The vibe of the class gathering had turned awkward when Takuma left the building soon after coming in to talk with Kameko outside. Taro, who had arrived alongside him, sat down and ordered a large oolong tea.

He had caught the tail end of the conversation before it was shut down. Takuma hadn't mentioned anything about a jonin when he had talked to him and the trio about the war. He glanced at Fuma Arisu, and she looked deep in thought—it seemed he had also kept it from her. It stung that Takuma didn't trust him with whatever it was, but he also didn't know what exactly had happened and could only guess there were reasons Takuma had kept it to himself.

He didn't look very pleased when he went out with Kameko.

Ono, one of his best friends, sat beside him with a plate of yakiniku skewers.

"So, do you know what that was about?" he asked, leaning closer.

"I have absolutely no idea," Taro shrugged.

"... Are you saying that because you actually don't know or because he doesn't want to talk about it."

"I said what I meant." Taro looked at Ono with a disappointed frown. "And even if I knew, he clearly doesn't want to talk about it—so let's just give him his space and keep our business to ourselves."

"Okay, I got it; no need to get snippy," said Ono, raising his glass of fizz for a cheer that Taro reciprocated and put the matter behind them. "But it doesn't look like they want to stop talking about it."

Taro followed his eyes and saw the people at the table where Kameko sat whispering. He could imagine their minds coming up with speculations to make their own guesses of what had actually happened. People tended to fill in the gaps with what they thought had happened, then the next person would add their own thing into it before sharing it—and before you knew it, something completely off was floating around.

"How did this even come up?" asked Taro.

"Hiji was running his mouth."

"Figures."

Taro glanced at the Inuzuka, who was sitting among his clique; he didn't look bothered that he was partly responsible for shaping the mood of the gathering and was chatting with his lackeys like nothing had happened. Taro glanced at the building's door; Takuma would return soon, and he couldn't help but wonder if Hiji would pick up a fight.

The Takuma of today were utterly unrecognisable from the days when all of them were in the academy.

———

.

"... I see," Takuma sighed after hearing all the facts from Kameko, who looked halfway between anger and regret.

"I don't know what came over me; that disrespectful piece of shit..." Kameko groaned and punched the wall she was leaning against. "I know you don't like to talk about it, but he was getting on my nerves," she clicked her tongue, "I shouldn't have said anything... I'm sorry."

"It's fine," said Takuma. "It's not like it's my secret to keep; you were in the city as well."

He didn't like what he had done, and while his teammates were kind and generous enough to keep it low, it was a fact that those things had happened. They were a permanent part of his record for anyone with the authority or clearance. Rather than trying to hide it, he needed to learn to live with his actions. He didn't want people to bring it up because it was uncomfortable and he couldn't see a future where he would openly talk about what had happened in Yu.

"Thank you for defending me," said Takuma. While he wasn't happy that Kameko brought it up, he understood her intentions were positive.

Kameko shook her head softly. "It'll be awkward when we head inside," she sighed.

"It's fine. Some small talk and people would want to take the opportunity to move past the awkwardness." As long as he avoided the topic and no one pushed like an asshole, it wouldn't be challenging to move the conversation forward.

"How are you?" Takuma asked. This was the first time they had met since their return.

"My room felt strange for the first week... I ate too much every day because I missed the taste... I went out for walks just because I could without worrying about danger," Kameko replied after a pause with a low-spirited look.

He could relate. Even though they were safely back home and happy to be reunited with loved ones, they couldn't help but think about their time at Yu and the war. Their war experience had only deepened now that they had something to contrast it.

"I barely came out of my room for the first week," said Takuma, staring at the ground.

Kameko nodded. "There were too many happy people making noise without a care. A part of me felt uncomfortable being out and seeing that."

"Made you want to stay inside to be away from it all?" he asked.

She closed her eyes and nodded with a deep breath.

Takuma had roamed the streets of Yu to observe and gauge the city. At that time, he had felt like a visitor from outside who had no connection to the place or people. That feeling hadn't completely gone away even though they were back home with deep connections. Kameko was no different in their regard and perhaps even felt it more as she had to live in the city undercover, which was living a lie that only served to worsen that feeling.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

———

.

When Takuma and Kameko returned to the gathering, he headed to the popular table and sat beside Hana to greet her with all eyes on him.

"Congratulations, Chunin Hana," Takuma said as he handed her an envelope. "I didn't know what you'd like, so here's an overnight stay at a great onsen ryokan with all sorts of treatment and services included in your stay. I made sure they allow ninken in case you want to bring them, so go relax any stress away."

Hana accepted the gift with a smile and thanked him. "I hope everything went well?" she asked, glancing at Kameko, who was now sitting at another table with one of her friends.

"Yes, we cleared everything up. I hadn't seen her since we returned, so it was nice that we caught up," said Takuma before casually calling out his drink order to the staff to portray. He looked across the table at the other two chunin in the room. "Congratulations to you both as well, Chunin Momoe and Chunin Izumi. I don't have congratulatory gifts for you today, but please let me treat you to a warm meal in the future."

"Thank you, Takuma," Izumi smiled. "It's surprising that we didn't run into each other often when you work so close to home." The Leaf Military Police Force headquarters and the Uchiha Compound were located no more than ten to fifteen minutes of walking.

"I think it makes sense. You're a busy kunoichi, and I don't think the headquarters is where anyone wants to spend their free time. And I often found myself held up in the offices until odd hours, so it's not strange that we never ran into each other," he said politely.

"But I heard that you regularly visited the compound for training with Lady Mikoto, and we still didn't run into each other—that's why I'm so surprised."

"That's indeed surprising," said Takuma, given that he visited Mikoto's house five times a week.

"Lady Mikoto? As in Jonin Uchiha Mikoto?" asked Hana, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes, Lady Uchiha has been generous enough to spare me her time and wisdom," said Takuma. He wasn't surprised that Izumi knew about him and Mikoto's master-disciple relationship because she was the clan's matriarch—but it also made sense that someone like Hana wouldn't know as their relationship was low-key as they never went anywhere together or announced it to anyone.

Everyone at the table who didn't know about it already was surprised by the discovery that a Uchiha jonin was teaching Takuma, as it raised questions about how close he was to the clan. Through Arisu, they all knew that he was in a noteworthy position at the Police Force, and now he had a significant role to play in the clan leadership. In one moment, Takuma's background had gone from an orphaned civilian-born shinobi to someone remarkably connected.

Takuma raised his glass of cold pop to take a sip when he felt someone behind him move. He put his glass down a moment before a heavy hand patted and grasped his shoulder.

"Come on, don't ignore a friend you haven't met since the academy," said Hiji with a shit-eating grin on his face as he shook Takuma's shoulder. "I hear people say that you have changed. Have you really changed from the weak wimp who wasn't even allowed to test for a jonin team?"

Tension immediately rose as they surely thought a fight would break out between the two boys who had never gotten along. Hana looked like she was about to say something when Takuma turned to face Hiji.

"I think I have changed, but what about you? It still seems like you have the personality of someone who didn't grow past the mental age of five—but even that would be an insult to five-year-olds... As for not meeting since the academy, if I wanted to hear an asshole, I'd just fart."

Snorts and chuckles sounded in response.

Hiji angrily looked at the people who had laughed. Taro and Izumi had the decency to turn his head and cover her mouth with her hand, respectively, but Arisu just stared at him with a grin on her lips. Momoe quickly controlled the smile that tugged on her lips by eating the food before her while Hana simply sighed with her hand pressing against her forehead.

Takuma removed Hiji's hand from his shoulder. "And we were never friends, Hiji. Maybe you struggle with concepts because you never had any."

"I have plenty of friends, don't I, guys?"

The people Hiji was sitting with responded with their agreements.

Takuma shifted to look at Hiji's clique and sighed, "That's just sad... You're confusing lackeys with friends."

Hiji's smile stiffened, and anger flared in his eyes, but he pulled himself back together. "You have changed. You didn't have that mouth on you when we were in the academy."

"Oh no, I had this mouth before; you just weren't worth it for me to use it."

"Okay, that's not enough, both of you; let's stop this now," Hana said, interrupting. She shot a hot look at Hiji, who was staring daggers at Takuma, who gazed back impassively.

"Taketori said something really interesting before you came—"

"I also heard something interesting," Takuma cut off Hiji. "I heard your jonin-sensei isn't renewing your team next year."

The jonin-led genin teams formed after the academy ran for four years before it was up to the jonin to decide if they wanted to renew the team's active status—if the jonin refused, the team would be turned inactive, and the genin on the team would be transferred to the Genin Corp if they hadn't secured an assignment in a department. Their batch had already been genin for three years.

Takuma turned to Izumi, who was on the same team as Hiji. "It must've been a tough time being on the same team like him, but you must be happy now that you're going your separate ways." He turned back to Hjij. "Telling you one year in advance is a bit too early, don't you think? Maybe he knew you aren't making chunin rank anytime soon and thinks it's not worth it to waste any more effort, so he's cutting you off the leash."

"Let's get out of here, you and me," said Hiji with a vein popping on his head. In the corner, his ninken slowly walked over to the table, the dog's muscle building under its luscious black fur; Kuragiri's eyes were those of a hunter locked onto his prey, waiting for his partner to give the command.

"Enough, both of you," Hana interrupted in a grave tone, the fang tattoos on her face deepening. She turned to Hiji and said in a short tone. "If you can't act civil, get out of here."

"He—"

"You started it, Hiji," Hana raised her voice. "Don't test my patience. You're this close to ruining today, and you won't like it if you go further." She turned her eye to Kuragiri, who was still locked on to Takuma, making the ninken step back with caution in his eyes.

Hiji looked at Takuma nasty before turning his back with a huff and sitting down at his table.

Hana turned to Takuma and was about to say something, but Takuma beat her to it,

"I am sorry."

Hana's anger immediately deflated, and she suddenly looked like she didn't know what to say.

"No, that idiot started it. It's not your—"

"It takes two hands to clap. I shouldn't have engaged him by falling down to his level." Takuma looked around and pursed his lips. "It soured the mood of a gathering for such a joyous occasion. Let me make it up by buying everyone a round."

"No, it's fine. You don't have to."

"I insist."

Hana looked troubled and was about to refuse when Taro, reading the situation, ordered a vanilla milkshake to move the party along before it got stuck in the awkwardness. Arisu understood the situation and placed an order as well. With two people ordering quickly, Hana looked at Takuma, who handed her a menu, making her give up and ordering something which made everyone else comfortable enough to order. It almost instantly erased any bad mojo that could've persisted from Hiji and Takuma's exchange.

"Now, if you will excuse me," said Takuma and got up to go sit with Taro.

"Takuma, won't you stay?" Momoe cupped her chin in the palm of her hand. "I'd love to talk to you."