Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Mirai Hoshigaki was by no means a foolish woman. She was well aware that things are not always what they seem at first glance. Even so, when she first laid eyes on Sakura Haruno, she had to fight back a sneer of distaste at the fragile look of the Leaf Kunoichi. Mirai had made sure to keep an ear to the ground regarding the on-going…situation with the Leaf shinobi and the group her son had joined up with after leaving Kiri. She was well aware the kind of people Kisame was working with. Konoha shinobi may not be the first choice of people she would want watching her son’s back, but they were nothing if not a loyal breed for the most part. And this girl, this thin pink-haired wisp of a child who barely reached Mirai’s waist, was the one paired with her son on almost every mission he was sent out on. Mirai could see the girl had some strength to her, no shinobi would last as long as she had running the missions she did the past several months without a bit of power in their limbs and steel in their spine. But even so…

“Thank you so much for your hospitality. We greatly appreciate you allowing us to stay in your home during negotiations.” Sakura gave a polite bow and looked up at Mirai with earnest, if slightly nervous, green eyes. Mirai shot a brief look to Kisame, standing further off in the small courtyard at the front of the main house with the rest of the group who would be staying in the Hoshigaki Clan home during the negotiations between Kiri, Konoha and the Akatsuki. Presumed dead decades ago or not, Madara Uchiha had once been a Konoha shinobi and the discovery that he had been alive and manipulating the fourth Mizukage from the shadows had not inspired any kind of friendly feelings between the two Hidden villages. A few members of the Akatsuki were attending the talks as a sort of neutral third party, there to provide what knowledge they had about Madara and his plans after he had attempted to corrupt their organization. Not that they would get much respect here. The Akatsuki were working towards a world of peace and Kiri wasn’t known for being anything remotely close to peaceful. Their “Bloody Mist” moniker had not been falsely earned and any change in a historically ruthless society like theirs was not apt to change overnight, no matter who the new management happened to be.

Mirai returned her gaze to the young kunoichi before her.

“Anyone that fights beside my son is welcome here. I understand better than most not wanting to sleep in a foreign place during such…tense situations. This place may not be familiar to you either, but you have my word that so long as I breathe you and yours will be safe in my home.” Sakura’s cheeks flushed a light pink and she beamed at Mirai in thanks. Mirai snorted in reluctant amusement and shooed Sakura off. The young girl gave another small bow and scampered over to Kisame and Mirai watched in fascination as her son turned and immediately gave Sakura his full attention. Even more startling was the loud, full-body laugh that shook her son’s frame after a brief exchange with small girl, his face alight with amusement and eyes sparkling with an excited sort of warmth. Mirai hasn’t seen her son look so carefree since long before he fled Kiri after killing the traitor Fuguki and striking out to find his own truth in the world.

As she watched her son laugh, surrounded by comrades he trusted in his home, Mirai decided that she would have to be sure to take a closer look at Sakura Haruno over the next few weeks. She wanted to see what her son saw, wanted to see what was in this girl that made her son look more at ease than she had seen him since he was a small child when he stood at her side. Small or not, there was something….more to this girl under all that pretty pale skin and candy floss hair, she could feel it.

A feral grin pulled across Mirai’s face and she did nothing to fight it. She couldn’t wait until Manami got back from her latest assignment. Kisame had never brought a girl home before and Mirai was sure her daughter would be giddy at the prospect of helping her unravel the mystery of Sakura Haruno. Yes, the next few weeks were going to be…fun.

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It had been decided early on that none of the visiting Konoha shinobi or Akatsuki members should go out alone. These negotiations were meant to be peaceful but, well, “accidents” happen. Mirai certainly wouldn’t want to be the one to have to tell Lady Tsunade that one of her people had ended up in the morgue due to “mysterious circumstances”. Which led to her current situation of standing at one of the only shallow shore lines in the village and watching over her son and his…partner? She wasn’t sure that was really the right fit for what they were, but she didn’t think they had progressed much past the close comradery of soldiers that trusted each other on the battlefield just yet. (She couldn’t help but feel like that was for the best at the moment. The girl was certainly more than capable of taking care of herself and was an adult in her own right, but she was still quite a bit younger than Kisame so perhaps slow was best for now.) The potential was certainly there, though. The fact that Sakura was hip deep in freezing water, completely unbothered as Kisame’s shark summons swam in lazy circles around her, earned her high points in Mirai’s book. Not everyone in the clan had a contract with shark summons, but even those who did were hesitant to get too close to creatures not their own.

Sakura was just reaching down to brush her fingers over a passing dorsal fin when an obnoxious waste of space made itself known further up the bank.

“Oi! Hoshigaki! The hell do you think you are, waltzin’ back here after you ran out with your tail between your legs?!” Mirai closed her eyes and prayed for patience. She didn’t pay the closest attention to the fool’s rant after that but she caught the overall meaning. Traitor to the village, gut you like a fish (like a Hoshigaki has never heard that insult before), as if half the ninja in Kiri shouldn’t be put down for treason if you were going to get technical about it. There was a new Mizukage in office now and she certainly didn’t get there through a democratic voting process. Honestly, the hypocrisy was just grating at this point.

Mirai ignored the grandstanding idiot and made her way down the rocky shore to the waterline near Sakura. Better to stay down here out of the way while her son had his fun. Sakura looked up from where she was all but petting the sharks and gave Mirai a strained smile.

“I can’t say that I’m surprised, but I wish they’d picked a more convenient time.” Sakura frowned and glanced wistfully up at where Kisame was gleefully bouncing around the bank and avoiding everything his attackers (the moron had friends, how cute) could throw at him.

“Combat is something he enjoys, even when he doesn’t go looking for it. But he’s more than just brute force and it’s so rare that we can spend time together that doesn’t involve fighting for our lives that I can’t help but feel…bitter at the timing of it all.” Sakura sighs and looks down at the water, her fingers fluttering absently just under the surface. She’s so miserably resigned Mirai can practically taste it, like a mist in the air. The summons must be able to sense her mood as well and in moments one of the smaller bulls is brushing against Sakura’s legs and all but nuzzling her hand (and really, these were her son’s viciously trained battle partners, since when were they so affectionate?).

Sakura smiled down at the summon and reached back to give it a gentle scratch behind its gills and turned to wade back to shore. Mirai watched as the summons circled hopefully for a few more seconds before dismissing themselves when they realized they weren’t going to get any more scratches and she couldn’t help but snort at how sulky they seemed about the whole thing.

Kisame was still toying with the moron and his friends, but as the fight went on he became noticeably less enthusiastic about it. Mirai could tell her son was getting tired of the lackluster skills of the group and was getting ready to end things soon.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye had Mirai turning just in time to see another shinobi melting out of the cliff side near the battle, senbon coated in a sickly green clenched between his fingers. He brought his arm up and Mirai started forward. Her family might have abnormally thick skin, but even they weren’t totally impervious to piercing weapons and she wasn’t about to bet her son’s life over something she could just as easily put an end to now.

The shinobi crashed into the stone behind him and Mirai skidded to a halt, her eyes wide with surprise. Because that was Sakura - small, polite, frail looking Sakura – with one of the angriest snarls on her face that Mirai had ever seen, her hand clenched around the man’s throat and pressing him back into the stone. Her grip tightened and the shinobi –already stuck several inches deep in the cliff side- was pressed back further into the stone until he was wedged in tightly enough that when Sakura let go and stepped back he remained hanging where she left him, limp and unconscious.

Mirai was still attempting to compose herself in the face of such unexpected brutal efficiency when Sakura turned on her heel and stomped past her over to Kisame. Her son was just brushing the dust off his hands when the young kunoichi reached him, stepping over the twitching bodies on the ground to get right up in Kisame’s face. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and snorted.

“What now, woman?” Sakura glared at him and Mirai couldn’t help thinking her son was a bit dense, provoking the girl when she was so obviously agitated. Sakura gripped Kisame’s shoulder and turned him to face her, her gaze sweeping across his body in what Mirai realized was a check for injuries. Kisame sighed in exasperation and rolled his eyes.

“I’m fine. Feeling a little insulted that you’d think punks like that could scratch me, to be honest.”

“A scratch is all it would take,” Sakura snapped, “Unless you forgot that mission in Kusa?”

Kisame frowned and glanced over at the shinobi currently stuck in the cliff side, his eyes catching the sickly glitter of senbon at the man’s feet. The confusion cleared from his face and he caught Sakura’s hand, glowing green with the diagnostic jutsu she favored, and leaned down a bit to look her in the eye.

“He’s not the snake, and you did a fine job of not letting him get off a lucky shot.” Sakura held his gaze for another moment before she sighed and let her forehead rest against his chest, the glow fading from her hands.

“I know. I know, okay? I just- I hate poison. Poison is stupid and I hate it.” Kisame snorted and ruffled her hair, laughing as she squawked indignantly and batted his hand away.

“Yes, I’m aware of your feelings on the matter.” He glanced once more at the poor bastard stuck like a bug in a display case and hummed thoughtfully.

“If that’s how you react to amateurs trying to poison me, though, I might have to piss off a few more,” he grinned with all his teeth, “’Cuz that was pretty hot, not gonna lie.” Sakura’s face went bright red in seconds and she punched him in the shoulder hard enough to send him staggering sideways, nearly tripping over the unconscious shinobi at his feet. Kisame cackled and danced out of the path of Sakura’s fists, moving further back along the path towards the village with every step.

Mirai stood back and watched everything unfold with a quiet sort of amazement. Watched as her son teased the furiously blushing young kunoichi with a carefree innocence that she had not seen in him since he was a toddler. She watched and she felt like maybe she understood a little bit better what her son saw in Sakura. If she could make him feel like this, relaxed enough to engage in such warm, harmless teasing, then who was Mirai to get in the way?

She glanced once more at the bodies lying unconscious on the ground –andinthe cliff side- and decided to leave it for someone else to deal with. She followed slowly after Sakura and Kisame, keeping them in sight but leaving them their space and couldn’t help grinning to herself.

Manami was going to be positively spitting with envy when Mirai told her what she had missed.

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Manami Hoshigaki was decidedly Not Happy. Her brother was finally home after so long (So, so long. She had been elbows deep in a bunch of thugs who thought they could get away with pillaging in Kiri protected waters when he left and by the time she got back he had been long gone and her mother refused to let her go after him. Her little brother had been out there on his own, wandering, with no one to watch his back for so long.) And here she was, acting as babysitter to this girl. She should be catching up with Kisame, destroying the training grounds and reshaping the shore line like they used to after one of them was away too long on a mission. But no, her brother had to bring those Konoha brats with him and settle them down in their home. Home was for clan, not strangers from another village who were too pathetic to walk through Kiri without an armed guard. And that damned girl.

Manami narrowed her eyes as she watched the pink haired brat walking beside her brother, as if she had any right to be there. When Manami had come home and her mother had told her that Kisame had brought a girl with him, she had been ecstatic. She’d been waiting years for the opportunity to torment her brother about a girlfriend. It was only fair; he had done his damnedest to scare each of her boyfriends away when she brought them home. (It was cute, as if any man she brought home wouldn’t already know that she was the scarier of the two. He was eleven the first time she brought someone home and he had puffed up and given his best glare and Manami had done her best not to die of laughter.) But then she had seen the girl her brother had seen fit to bring into their home and she had been nothing short of disgusted. Just, really? This tiny, frail, pathetic child was who she was supposed to trust with her brother’s life? Not a damn chance. The only redeeming thing about her had been that when Manami had come at her brother fully intending to beat him into the ground for running off and worrying her, the girl had stepped forward like she was ready to fight Manami herself. Kisame had waved the girl away with a grin and she only hesitated a moment before backing away, eyeing Manami suspiciously. Manami couldn’t help thinking (rather uncharitably) that at least the girl wasn’t completely useless. (Later, when Manami really got to know Sakura, she would be ashamed of herself for her initial assessment of the girl. But now, when she was fresh off a month long mission escorting the most pig headed, chauvinist asshole of a noble to his various “summer homes” all she could see was the physical embodiment of everything that made civilians like him think that all kunoichi were nothing but helpless, simpering flowers.)

Later, after she and her brother were both exhausted and aching, the shoreline near the clan home looking vastly different than it had before, Manami sighed and prodded Kisame in the side.

“Look, to each their own, I guess. But really? I always thought you’d have better taste, little brother. You were gone for years; couldn’t you have found someone better while you were gone?” Kisame looked over at the group that had showed up during their brawl and grinned when he saw the pink haired girl standing there, waving at him. He snorted and leaned back on his hands.

“No, I really don’t think I could have.” Manami frowned and glanced up at the kunoichi in question.

“We’ll see,” she murmured, scrubbing her knuckles roughly through her brother’s hair.

And so here she was, walking through Kiri’s slowly growing market with her brother and his…partner. Manami heaved a put-upon sigh and shoved her hands in her pockets. She hadn’t wanted to play escort, but her mother had insisted. Retired or not, when Mirai Hoshigaki wanted something she usually got it. And since Mirai was busy helping that Hatake brat with intel and strategy for the negotiations, that left Manami to babysit. She kept one eye on her brother as he wandered to the blacksmith’s open storefront and the other on the girl. When she saw where the young kunoichi stopped, it took all of Manami’s self-control to not beat her head against the nearest wall. Of course, of course the girl would stop at the only stall selling hair accessories. Sure, they were meant for use as ninja tools, but they were pretty, delicate things. Colored senbon with little tinkling bells on the end and glittering clips with hidden reservoirs for poisons filled the stall’s display. Things that young, pretty kunoichi would be armed with on infiltration missions when they couldn’t rely on their own strength. They certainly had their place but Manami still seethed at the remembered comments from that damned noble. (“Oh, they sent a woman to escort me? Were all the men busy? Ohohoho, not that you look like much of a lady to begin with. It’s a good thing I have my own ladies to keep me company, you don’t look as though you excel in a woman’s delicate affairs.) The damn pig had flipped between doubting she could do her job because she was a woman and saying she might just manage because she looked more like a man anyway. Hoshigaki women had always been giants and Manami was no exception. She was nearly seven and a half feet tall and had been since she hit her last growth spurt at seventeen. Delicacy was never in her cards and while she was aware that not all women were built the way she was, she hated that she often had to fight to be acknowledge as capable simply because of antiquated preconceptions based on the features of the majority of her gender.

“Manami?” Manami’s gaze slid over to Sakura who was now standing beside her, a frown pulling at her mouth as she glanced across the market.

“What?” The frown on the young girl’s face deepened and her eyes narrowed.

“Does the word “no” mean something different here in Kiri than it does in Konoha?” Manami followed Sakura’s gaze and frowned herself at what she saw. Kisame was still outside the blacksmith’s store but he had been joined by an unfamiliar young woman. A young woman who, from what Manami could see, must have failed any academy course that dealt with body language and common sense. She had attempted to drape herself over Kisame despite his obvious disgust and efforts to push her away. She leered at Kisame and slowly dragged her hand from his shoulder down to his bicep and then across to his chest. From this distance Manami couldn’t hear what the woman was saying to her brother but she doubted it was anything intelligent or welcome based on his expression.

“No it does not,” Manami snarled through clenched teeth.

“I didn’t think so. Excuse me.” Manami blinked at Sakura’s abrupt departure and watched curiously as she returned to the stall selling hair accessories and, after a few words exchanged with the owner, plucked two of the belled senbon from the table. She stalked forward purposefully and Manami couldn’t help the small chill that ran down her spine at the smile on Sakura’s face. A smile like that meant pain and Manami was eager to see it dished out. She moved forward through the crowd to better witness the upcoming spectacle.

“Excuse me miss, but I don’t believe this gentleman is interested in your company.” The young woman glared at Sakura and hissed at her as she attempted to lean further into Kisame’s space.

“This is none of your business, little girl. Get lost.” Sakura smiled a bit wider and tilted her head slightly to the side, eyes closed in seemingly happy little crescents.

“Oh but it really is my business. So I’ll ask you again, remove your hands from him this instant.”

“And I told you to get lost, brat!” The woman growled and tightened her grip on Kisame’s arm, trying to drag him further down the road and foolishly turning her back to the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura’s smile fell from her face and her eyes went cold.

“Somehow I thought that might be her answer. Too bad.” A quick spike of Sakura’s chakra had Kisame forcibly removing himself from the woman’s grip and quickly stepping back. The woman turned, mouth open to protest, and Sakura struck. The sound of tinkling bells, the sharp impact of steel hitting stone, and the woman’s harsh cry of surprise echoed across the market. A space cleared around the woman, her eyes wide with fear as she fought against the impulse to move. Settled threateningly in the first layers of skin on either side of her neck were two aqua colored senbon, the bells on the ends tinkling cheerily as the needle quivered from the force with which they were thrown into the stone of the wall behind the woman. A hush descended on the market as Sakura approached the woman and smiled sweetly at her.

“I did tell you, didn’t I? Perhaps next time you’ll think twice before laying your hands where they aren’t wanted.” She reached forward to pull the senbon loose from the stone, not spilling a single drop of the stranger’s blood as she did so. (Manami couldn't help but be a little disappointed.) Sakura turned to face the crowd and gave a small bow.

“Sorry for the disturbance. Have a nice day.” And with that she rested her hand daintily in the crook of Kisame’s elbow and walked away. Kisame snorted and shook his head with a small grin and followed without protest, leaving the young woman behind as she slid to the ground in a shaking heap. Manami watched them go with wide eyes for a moment before shaking herself and following after them, the noise of the crowd picking up again now that the show was over. As they walked, Manami watched Sakura closely, her eyes narrowed now with contemplation and the rising realization that she had grossly miscalculated. There was more to this girl than she had allowed herself to see and she was honestly pissed with herself for letting something as petty as physical appearance to cloud her judgement. She should know better. Not to say that she was letting the girl get a free pass. No, Sakura would still have to earn her right to be welcomed into the family but at least now she would get a fair shot from Manami.

~~~~

“You knew.” Mirai glanced up from her seat on the floor in front of the spare table she was using as a desk and the papers scattered across it to see her daughter standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a deep frown on her face. She sighed and looked back at the old files she had dug up from the archives to help the Hatake boy build a possible treaty between the two villages.

“I know a lot of things, dear. You’ll have to elaborate,” she muttered distractedly. Manami growled and stalked forward to slap her hands down (gently, no need to break the table) and glared at her mother.

“You knew that that Sakura girl was more than what she seemed. You knew, that’s why you sent me to the market with them today.”

“I suspected.”

“Then why? Why not just tell me? Why let me make a fool of myself?” Mirai straightened and removed her glasses with a sigh.

“Manami, dear, as you have so often reminded me since you turned sixteen, you are a “grown ass woman, damn it.” Since when do I let you do anything?” Manami opened her mouth but Mirai cut her off with a stern look.

“And you should know better at this point in your life than to make assumptions about people.” Manami looked away with a pout before sighing heavily and flopping down on a cushion across from her mother.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m just pissed at myself, honestly.” Mirai set her glasses to the side, folded her hands under her chin, and smiled cheekily at her daughter.

“I’m guessing something interesting happened today at the market?” Manami smirked and filled her mother in on what she had missed. After Manami was finished with her excited retelling of events she leaned forward eagerly and grinned at her mother.

“So, what’s the plan? Because I gotta say, I get the feeling I might just learn to like this girl.” Mirai smirked and leaned in conspiratorially.

“So, here’s what we’ll do.” And with that, the two Hoshigaki women began to plot.