Chapter 54: Recovery

"Oh no," Inoue-sensei said, her voice completely deadpan. "Someone has taken over our abandoned fort that we have no need for. Whatever shall we do? Surely we must hurry down there and massacre them all."

"Can't we just leave?" Kagome-sensei asked, confused. "You said we don't need the fort, and I thought you were trying to kill people less...?"

Inoue-sensei laughed. "Sounds like a good plan," she said, sparing his feelings by not pointing out the joke. "Come on. And be careful—no reason to leave a trail for them."

Moments later, the group was in the trees and moving away quickly.

Inoue-sensei kept them on the move for an hour; Kagome-sensei insisted on going another hour after that because "let's not make it easy for the stinkers."

They eventually stopped in a small dell not too far from a stream. The ground was damp, but the dell was hard to see into from any direction.

"Hazō, give us a platform under the shelter," Inoue said. "We don't want to be sleeping on the damp."

Hazō hesitated. "Um...actually, sensei, I was thinking that maybe I shouldn't be making too many Earth Walls. We can't take the shelters down behind us, so it leaves a trail showing where we've been."

Inoue-sensei rolled her eyes. "Our camps are always hours apart at ninja speed," she said. "If someone is tracking us, they know that we've been through an area, so finding our camps doesn't give them any extra information. If they aren't tracking us and they stumble across one of our camps, it still doesn't tell them which way we went. Yes, it's a little more information, but not enough to matter most of the time. Besides, I have no interest in sleeping under canvas when I could be sleeping under nice secure stone walls instead. Make with the ninjutsu, kid."

"Yes, sensei," Hazō said meekly. Moments later there was a comfortable pup-tent-shaped stone structure in front of them. Everyone crawled in and started spreading out bedrolls; it had been a long day.

Watches were kept; the gravely wounded Inoue-sensei was excused from watch duty, so Keiko stood watch alone, but Hazō paired with Kagome and Noburi with Akane for their shifts. The night was silent and unthreatening, meaning that Hazō only had to stop Kagome-sensei from blowing something up twice.

The two of them had set up atop the slight rise that overlooked the dell in which the shelter rested. The moon was somewhere up above them, but its silvery light was diffuse and weak by the time it trickled past the towering forest giants around them on its way to the ground. Neither ninja could see more than a dozen feet, and being on 'watch' was really more about being on 'listen'.

The trick, Hazō's instructors back at Mist Academy had explained, was to sit silently until the forest around you got accustomed to your presence. Once the nightjars started singing again and the small nocturnal animals began rustling in the bushes, the night became an undisturbed tapestry of sound. You could get the feel of that tapestry, learn its warp and weft until the slightest change became painfully apparent. Even if you didn't hear the sounds of an enemy creeping up on you, the change in the tapestry would be clear.

"Kagome-sensei," Hazō said quietly. "I've been thinking about Akane's birthday. It's coming up, and I wanted to make her something nice."

Kagome-sensei sat just close enough that Hazō could see him nod. "She's a good kid," he said, his voice soft as the breeze. "The best of us."

Hazō's eyebrows went up at that. "I was thinking...," he said. "Um, I was thinking about your shaped-charge seals. We could make her a pair of knuckledusters with those seals on them, so she could use them in close combat. It's your seal, though, and I didn't want to presume anything. What do you think?"

"Dumb idea," Kagome-sensei said.

"Oh," Hazō said, wincing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"You don't want to put them on knuckledusters," Kagome-sensei went on, oblivious to Hazō's embarrassment. "Then whatever stinker she's punching sees what's coming. Nah, you want these." He held his hand out to Hazō, palm up.

He was wearing the wooden rings that Hazō had seen before. The ring held a small wooden box to his palm. The top of the box was missing except for a narrow lip, showing that inside the box were several small sheets of paper, held in place by the lip. The uppermost paper had Kagome-sensei's shaped-charge seal drawn on it; presumably the others did as well. A slot was cut in one side of the box so that Kagome-sensei's thumb could touch the sealing paper.

"You punch for 'em with a closed fist, slow and obvious," Kagome-sensei said, miming a punch. "Stinker sees it coming, dodges aside, moves in close to counterpunch. You open your hand, turn the palm towards him"—he demonstrated—"push out the top seal"—the thumb made a practiced flick, forcing one of the seals up so it was bulging out of the box—"boom, squash. Four seals in each one. Any more than that, the box gets too big, starts to be obvious. Just gotta be careful to keep your fingers well back. And make sure you set the seals off in the right order. Topmost first then work back." He turned so that he could show both hands. "I usually load two-and-two," he said. He raised the right hand. "Right hand has two directed charges on the top, ten degree blast cones. The bottom two are hundred sixty degrees, designed for stinkers who think they're so clever because they dodge really well. Left hand is the other way around, wide-angle seals on top." He shrugged. "Takes a little practice so you don't blow your hand off or destroy the box, but it works okay. Eight shots is usually enough for one fight. If not, I've got my harness."

Hazō looked at his teacher with new respect. When he and Kagome sparred, the genin had started to win more often than not; Kagome-sensei was many things, but a taijutsu master was not among them. Hazō had tried hard not to look down on the man because of it, reminding himself that Kagome-sensei simply had a different specialization than he did. Still, he hadn't been able to keep a certain degree of smug superiority. As of now, that feeling was gone.

"Oh," Hazō said faintly. He paused. "So...could we make her a set?"

"No," Kagome-sensei said.

"Oh," Hazō said, taken aback. "Okay, I didn't mean to steal your technique. Sorry—"

"Make her your own stinking present," Kagome said. "This one's from me."

o-o-o-o

In the morning they moved on, traveling fast until afternoon, then searching around until they found a good spot: a low spot ten meters wide between two three-meter ridges. The ground sloped sharply down to the south, where a narrow creek burbled cheerily along.

"Okay, Hazō," Inoue-sensei said. "We'll build a cave here. Give us a wall from here up to the top of the far ridge." She gestured to indicate where she meant. "Then another wall from the middle of the first one back to here so it just looks like a shallow dip. Then another sloped wall in the front that blocks off all but one edge. We'll cover the top over with dirt and transplant some ferns and bushes onto it. We'll cover the entrance with branches and it'll be just about impossible to spot."

"Yes, sensei," Hazō said. He walked down the slope a bit, flicked through the handseals and put his hand on the ground. "Earth Element: Multiple Earth Wall," he said, pulling the granite of the wall out in an upward-sloping platform as he'd been told.

"'Multiple Earth Wall' is too long a name," Noburi said, grinning. "I say we shorten it, call it 'MEW'."

Inoue-sensei laughed. "I like it," she said. "Okay, Hazō, we need some more walls here. Mew for us."

Hazō looked at her in betrayal. "Sensei," he said, hating himself for the whine in his voice. "Please don't."

"Mew," she said, in a perfect imitation of a kitten. "Mew mew mew."

Hazō moaned and slumped, face in his hands.

"Mew," said Noburi.

Forcing himself to neither pay attention to, nor contemplate the murder of, his teammate, Hazō went through the handseals, gathered his chakra, and touched the wall he'd just built. "Earth Element: M—"

"Mew," said Keiko gravely.

Hazō's concentration shattered and the ninjutsu failed.

o-o-o-o

Two hours later, they had a secure shelter set up and were busily collecting dirt to pile on top. (Taking care, of course, to gather it from far away without disturbing the surroundings too much and then obscuring the traces.) It would take a week or more of hard work to cover the entire space with enough dirt to plant the ground cover that Inoue-sensei wanted, but it was in progress.

"Not there," Inoue-sensei said, just as Hazō was about to pour out his latest load of dirt. She had dropped her disguise and was lounging a few yards away in a spot of dappled shade, sipping on a waterskin full of cool water taken from the creek. "More to the left." She nodded with exaggerated decisiveness. "Yes, definitely to the left. Oh, and you probably want to hurry up. It's getting late, we really want to have at least the initial layer in place by tonight."

Hazō straightened up, rubbing the knot in the small of his back. "You know, sensei," he said with what he felt was admirable restraint. "If it's such a rush, you could help."

"But I'm hurt," Inoue-sensei said, making puppy eyes at him and waving to the bandage around her middle. "I can barely walk. You wouldn't want me to hurt myself, would you?"

"You ran here just fine," Hazō said, with even more admirable restraint. "You could put on another disguise."

Inoue-sensei shook her head somberly. "Oh no," she said. "That could be very dangerous. What if something attacked me and broke my disguise? I wouldn't be able to defend myself. No, I'm afraid that, no matter how much I would like to help, I must simply lounge here and supervise while you and my clones do all the dirty, sweat-inducing labor."

Hazō glared at her grumpily, meeting her eyes as he defiantly poured out the dirt in the spot where she'd told him not to. He shook the last of it out of his carrysack, then turned to get more.

"Don't pout, Mr. Mew," Inoue-sensei called.

Hazō growled under his breath and picked up his pace.

o-o-o-o

Everyone was motivated to get the shelter covered over...mostly so that Inoue-sensei would stop teasing them with her exaggerated laziness and faux-innocent 'suggestions' that they work harder. Eight days later their artificial cave was coated in a layer of dirt six inches thick in which large patches of ferns and one small bush had been planted. The area was essentially undetectable unless you already knew what you were looking for.

However pesky she might have been about it, the bedrest and constant attention from Noburi had done Inoue-sensei a world of good. She wasn't wincing in pain every time she laughed or took too deep a breath. Moving was still painful, but she insisted on walking to the latrine on her own (although she did cheat by using a disguise). After not-as-long-as-Noburi-would-have-liked, she started doing gentle stretches and a few minutes of soft-style taijutsu kata each day.

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Their leader's downtime left the rest of the team at loose ends. Hazō and Kagome-sensei built a sealing-research bunker well away from camp. Personally, Hazō thought that Kagome-sensei was being excessive with the defenses of the bunker, but he went along without complaint.

They were ten days into their stay when Kagome-sensei felt the bunker was complete. With nothing further to keep him constantly busy, Hazō sighed and admitted that it was time to get down to the work that he'd been really dreading: socializing with his teammates in order to tone down the drama that was building up.

o-o-o-o

"May I join you, Noburi?" Kei asked. The first time she had attempted to be supportive seemed to have worked; Noburi had said that her efforts helped. She had made a point of spending at least a little time with him every day since then.

"Please do," Noburi said, gesturing to the leaf-littered ground beside him. He was sorting through his medical supplies, cataloging what was running low and what would need to be replaced or supplemented when next they were in a town.

Kei settled down beside him. Good, this was going well. "Are you healing well?" she asked, reading the mental script she had prepared.

"Inoue-sensei thinks so, but it's taking me a long time to get better," Noburi said with a smile.

Kei blinked. "What?"

"It was, uh, a joke," Noburi said, losing the smile. "Like, I'm good at healing other people, but it's taking me a long time to get over my own injuries."

Kei nodded. "Ah, I see." Why did she have to be so slow?! She never got jokes, and it was always embarrassing to have them explained.

Embarrassing for Noburi as well, apparently. He was blushing to his ears, and suddenly fascinated with counting every drug-containing twist of paper he had.

"So...you are getting better?" Kei asked awkwardly. Her script had run out when she sat down. She had expected that all she had needed to do was get the conversation started and it would follow from there. In retrospect, her bloodline would have told her that that was a terrible plan.

"Yeah," Noburi said. "I've been keeping it clean, and it's mostly sealed up. I probably don't need the crutches anymore, but I'll use them for another couple of days before making that leg fully weight-bearing. Another three or four days after that, I should be good as new."

"Excellent," Kei said. "That will greatly improve your functionality and therefore that of the team."

"Uh, yeah," Noburi said, looking hurt.

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! Why could she not manage to say the right thing to anyone, ever?!

"I...think that I may not have said that correctly," Kei said. "I meant that I'm glad you will be feeling better."

"Oh," Noburi said. "Thanks." He gave her a small smile. (Yes! Her socialization was improving!) "So...um, how are you doing?"

Kei thought about that for a moment. It would be easy to brush it off with the traditional 'fine', but Mari-sensei had repeatedly told her that the way to make friends was to allow yourself to be vulnerable. Friendship was formed through trust, she said, and trust was built by offering someone the opportunity to hurt you in a small way and then seeing that they did not take it.

"I am...unsettled?" Kei said. "I do not feel like I am a net benefit to the team. Sensei is sensei; she is powerful and wise and keeps us together. You heal everyone and provide us with chakra so that we are far more powerful as a group than a randomly-selected group of equivalent experience would be. Kagome is paranoid, but he is a genius at sealcrafting. We would not have survived the tapirs without the defenses he constructed. Hazō is an excellent fighter and, for the most part, an excellent planner."

She paused, an unworthy part of herself wanting to bite down on the words that had to come next. The Mori training would not allow it; truth must be faced, no matter how painful. The founder of her clan had said it best: "What is true is already so. Facing it does not make it worse, and refusing to face it does not make it go away. The Mori will always face what is true."

"Ishihara is a skilled fighter," Kei said. "Her optimism is clearly beneficial to the team's morale." No, not far enough. When dealing with internal bias, it was important to go one step beyond the begrudged minimum. "Without her, matters would be much more difficult." She shrugged. "And then there is me."

Noburi looked askance at her. "Are you seriously telling me that you don't feel like you have anything to offer?" he said, disbelief ringing in his tone.

"I am skilled with weapons, and I have the summoning contract," Kei admitted. Alarm bells were going off in her head. She had not meant to be this open! She had intended to make a small gesture of vulnerability, admit that she was not completely happy and cheerful and perfect. How had she suddenly ended up here?!

"Yeah...?" Noburi said. "Those seem pretty valuable to me." His hands were still and his eyes on her, his medical supplies forgotten as he clearly waited for the other shoe to drop.

"I did not say I had no value," Kei said. "Simply that I was not a net benefit. It is nothing, though...I suppose it was just a momentary thought. Not important." She cast about for a topic, any topic. "It seems your medical supplies are running low. We should make a supply run sometime soon."

"Hang on," Noburi said, putting the medical pack aside. "You're not getting away from this that easily. How can you possibly feel like you aren't a net benefit? You're the best fighter in the group aside from Inoue-sensei and she's a jōnin. You have the pangolin contract. You've got the best situational awareness of anyone I've ever met who wasn't a jōnin; you were the one who spotted most of the things that tried to attack us on the way here."

"Inoue-sensei spotted them first," Kei protested.

"Yes, but except for that treeworm, she didn't actually say anything when she saw them. She thought that leaving it for us would be 'good training'," Noburi said with a disgruntled snort. "And of the rest of us, you were the one who spotted the ambushes."

"You spotted the bushleaper," Kei said weakly. "And Hazō spotted the vampire grass."

Noburi rolled his eyes. "Yes, and you were the first to spot everything else."

"Well...," Kei said uncomfortably. "Mostly I watched Kagome. Inoue-sensei must have told him to let us deal with the threats, but he is a terrible actor. He spotted all of those things and started to throw something explosive at them, then forced himself to stop. I merely watched him and paid attention to where he'd been aiming."

Noburi laughed. "See, that's the thing you really bring to the team: You're smart. I was watching the woods, and it didn't occur to me to watch the crazy guy instead."

"I do not consider him crazy," Kei said. "Insanity is defined as a set of one or more maladaptive and uncontrollable behaviors. Kagome's paranoia is highly adaptive."

Noburi waved the objection aside dismissively. "Whatever. Point is, you bring something to the table that no one else does, not even Inoue-sensei: your brain. You are by far the best of us at spotting problems and preventing them, and at finding strategies that make things easier or better. Not even Inoue-sensei can do that."

"It is only my bloodline," Kei said, looking away. Yes, there it was. She was valuable for her inheritance. Oh joy.

Anger flashed across Noburi's face and he slapped a hand on the ground. "No!" he said. "Damnit, Keiko, stop that! It's not your bloodline, it's you. You didn't use your bloodline to figure out that you should be watching Kagome. You didn't use your bloodline when you pointed out a better way for Hazō to arrange the walls of the shelter together so it didn't leak as much. You didn't use your bloodline when you found those herbs that made the stew taste like something other than brown glop."

"That was just my clan training," Kei said. "Part of logistics is knowing the effects of food and other supplies on morale. That includes knowing what herbs and spices to send in a supply drop."

"Yes!" Noburi said, half-shouting. "And knowing how to punch things is part of Hazō's contribution to the team, and knowing how to stitch wounds is part of mine, and knowing how to talk to people is part of Inoue-sensei's! What we know is part of what we all bring to the table, Keiko. How in the world can you not see that you're a benefit to the team?!"

"Net benefit," Kei corrected, but the words were less certain. "I make too many mistakes. I am too awkward, I offend people. I cannot get along with Ishihara, and it causes friction. I know it causes friction, and I still cannot get over it. I should be stronger than that."

Noburi's fists were clenched in frustration. "Keiko," he said, forcing calm into his voice. "You really need to get past this. I think even sensei finds Akane's 'Spirit of Youth' thing aggravating sometimes. It's not like you and Akane are rolling around on the ground every day having cat fights." He stopped talking for a moment and his eyes got slightly glassy, but he quickly shook himself back into focus. "She rubs you the wrong way, that's fine. Teammates don't have to like everything about each other, they just have to be able to work together." He grinned. "Mr. Look-at-me-I'm-so-perfect Kurosawa annoys the crap out of me a lot of the time, but I'm still happy to have him at my back. Do you trust Akane to have yours?"

Kei's mouth pursed as though she'd bitten a lemon. "Well...yes," she admitted grudgingly.

"And will you have hers, the next time it all drops in the pot?"

"Yes," she said immediately. Ishihara was her teammate and Kei would watch her back because that was what teammates did. She could see where Noburi was going with this, though, and she did not like it.

Noburi spread his hands. "There you go, then," he said. "You're teammates, and you're working together in the only way that matters. Even if you don't get along all the time, that's fine."

"I suppose," Kei said, more to make the conversation stop than anything.

Noburi studied her, recognizing the agreement for what it was but accepting it as progress. "You could cat-fight with her a little, if you wanted," he said, giving her an impudent grin. "I wouldn't mind."

She shot him a half-hearted glare and pushed herself to her feet. It was definitely time to move on; she had built enough trust through vulnerability for one day!