"You mean you seriously didn't know?" Tatsuya asked Makoto, amused, when he returned to the hotel. He wanted to bitch at someone other than the overly-forgiving phoenix spirit about his lack of insight, and it didn't seem wise to complain about this to Sheimi (who would laugh in his face), which left him with but a single option.
As much as he disliked that option.
"You can't tell me you knew," he accused his cousin. "You were as surprised as I when she mentioned she was seeing someone back when we boarded the ship."
Tatsuya shrugged casually, his emotions rippling with amusement--barely any better than actually laughing at him, really. "I didn't then, but I thought about it on the boat and it made sense. Normally people who just met me don't take an instant dislike to me. And she referenced me like someone I knew talked about me to her."
"There's a lot of people who don't like you," Makoto muttered. He'd picked it up; it had been impossible not to. What surprised him more was how few people he'd met who disliked him. He'd gotten the impression he was a generally unlikable person.
The phoenix reassured him he was not, with a soft trill, but he set that aside for the moment.
"Only in our family," Tatsuya said cheerfully, lightly petting his snake as she poked her iridescent head out of his jacket pocket. "Most of the locals are quite fond of me. So that narrowed it down right away. She's a Warden, so that meant either you or Kanashimi. Your reaction at the dock meant it wasn't you. Process of elimination. Not to mention," he added as an afterthought, "he hates me the most of any of you."
"I would call it more violent dislike than outright hate," Makoto corrected. "Because you're a superficial ass and he doesn't have time for that."
"He prefers nuanced assholes like his girlfriend out there, or you perhaps?" Tatsuya nudged the snake with his hand, and she stuck her tongue out at him in a remarkably human gesture before ducking back into his pocket. "Or maybe he prefers people with secrets."
"Kiyomizu doesn't have secrets," he said, almost automatically. "If she did, we'd know. At full volume."
Tatsuya flopped back onto the hotel bed. The smile on his face was enigmatic. He didn't have to actually say anything for Makoto to get the jist.
"I don't really have any secrets either," he added primly. It was an out-and-out lie, but his new cousin was no sort of lie detector as far as he knew.
"Of course not," Tatsuya said equably. It didn't seem at all sincere, even moreso to his emotion senses. "Neither of you have anything interesting going on at all. Tell me, how am I the shady one when I'm the only member of the team who doesn't have something to hide?"
He narrowed his eyes, but that seemed to do nothing to affect the veneer of cool. Moreover, it seemed his cousin was being genuine about that part.
He could have considered things from Tatsuya's point of view, but quite frankly, the way his emotions went flat every so often was even more disconcerting than the hole in them. He didn't much feel like putting himself into the shoes of someone like...that.
(Albeit, he really had no idea how another empath would view him. For all he knew, he was just as disturbing, although he doubted it.)
"Mission time!" Sheimi sang, kicking the door open. "Who wants to go protect a shipment of something from bandits or whatever?"
"Sounds like normal work to me," Makoto grumbled. "Like, at-home normal work."
He put the previous discussion away for the moment. So what if Kiyomizu was hiding something? He'd find out eventually, if he hung around her long enough. It's not like she was some great spy.
~
"We're guarding a shipment of wood?" Makoto asked in disbelief. "You and I can both generate trees out of nothing."
Sheimi shrugged and flipped her hair back as they traipsed along, dragging the pile of lumber. It wasn't that difficult for three strong ninja, and the people who they'd met had been thrilled that there were three of them, to ensure the cargo's safety. "And no one here really uses water jutsu. Must be something they don't like about using Ninjutsu for this stuff. And you can't exactly get real trees around here."
"The soil isn't fertile enough," Tatsuya chimed in. "Even if the trees were generated from Ninjutsu, they wouldn't grow. And using Wood Ninjutsu wouldn't exactly be much of a solution. Would you want to live in a house built by someone else's Ninjutsu?"
There was a pause as all three of them contemplated this, and Makoto sighed.
"No," he said. "I suppose not. Even if you could find a way to strip their chakra out of it while keeping the materials completely intact."
"Unlikely, at best," Tatsuya said. "By the way, is anyone else's extra sense pinging?"
Makoto did his best to block out his companions' emotional feedback. "...Hm. Such as, threat senses activated?"
"Such as." Tatsuya let go of the back of the makeshift 'sled' they were half-carrying, half-pushing along the sand. "I think we'd best prepare for a fight."
"Weapons only?" he suggested, pulling out his parasol. "Less chance of collateral damage, and whoever's coming is unlikely to be a ninja."
'Whoever's coming' was apparently a group of thieves who crested the dune a few moments later, aiming for their cargo. They seemed to be of the 'attempt to scare and ambush them type,' which might have worked if they'd all been deaf to the yelling and all lacked a sixth sense.
And not been armed, as opposed to all being armed.
Suffice it to say, the group of barely-trained bandits was not really a match for a trio of highly-trained ninja, and it didn't take long for their would-be attackers to run off with their tails between their legs. Makoto was especially proud of the good hits he'd gotten in on the apparent leader, who had shrieked in an extremely undignified way when beaten about the head with a titanium parasol.
"I'd knock them out, but none of us want more to carry," Sheimi commented as they started moving again. "Anyway, so. I guess you have a point about the wood, but what about the water?"
"I don't think they're that hard up for it outside of traveling," Makoto said thoughtfully. "I'm fairly sure there's underground rivers or lakes, and an oasis somewhere other than where we just came from."
"Huh," she said. "So, they didn't super-need a water user on this. That's neat."
"It's an advantage against sandworms, for one," he said. "Which, believe me, is an advantage. When I was here before, someone lost their arm to one."
"One of those things ate someone's arm?" Tatsuya asked incredulously.
"Yes," he said. "Well, it's a bit of a long story, but..."
The tale of the Storm God mission, sandworm mishap included, made for a good story on the way back to Sand. And if it was less a team bonding session than a way to kill the boredom and keep them away from each others' throats, well, that was fine too.
As much as he disliked that option.
"You can't tell me you knew," he accused his cousin. "You were as surprised as I when she mentioned she was seeing someone back when we boarded the ship."
Tatsuya shrugged casually, his emotions rippling with amusement--barely any better than actually laughing at him, really. "I didn't then, but I thought about it on the boat and it made sense. Normally people who just met me don't take an instant dislike to me. And she referenced me like someone I knew talked about me to her."
"There's a lot of people who don't like you," Makoto muttered. He'd picked it up; it had been impossible not to. What surprised him more was how few people he'd met who disliked him. He'd gotten the impression he was a generally unlikable person.
The phoenix reassured him he was not, with a soft trill, but he set that aside for the moment.
"Only in our family," Tatsuya said cheerfully, lightly petting his snake as she poked her iridescent head out of his jacket pocket. "Most of the locals are quite fond of me. So that narrowed it down right away. She's a Warden, so that meant either you or Kanashimi. Your reaction at the dock meant it wasn't you. Process of elimination. Not to mention," he added as an afterthought, "he hates me the most of any of you."
"I would call it more violent dislike than outright hate," Makoto corrected. "Because you're a superficial ass and he doesn't have time for that."
"He prefers nuanced assholes like his girlfriend out there, or you perhaps?" Tatsuya nudged the snake with his hand, and she stuck her tongue out at him in a remarkably human gesture before ducking back into his pocket. "Or maybe he prefers people with secrets."
"Kiyomizu doesn't have secrets," he said, almost automatically. "If she did, we'd know. At full volume."
Tatsuya flopped back onto the hotel bed. The smile on his face was enigmatic. He didn't have to actually say anything for Makoto to get the jist.
"I don't really have any secrets either," he added primly. It was an out-and-out lie, but his new cousin was no sort of lie detector as far as he knew.
"Of course not," Tatsuya said equably. It didn't seem at all sincere, even moreso to his emotion senses. "Neither of you have anything interesting going on at all. Tell me, how am I the shady one when I'm the only member of the team who doesn't have something to hide?"
He narrowed his eyes, but that seemed to do nothing to affect the veneer of cool. Moreover, it seemed his cousin was being genuine about that part.
He could have considered things from Tatsuya's point of view, but quite frankly, the way his emotions went flat every so often was even more disconcerting than the hole in them. He didn't much feel like putting himself into the shoes of someone like...that.
(Albeit, he really had no idea how another empath would view him. For all he knew, he was just as disturbing, although he doubted it.)
"Mission time!" Sheimi sang, kicking the door open. "Who wants to go protect a shipment of something from bandits or whatever?"
"Sounds like normal work to me," Makoto grumbled. "Like, at-home normal work."
He put the previous discussion away for the moment. So what if Kiyomizu was hiding something? He'd find out eventually, if he hung around her long enough. It's not like she was some great spy.
~
"We're guarding a shipment of wood?" Makoto asked in disbelief. "You and I can both generate trees out of nothing."
Sheimi shrugged and flipped her hair back as they traipsed along, dragging the pile of lumber. It wasn't that difficult for three strong ninja, and the people who they'd met had been thrilled that there were three of them, to ensure the cargo's safety. "And no one here really uses water jutsu. Must be something they don't like about using Ninjutsu for this stuff. And you can't exactly get real trees around here."
"The soil isn't fertile enough," Tatsuya chimed in. "Even if the trees were generated from Ninjutsu, they wouldn't grow. And using Wood Ninjutsu wouldn't exactly be much of a solution. Would you want to live in a house built by someone else's Ninjutsu?"
There was a pause as all three of them contemplated this, and Makoto sighed.
"No," he said. "I suppose not. Even if you could find a way to strip their chakra out of it while keeping the materials completely intact."
"Unlikely, at best," Tatsuya said. "By the way, is anyone else's extra sense pinging?"
Makoto did his best to block out his companions' emotional feedback. "...Hm. Such as, threat senses activated?"
"Such as." Tatsuya let go of the back of the makeshift 'sled' they were half-carrying, half-pushing along the sand. "I think we'd best prepare for a fight."
"Weapons only?" he suggested, pulling out his parasol. "Less chance of collateral damage, and whoever's coming is unlikely to be a ninja."
'Whoever's coming' was apparently a group of thieves who crested the dune a few moments later, aiming for their cargo. They seemed to be of the 'attempt to scare and ambush them type,' which might have worked if they'd all been deaf to the yelling and all lacked a sixth sense.
And not been armed, as opposed to all being armed.
Suffice it to say, the group of barely-trained bandits was not really a match for a trio of highly-trained ninja, and it didn't take long for their would-be attackers to run off with their tails between their legs. Makoto was especially proud of the good hits he'd gotten in on the apparent leader, who had shrieked in an extremely undignified way when beaten about the head with a titanium parasol.
"I'd knock them out, but none of us want more to carry," Sheimi commented as they started moving again. "Anyway, so. I guess you have a point about the wood, but what about the water?"
"I don't think they're that hard up for it outside of traveling," Makoto said thoughtfully. "I'm fairly sure there's underground rivers or lakes, and an oasis somewhere other than where we just came from."
"Huh," she said. "So, they didn't super-need a water user on this. That's neat."
"It's an advantage against sandworms, for one," he said. "Which, believe me, is an advantage. When I was here before, someone lost their arm to one."
"One of those things ate someone's arm?" Tatsuya asked incredulously.
"Yes," he said. "Well, it's a bit of a long story, but..."
The tale of the Storm God mission, sandworm mishap included, made for a good story on the way back to Sand. And if it was less a team bonding session than a way to kill the boredom and keep them away from each others' throats, well, that was fine too.