Chapter Twenty-One: Maybe I Should Leave.

Mathematics went smoothly. Raio poked Naruto every few minutes or so to make sure he was paying attention. It wasn't something Naruto enjoyed, who swatted his hand away after the nth time.

What Iruka put up on the board was baby talk compared to the intensive scientific equations Raio had grown up with, so he found himself losing interest.

The hypocrite that he was! However, he figured Naruto was one of the kids in here who needed to listen.

When Iruka stopped the lesson for lunch, he called on some volunteers to go fetch it from the 'kitchen' with him. Hinata and Choji went. Hinata, Raio guessed, was doing it for brownie points. Choji most likely just wanted to eat sooner rather than later.

Raio shifted. There were eyes on him again. Ino, Sakura, and a handful of others. No one in this room was dangerous. No one here would hurt him. Still, it was almost unnerving. He took the pen Sakura gave him and doodled in the margins of his side of the notebook paper.

"I need to go soon," He told Naruto after glancing out the classroom's window. "I said I'd be somewhere at Noon."

"Uh, you mean here?" Naruto's face scrunched at him in confusion. "You can't just leave! Well, I mean… you can, I do all the time, but who the heck are you supposed to be meeting?"

Ah… Raio didn't want to particularly stress him about it. So mimicking a gesture he'd seen countless times, he put his index finger over his lips and winked. "It's a secret."

Naruto's eye twitched. Whereas he seemed particularly unamused (he understood the sentiment. This type of answer was aggravating), the girls and boys staring at him seemed amused enough. "We're friends, so you can't keep secrets from me."

"Then you can't keep secrets from me," Raio said pointedly, "But you've already been lying about a lot of things since I've known you."

He stiffened. Kiba, from his front-row seat, snickered. "I-I mean… well… no I haven't…"

"Do I need to go over everything with you?" Raio stared, vaguely unamused. "'Cause I will. I have no qualms against it."

"No! No, that's okay," Naruto laughed. "So lunch, huh…?"

As if on cue, Iruka returned with the two students. With several bento boxes between them, Hinata and Choji went up the stairs to adequately distribute them.

Hinata was unfortunate enough to be the one to deliver the meals to him and Naruto. They both stared intensely at her as she went up the stairs and drew closer. Her hands began to shake and she was avidly avoiding meeting their eyes, or even looking at them. On the last stair, she stumbled over herself and had to pause to straighten. Then, awkwardly, putting their bento boxes on the table.

She scurried away like something was chasing her. Naruto called, "Thanks Hinata!"

Raio popped the bento box open. Vaguely he registered steamed rice and limp vegetables, but his eyes were focused on the grilled fish that was neatly cut into slices. The aroma wafted through the room.

The next two and a half seconds were a blur. Then, returning to consciousness, was a stark realization that he didn't have just one– but two empty bento boxes in front of him.

"Wh…"

He turned his head. The spot in front of Naruto was decidedly empty, and the blond was staring at Raio incredulously. "Oops."

"Raio!" Naruto's voice was raised to a particularly loud shout. Not in the way he was attempting to embarrass him– that was just his natural inflection. "What the heck! I didn't even see you open them!"

Giving him a shrug, Raio pushed the empty bento boxes back in front of Naruto. They were mostly empty– the wimpy vegetables of bok choy and spinach were left untouched. "You can have the greens?"

"I hate vegetables," Naruto mumbled particularly sourly, staring at the portion left.

Iruka was standing at their desk, Raio clocked and was staring at the empty lunch kits. Even he seemed taken aback. "Well, that's okay. I'll go get you another lunch, Naruto. Raio, next time ask before taking someone's food, okay?"

"Sure," Raio nodded. He quietly stood up and peered outside the window. He was going to be late for the meeting with that ANBU man, wasn't he? Looking up at Iruka, he pointed to the outside. "I need to go anyways. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You're not allowed to leave the premises until school ends," Iruka patiently explained, "Whatever it is can wait."

"It can't, not really." Raio slipped past him.

"No–" Iruka tried grabbing Raio's arm, but he served gracefully and evaded him entirely. "I have to tell the Lord Hokage if a student leaves, it's a safety issue–"

"I talked to him, like, two days ago." Raio waved his hand dismissively. Besides– summoning the leader of the village to tell on a class of kids seemed like an exaggeration. He cracked the door open and put a foot through the doorway. "Thank you for the lessons. I'll be back tomorrow. See you then."

Ignoring Iruka's protests, Raio shut the door behind him. He needed to get going.

Wait. What was that? Something had followed him out of the classroom. A small pinprick, the same vague salted crunch from Shino. Raio turned his head, sharp, to a fly on the wall.

It more or less confirmed his theory. The idea of having more witnesses was a possibility, but he didn't know Shino. He didn't want the brunet to have something to hold over him.

In an instant, Raio struck out. He leaped, his arm moving as a blur. The fly splattered into a small stain on the wall.

Alone. Now, Raio looked left and right of the hall before taking off in a rather rehearsed way. Naruto had shown him the quickest way in and out of the building, and he planned on capitalizing on it. He was going to be maybe… maybe a minute late to the appointment.

Maybe not. He ran fast, and now? Nothing was weighing him down to impede his journey.

–

The Dango Shop was a quaint place. It was more of a food stand with an inside seating area. The weather in Konohagakure was pretty mild, but he supposed it wasn't pleasant sitting under the sun when you're eating a chilled dessert.

He strolled in. Perhaps it would've been best to find a seat in a corner off somewhere immediately, but he was a little more than sidetracked. His eyes went to the menu of the food stand and his feet followed.

It was a little odd. Coming here without Anko, especially after he had just seen her at the school.

… Whatever. If she wanted to come with him to get Dango, she would've. She would've and could've made the effort already.

It was his turn in line, then. He reached the cashier. "Could I just get, uh… one Dango?"

The woman running the counter was young, maybe in her early twenties. She greeted him with a smile that made her face rosy. "Of course. That'll be three-fifty Ryo."

"Oh. Yeah." For a moment, he had forgotten about money. He stood a little awkwardly. Then, reached into his pockets– nothing. He didn't know what he was expecting. "Uh… never mind. I'll come back later."

Without any more of a fuss, he stepped out of line. So much for that. In a note of displeasure, Raio's lips twisted. Whatever. He was here for something else anyways. So, finding a booth in the middle wall of the restaurant, he slid into it.

What if this dude didn't even come? Raio supposed that this leader knew what he looked like. At least the Dango shop was somewhat populated. It was mostly women and their young children, or those in their early twenties who just had a sweet tooth.

He rapped his nails on the table. Any moment now, he'd find out who sent Sai and Shin.

Any… moment...

Did he mention he hated waiting? It was horrible. Being bored was one of life's greatest sins, Raio thought to himself.

A cane hit the edge of the table. Raio's eyes sharply darted to its owner. A man in his early twenties, he clocked, with dark brown hair and an awkward bandage around his right eye. Similarly, though much more discrete, his right arm was slung into a cast.

… Him? He seemed so young!

He didn't have any other discernible features other than being dressed nicely.

Raio decided to attempt to utilize Karin's gift. His jaw slightly went slack, like he was trying to taste the man's chakra.

Fake. Fake, so plastic, so burning, he wanted to scrub it from his tongue. Raio's face scrunched in a disgusted gesture. But more than that, after the bitter taste, was such a concentrated force of chakra it chilled Raio to the very bone. His look of disgust melted as he pressed himself against the back of the booth.

What the hell was he?

Yin, yang, wind, earth, water, fire... What was the last? It tasted smokey, with a burnt aftertaste, like wood chips. Wood?

Raio had never heard of anyone with the element of wood. Not since every last one of his father's experiments died before they matured.

More than Kakashi, his life force was much stronger than the silver-haired Jonin. It was harder to distinguish from under the dumpster fire of a taste, his power was that much more prevalent.

Overwhelmingly so, one single thought raced through Raio's head. Wracking itself over and over: This man could kill him. Without even breaking a sweat.

He couldn't help the stiffness that needled into his muscles. He couldn't. His fight-or-flight response went into overdrive. Blood rushed in his ears, his eyes darted to the door.

"Young Raio," The man greeted. Smoothly, he slid into the booth across from him. He sat with impeccable posture, his one good hand folded in his lap. Raio noted everything about it with needlepoint anxiety. "We were going to meet one way or the other. I suppose this is a good way to go about it."