SS020

The day after Hiruzen's announcement, the atmosphere in the village was so heavy it felt like the sky was weighing down its residents. The sky was clear, and the temperature had dipped to a comfortable level after a low-pressure system washed over the Land of Fire, but the streets were comparably empty, almost as if everyone had holed themselves up inside their houses in preparation for a storm.

Fortunately for Ino and Sakura, who likely wouldn't be in the mood to train, a member of the branch family came to Seikun's apartment with a scroll containing the rest of his pay. Hiashi had closed out his contract, but since it had nothing to do with Seikun's inability to satisfy the terms, he received a sum equivalent to the maximum pay he could have earned, plus an additional 20% for exceeding expectations.

As Seikun was more than content with receiving the pay he was owed, the 20% bonus was a welcome surprise. Before the Chunin departed his apartment, however, they had handed over a scroll, explaining, "This is a gift from Lord Hiashi. He expresses that he hopes you will continue to be a friend to the Hyuga in the far future..."

Accepting the scroll, which was nearly a meter wide and sealed in a jade-capped container, Seikun raised his brows but suppressed the urge to ask what was inside. Instead, he met the Chunin's gaze, smiled, and affirmed, "Please inform Lord Hiashi that I consider the Hyuga Clan my greatest ally in the village. And that I hope that remains the case indefinitely."

Offering a curt nod in response, the Chunin promptly disappeared from Seikun's apartment, leaving the latter to stare at the antiquated-looking container in his hands before carefully removing one of the caps. A jade scroll container would easily fetch hundreds of thousands of Ryo if sold to a collector, so Seikun had high expectations for the scroll or scrolls stored within.

Using his bed instead of a table, Seikun unfurled a well-preserved scroll made from sunbleached bamboo slats. Its width was approximately 60cm while its length was just shy of two hundred. As for its contents, the main focus was a full-sized outline of an adult female with all 361 Tenketsu and more than 2,000 acupuncture points denoted. Several smaller scrolls had been included, each concerning a specific part of the body, but the scroll that caused Seikun's eyes to widen was a waxed manuscript detailing the basic kata of the Eight Trigrams and their relationship to the 361 Tenketsu in the human body.

'Shouldn't this be one of the Hyuga Clan's most closely guarded secrets? Just what the hell is Hiashi thinking...?' Seikun asked himself, a sense of panic swelling within him at the possibility he was being framed. He could be exonerated by allowing his mind to be probed, but as he had memories of a possible future, a past life, and a completely separate plane of reality, there was no way Seikun could subject himself to the often brain-melting process.

"No..." muttered Seikun, his heart racing but his expression firm and tone calm as he assured himself, "This isn't like what happened with Hinata. If the Hyuga wanted to frame or dispose of me, there are much easier ways to go about it. This must be a test...or maybe it's a bribe? He must want or expect something from me..."

As he reflected on the previous twenty-eight days, Seikun recalled each of his interactions with Hiashi. The man had been conspicuously absent for most of the training sessions he had hosted. The few times he saw him was when he was parting ways with Hinata and Hanabi at the main house's entrance, so Seikun had nothing to go on but speculation.

tok tok tok tok

Nearly causing Seikun to leap out of his skin, a crisp knock sounded throughout his room, emanating from his front door. There was no way he could roll up and carefully conceal all the scrolls in time, so he settled for tossing his blanket over them before hurrying to the door to see who was visiting. What he found was a slightly taller, athletic-looking girl with short blonde hair and pupilless, baby-blue eyes.

As he had never shown her where he lived, Seikun's expression and tone were understandably incredulous as he asked, "Ino? What are you doing here...?"

Crossing her arms, shifting her weight onto her right foot, and raising her right brow, Ino countered, "Is that seriously how you greet your girlfriend? I thought we already had that part figured out."

"I'm just...surprised to see you..." responded Seikun, spreading his arms to facilitate Ino wrapping hers around his body. He reciprocated the gesture, causing his nerves to settle remarkably quickly, but he was still more than a little confused until Ino, still holding him, whispered, "I couldn't sleep at all last night. I kept thinking that you might have gotten caught up in what happened, so I had to see you to make sure..."

Feeling Ino's body trembling faintly in his embrace, Seikun held her a little tighter and whispered, "I'm not going anywhere..." in a gentle, reassuring tone. He still had questions about how she had located his apartment, but as that was far less important than ensuring she was okay, he held for the better part of a full minute before gently guiding her into his apartment so they could speak or simply be together...

...

..

.

As Ino had insisted on taking a bath after calming down, Seikun patiently awaited her emergence after storing away all the scrolls and placing them in the gap between his bed and desk. He really wanted to pour over them, but as it could cause innumerable problems if Ino discovered him reading scrolls on massage and acupuncture techniques, he passed the twenty or so minutes she was in the bath thinking about the reasons behind Hiashi's decision to entrust him with one of his clan's secret scrolls.

Emerging from the bathroom while drying her hair with a towel, Ino asked, "A girl who is also your girlfriend takes a bath in your apartment, and you don't at least try and sneak a peek?"

"Does that sound like something I would do...?" countered Seikun, giving Ino a quick once over as she was wearing one of his t-shirts and a pair of his pants. Her clothes hadn't been nearly dirty enough to require washing, but she had insisted on it, ostensibly to ensure he wouldn't be able to kick her out too quickly.

"It's more something you should do..." asserted Ino, wrapping the towel around her shoulders and staring at him as she asked, "You know I don't care, so why do you?"

"Because I care about more than your body..." Seikun asserted. "Besides, how would your parents react if they knew I was peeking at their beloved daughter in the bath? I can almost guarantee they would never allow you over here again. Not anytime soon, at least."

"You know, you're really frustrating sometimes, Seikun..." muttered Ino, closing her eyes and exhaling a wearied sigh. Then, looking around the room, she asked, "Do you have a comb, brush, or hair straightener hiding in this barren wasteland you call an apartment? It barely feels like anyone lives here."

"I...don't normally comb my hair..." revealed Seikun, a wry smile adorning his face as Ino stared at him with open-mouthed disbelief. She had taken care not to let her hair get too wet during her bath, but without a comb or brush to straighten it out, it would look messy once dried.

"You need to go buy one," Ino asserted, her expression and tone serious as she added, "Right this instant."

"Yeah, I figured as much..." replied Seikun, rising to his feet and making his way for the front door. Before he could reach it, however, Ino crossed her arms and asked, "Aren't you forgetting something...?" disapprovingly.

'I'm definitely going to be pecked to death in the future...' thought Seikun, making his way over to Ino and giving her a quick kiss on her right cheek before he was finally allowed to depart...

...

..

.

Returning to his apartment with various hair care, beauty products, and breakfast, Seikun half-expected to find Ino going through his things but instead found her sleeping or at least pretending to be defenseless atop his bed.

"Pretending or not, I'm not going to wake you up..." said Seikun, setting down the things he had bought before sitting with his back against the side of his bed to eat the bacon, egg, and cheese donburi he picked up from a nearby food stall. 

"Give me a bite..." said Ino, positioning herself so that she was lying on her stomach with her arms crossed under her, face near Seikun's head.

"I got you your own..." responded Seikun, gesturing with his chin to the table where he had left her breakfast and various care products.

"But I want a bite of yours," protested Ino, bumping the side of Seikun's head with her chin.

"Go for it..." said Seikun, placing his chopsticks into his bowl and holding it up for Ino to accept. Instead, she responded, "My arms are under me and I don't feel like moving..."

"..."

Understanding what Ino was aiming for, Seikun exhaled a defeated sigh, shook his head, and picked up a tiny clump of sauce-covered rice with his chopsticks. 

"Aaaaaaaaahm~"

After chomping down on the chopsticks and holding them in her mouth for a few seconds, Ino released them, licked her lips, and remarked, "It tastes different when someone else feeds you."

"Uh-huh..." responded Seikun, staring at his dampened chopsticks before using them to feed himself. He knew Ino would get annoyed if he got up to grab a separate pair, so since it wasn't that big a deal, he swallowed his reluctance with a piece of bacon.

"You still owe me a hug, by the way..." reminded Ino, watching Seikun make use of the chopsticks she had defiled with her tongue and saliva with a faint smile.

"Shouldn't you be brushing your hair right now...?" countered Seikun, half-turning his head to find Ino staring directly at him.

"You're not going to brush it for me...?" asked Ino, her tone making it seem like he had agreed to do so and was now reneging on his promise.

"Do you really want me brushing your hair?" questioned Seikun. "What if I hit a snag...?"

"I don't have snags," Ino asserted. "But I might develop them if you don't brush my hair quickly."

"Eat your own breakfast, and I'll consider it..." responded Seikun, feeling a little exasperated as he got the impression that Ino sneaking over to play or pester him would be his new norm. And since Sakura would feel hurt if she were excluded, he felt like it was only a matter of time before his only place of reprieve became more their hangout than his place of rest...

"I had jam and toast before I came over, but thanks for thinking about me," said Ino, surprising Seikun with a kiss on the side of his head. Then, as she hadn't been lying about staying up the previous night, she rolled onto her back, grabbed one of his larger pillows, and snuggled with it on her side...

"..."

...

..

.

After insisting that Ino change back into her own clothes, she and Seikun made their way to Sakura's house to check on her and explain they would no longer be required to go to the Hyuga Clan Compound for training. Ino initially tried to gloss over the fact she had spent the past three and a half hours at Seikun's apartment, but as the former's mom had called to make sure she reached her destination safely, the young Yamanaka heiress had a fair amount of explaining to do. Then, as she had lied to her parents, she was promptly grounded for the rest of the break...

...

..

.