Red Sky at Morning a certain ladies delight [Travel Sea to Fire]

Age : 49 Posts : 1036

"Lisanna! Marijane! Stay in sight!" Seeing the pair of girls whose impromptu game of tag he had (barely) interrupted pause just long enough to yell back "yes nii-san!" before resuming their chase, Toshiro sighed in resignation. Safe as this road might be, being a frequent route for shinobi going to and from Konoha, he wished the pair of hyperactive girls would stay within arms reach just in case. After everything they had been through since their fishing village had been razed by the would-pirates the jounin simply couldn't bring himself to actually yell at them. Their reactions to the one time he had directed a glare in their direction for almost losing their only compass while playing on their commandeered boat had seen to that. Those reactions also made Toshiro wish he had the neck of the first three pirates in his hands so he could slowly crush them. Since then the jounin had kept his voice down and avoided anything resembling anger at the pair. No easy feat in light of just how hectic events had become since leaving the atoll added on top worrying about how events would play out with the village leadership.

The past week had been... different to put it mildly. No sooner had the trio set foot inside the seat of power for Sea Country again than Toshiro was practically yanked into an audience with the daimyo himself while Lisanna and Marijane were hustled off into the care of said ruler's consort. It would be over two hours before he saw the pair again and then it would take a second look to convince him that they were the same two girls after having been cleaned up and properly attired. As for the jounin himself, his time consisted of delivering a 2 minute verbal report that could be summed up as "they're running with their tails between their knees". What took the full two hours was everyone who had been involved congratulating him on bloodying Kiri's nose. That turned out to be a lot of people: the merchants whose lost business incited them to front the hefty payment for an A-rank mission, the craftsmen responsible for deigning and building the equipment he had used, representatives of the fishermen who had collected the intelligence, and of course the various government officials. By the time the impromptu victor celebration was over, extended courtesy of several bottles of sake making the rounds, Toshiro was sure he had suffered more bodily harm from those wishing him well than during the actual mission itself.

After that sendoff, aided by a stop at the local market for supplies, it had taken four days by boat and another three days of walking (or walking while carrying one of the girls piggyback while a water clone did the same with the other) to reach this point. Baring something utterly unexpected happening on what was theoretically one of the safest roads in Fire Country the three would be at the gates of Konoha within the hour. Assuming no issues arose from coming back with some baggage that wasn't present when he left the village, the jounin should have time to drop the girls off with his family before giving his verbal report to the Hokage. The written version, drafted during rare moments of nothing else to do, should have arrived days ago and should have already answered most of the questions he would have faced. Toshiro just hoped it wouldn't be another of those all-day-and-evening debriefings - he had at least one important question of his own to ask of someone. Picking up his pace to keep the pair of laughing females in sight, Toshiro's right hand unconsciously snaked into one of the extra pockets sewn into his flak vest. Calloused fingers lightly touching the small hardwood box, the jounin was already phrasing how to ask this particular question in the back of his head as it would be the most important one of his life. Aside from the stuff that would have the squirrels in intelligence going crazy for a few days, Toshiro had learned one more item; that life was too short to waste waiting for the best time.

[Return to Konoha in 24 hours]