolation though she sighs at the thought of needing to eventually return his voice. It's been such a peaceful week (not counting her nightmares and stupid civilians thinking they know better and the damn Shinobi looking down at her since she's 'civilian' — bastards, the lot of them, she snarls in disgust).

The two of them work at the vendor together for the first half of the day. Sakura would take this opportunity to teach Hidan how to play civilian, educating him on the ways of merchants and why it's useful to know. It's the perfect time since she'll be teaching her "younger sibling" as she should. After that she'll let Hidan go "explore", feigning exasperation to her fellow merchants' amusement.

They regroup at the end of the day at the inn where Hidan reports on what he found and Sakura slips her knowledge to him as she plans. She's still very hesitant in telling him anything but as if she'd have someone so incompetent tagging along. She made her decision the day she asked him that blasted question and he agreed.

Sighing, Sakura brings her hand to massage her pounding headache. The guards' rotation is different from Konoha's and taken much more seriously. It only makes her grimace at the comparison between her village and another's. She knew Konoha had gotten lax years after the Kyuubi Attack but to have it laid out in front of her is...discouraging (she held so much pride for her village once - it's hard to remember when that stopped and started).

She tries to look at things in a positive light, tries to tell herself that it'll only help her later on. It doesn't help.

She's currently sitting in the Inn they're staying at. Hidan was out exploring, getting a better idea of how Kumo was structured. She had been forced to tell him about the explosives and what they would do with them ever since he almost lit one up. He had looked so excited that he didn't once complain about staying out later to look for spots to plant them.

She shuffles the numerous papers in front of her around, rearranging them to help her think of a plan. The papers detail the guards' rotation and the description of each guard. She had used the descriptions to see if she could spot any of them off duty. She only ever saw one or two, the merchant lane is placed far away from the buildings of great importance - the buildings she needs to get into.

They couldn't afford to be bold and storm the place. It wouldn't do to have a bounty on their heads — at least not a larger one then what they surely already have from Yugakure. The goal is to stay inconspicuous afterall.

Glancing back at the papers, Sakura silently snarls. She would have to be the one to sneak in, which would mean leaving Hidan alone. And an unsupervised Hidan is a call for things to go wrong. But she doesn't trust him not to do something stupid. He was good but not that good or great.

A loud knock disrupts her thoughts, head snapping up and body tensing. It isn't until she hears Hidan's impatient foot taps that she relaxes minutely. Getting up, she stretches, putting away the papers somewhere secure.

When she opens the door, Hidan is grinning widely and openly, his mask pulled down. He opens his mouth to speak but no sound comes out - she smirks as he glares. Instead of speaking, he thrusts a pile of papers in her face.