Ch172. Afternoon with Pakura

Rei and Pakura were having a picnic on a grassy hill near the Uzushio village, both somewhat awkwardly pondering how to start a light-hearted conversation.

"Damn," Rei chuckled, "this is harder than I thought. I think this is actually the first time we are truly alone."

Pakura worked as Rei's Jonin Commander which currently, while the village was not yet built, meant she temporarily took the role of his secretary. The problem between them became quickly apparent. Despite Pakura's obvious affection towards Rei, they were both used to being professional towards each other so now that they were alone, it was hard to have a casual talk.

It was actually Konan who was responsible for the current situation. Pakura got surprisingly along well with the resident bluenette who was also of the strict and no-nonsense type during work. Their similar personality and approach towards work made the two girls close considering they both worked together on many projects.

And since Konan was the best at psychology out of Rei's girls, she quickly noticed Pakura's feelings. Well, at least, she did so sooner than others. Noticing it didn't require any psycho-analytical skills, really. Pakura sucked at hiding her feelings in every meeting that didn't pertain to her job so once she started spending some time with Rei and his girls during her free time, the cat was out of the bag pretty fast.

It was only a half-year later after Pakura's arrival when Konan noted Rei started to notice Pakura more. At first, it was just a few additional glances but the two were clearly being drawn to each other. And yet... Rei refused to make any advances despite all four of his girls giving him their blessing. After all, even now, he was run ragged by his projects whether in sealing or in the village creation, and on top of that, he had to find time for all four of his girls.

Well, Rei was not complaining. Work could go stuff itself. For Rei, his girls were his priority but still... time was precious, and getting involved with yet another woman? Rei didn't really think he had time for that.

As such, two days before she left for Konoha, Konan took the situation into her own hands, and somehow, here they were... Rei and Pakura were ordered to go on a picnic date with a no-nonsense 'I-dare-you-to-disobey' kind of tone.

' 'If it works it works, if not, at least you know where you stand with each other!' ... She said' Rei thought as he side-glanced at the fidgeting woman sitting next to him. 'Ei, whatever.'

"How is training Maki going?" Rei started. He really had no idea what else than their work to talk about with Pakura. With his girls, it was just so easy as they always had a common topic but now...

Pakura furrowed her brows, not expecting such a question, and her mind slightly panicked as she hurried to create a coherent answer, "It... is fine?" She said unsurely, making Rei chuckle which only made Pakura fidget nervously even more.

Seeing her state, Rei decided to help her out a bit. He knew Pakura had no time to spend on interaction with males and he had more experience from dates with his girls so...

Rei put his hand on hers, squeezing it slightly in the reassuring matter and when Pakura's face snapped in his direction adorning a stunned expression, Rei just gently smiled at her. It was not an easy feat since he was quite nervous but he was a ninja and acting was a fundamental skill of his profession.

Thankfully, Pakura considerably relaxed after seeing Rei's calm smile and shuffled a bit closer to Rei. The duo started to snack on the sandwiches while looking at the sunset painting the Uzushio orange in pleasant silence, their hands still connecting.

"So..." This time it was Pakura who started speaking, "Er," She sheepishly avoided Rei's eyes, "this is actually the first time I am on a date with anybody."

Silence again descended on the duo, making the time awkwardly drag on until Rei decided to... "Neh, Pakura?" He hummed, getting her attention, "Let's just... act like usual, okay?"

"Fine." Pakura chuckled and amusedly shook her head, "To think Konan would forbid us from discussing anything work-related."

"Yeah, I don't think that will work for us."

"Right... It's actually my fault." She sighed but her eyes stared into the distance in a nostalgic way, "I have nothing but Maki and my work. From an early age, I was led to work hard for my village. Pakura, get stronger... Pakura, our village needs you... Pakura, you have to support the village… Pakura, your Kekkei Genkai..." Her lips twisted into a distasteful mocking smile, "I had never time to have a normal life. Even Maki was literally thrown into my arms with orders to train her to the best of my ability because she showed a promise. It wasn't even my own decision to take her in as my apprentice." She sadly muttered.

"And now... work is the only thing you know and love Maki as if she was your own." Rei amusedly hummed in acknowledgment while putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to him, "We all found it a bit strange that you don't have even one hobby or interest. You just spend all your time on your duties as my Jonin Commander."

"I am actually very happy about getting the position, you know? It consumes just enough time that between training Maki and focusing on my duties, I don't have time to think about the betrayal of Sunagakure."

"You know... at some point, it will come out that you are alive. You will have to face it one day." Rei gently reminded her but to his surprise, Pakura just took a refreshing breath and brightly smiled in a way as if a burden fell from her chest.

"That will not be a problem!" She assuredly stated. "As long as I have Konan backing me up, nothing is impossible. I am sure she would be able to persuade the Sunagakure higher-ups I am dead even if I stood in front of the council itself. All she would need was their documentation of my apparent death." She snickered. After seeing Konan's mind at work in political manipulations, Pakura really pitied any village trying to make problems for Rei's lands through diplomacy.

"Cheers to that," Rei smirked and reached into the basket, pulling out two bottles of water before handing one to Pakura. "Honestly, just as Tsunade is scary good at the economy, Konan's niche is politics. That's actually why she was sent to Konoha for the negotiation instead of Tsunade going herself... among other reasons."

"Speaking of which," Pakura's eyes gleamed in interest made of schadenfreude as she excitedly turned her body towards Rei, "I heard you got news from her yesterday. How does the negotiation with Konoha go?"

The second it was decided the emissary will be Konan, it was an established fact that Konoha is fucked. What remained to be seen, however, was what mood Konan will be in during the negotiations. Mei and Tsunade even bet on how much Konan would make Konoha suffer.

Needless to say... "Tsunade lost the bet. Her guess was too small." Rei quipped. "The negotiations are almost wrapped up after these two weeks. They only discuss some minor unimportant things now so Konan will be returning quite soon. According to Konan, it was quite dramatic. In the end, she only managed to secure a reparation payment of 1 000 000 000 Ryo." He nonchalantly said with a shrug.

Hearing the sum, Pakura actually spat out the water she recently drank and started coughing while hitting her chest to calm down from the shock Rei gave her. "Can you repeat that!?" She asked almost hysterically after she finally found herself in a condition good enough to talk again.

"You heard me correctly." Rei smugly smirked. "We both know that Konan is a miracle worker, alright!"

"But... How!? 1... Such a sum is no small matter for a village! That kind of..." Pakura couldn't help but feel flabbergasted.

"Konan promised to give Konoha a fifty percent discount on the products of the Biri-Biri company for the duration of their debt. Considering they were given ten years to pay the reparations..."

"I see," Pakura grimaced, now understanding why Konoha was fine with accepting such an exorbitant price, "It wouldn't be impossible to actually profit if they took advantage of it. Buy in bulk and then resell."

Rei simply snorted, "Do you really think Konan of all people would let Konoha screw with her? Oh, I am sure the Konoha council and Hokage think they are smart but... I know Konan. She already sent a proposal to ration the goods sent to Konoha with her report. This discount given to them doesn't work for Konoha, instead, it is only for goods sold on Konoha's territory, meaning if Konoha decided to buy elsewhere, they will have to pay full price."

"So Konan wants Tsunade to cut the number of goods sent to the Konoha territory by... 50%?" Pakura inquired. It seemed logical to her. This way, there won't be any loss, only an abundant profit but Rei quickly put that notion to a sudden stop when he amusedly shook his head.

"She will cut the supply by three-quarters." Rei gleefully stated and Pakura shuddered when she realized the implications.

"Oh... Konoha is so fucked. They will actually have to buy from elsewhere for full price at this rate!"

"They sure are. They thought they would be able to wave the contract in front of our company and demand goods at a dirt-cheap price and Konan is using exactly that arrogance. Sure, the contract does state we will have to sell our goods at half the price on Konoha's territory but there is nowhere written we are obliged to deliver as many goods as Konoha desires."

"And without being able to resell our goods, Konoha won't be able to make the money to pay for the reparations, hence they will have to use what they have safely deposited in their coffers. That is actually a very insidious scheme. Damn, Konan is ruthless. Using only a single hole in the contract to make Konoha pay almost two times their annual income." Pakura leaned closer to Rei, her eyes sparkling in glee.

Rei blinked and his eyes slightly widened. It was only now he realized they somehow got too close during their heated talk about the negotiations. Pakura's face was basically just a few inches away from his and her body was pressing itself into his side. Rei, seeing their position, made his mind.

'Here we go. Let's make it count.'

Leaning forward, he kissed the startled girl. Needless to say, the remainder of their date was spent in silence as the two enjoyed each other's lips, their conversation about work long forgotten.