Private Who I am (Calling Asuka)

[Kairyuu]

As was his habit, Maki had gone home before making his way to the mansion. The grime and dirt of the road was washed off, his hair trimmed, face shaved, and clothes replaced with finery. The man who left the Isaki compound was wearing an immaculate black jacket with gold buttons and trim. A single breasted jacket, the top and bottom buttons had been left undone so it would hang more comfortably on his frame. Under it was a spotless white button-up with a dark red tie that had a black stripe spiraling diagonally down its length. Black dress pants with a similar gold trim and a pair of black monk-strap shoes completed his outfit. He carried in one hand a cane, not to help him walk but to accentuate the finery he wore. Atop the cane was a crystal that seemed to have flowing colors inside of it.



Maki pushes into the Mansion, people stepping aside as he does knowing that trying to stop him was a vain effort. Even the secretary made to stop people from just entering the office he was even now pushing into. Last time she’d tried, a wall of wind had ruined her hair for the day. Maki slips into the office and looks around with a grimace. Finally his eyes settle upon the Sennin holding this spot for the day.



”I take it the walls are all you? Takeshi is going to kill you when he gets back from….where is he now?”

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka was simply studying her paperwork, enjoying the walls she had recently re-painted to resemble the morning sky, some clouds here and there to add to the asthetics. She liked how it felt, peaceful. Welcoming. Rayne was standing on the far side of the room, looking out the window. Ever the watchful eye over the village, the, apparent, reason voice of the pair. The one who could make Asuka re-think a decision if it came to it... that is unless it came upon decorating apparently.

With that being said she did hear the footsteps coming closer to her office. God damn it, it seemed as though something serious was coming her way. "Who do you think it is?" Rayne asked "following" the footsteps coming closer based on sound.

"Whoever it is.... will have to drink my tea before talking." She spoke looking at Rayne with a smile on her face. Although that smile dissapeared once the doors to the office swung open.

The smile on Asuka's face vanished as soon as she recognized who it was. Her face lowered as she continued with the paperwork in her desk. "Shit." Rayne sighed clenching, worried how the exchange would go considering how the last one went.

"Cloud signing the new treaty." Asuka spoke not really answering his comment about the walls. "Considering your tone, guessing things in Sand went well. That is... unless you made an enemy of the Kazekage. That would be what? The second?" She looked up for a brief moment before looking down again. "Any complications on your trip? Hoshirei make it here okay?"

 

[Kairyuu]

He looks over, nodding to Rayne as he notices her presence. ”Afternoon.” He ignores the expletive given by Asuka upon recognizing him, instead walking to the desk and placing his hand on it. When he raises it, a small metal statue of the main branch sennin is sitting there, a six inch likeness of her every feature. ”Cloud? I thought they were to come to us.” His face moves from neutral to a frown at this news.



”Well enough. We have a trade agreement in place, and the Isaki clan is sending relief supplies to refugees in the area. I don’t think I made a new enemy there in the Kage, but they swapped the rank to someone else just before my departure. I did get attacked by a former Mist shinobi and two former leaders of the Isaki clan while I was there, but it was just a misunderstanding over my past of breaking into one of them’s house to kill his house guest’s puppet. Other than that, all went well. Hoshirei is likely at the Isaki compound taking care of some clan business.”



He begins pacing, the cane in his hand vanishing as he begins tossing the crystal that crowned it from hand to hand. ”I’m going to go send Takeshi a message to return. It was painfully obvious when I arrived that he’s gone, and it appears most of the leadership is out with him. We need them back, otherwise we invite more trouble as we had before.”



He looks back to Asuka, then to Rayne, and lifts his hand with the cane reformed and the crystal set atop it once more. ”How have things been here in my absence?”

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

"They did, the agreement was written hear but the cloud delegate insisted that the Raikage sign it which is why Takeshi left for cloud. Kind of a new relationship deal between the deals or something like that, I was left behind as you can see." Asuka explained smiling at the metal statue in front of her, she inspected it as Maki started to speak.

"Breakin into... for what..." Asuka took a deep breath "You know what, I don't want to know."

"You can send him a message of how things went but asking him to return is a no go. His right now busy building new relation with a village that just had a recent change in leadership and policies. Having said that, it may be painfully obvious to a citizen, an outsider might not see it that way. Secondly, there hasn't been any reports of any attacks, suspicious people or trouble in the outskirts or inside the village that we have to concern ourselves with. A letter like that might create a misunderstanding that would be better avoided. Not getting into the fact that as you can tell we are a bit short on personel. Must of the leadership left with Takeshi because we didn't know what we were going up against. It's better he stays there to finish the signing of the treaty and whatever else he needs to do." She explained, god she hoped this didn't turn out into an argument. "Give a class or something, that might help occupy your mind on other things."

"Quiet, couple of skirmishes here and there but they were dealt with swiftly and with no problem." Asuka spoke leaving the metal statue on the desk "Maki, I do suggest you occupy yourself with something, that panic state of mind worries me a little."

 

[Kairyuu]

"Written here, should be signed here. Cloud broke the old agreement, not us. The burden is on them, not us. And no big matter, I broke into the house of a former Kirigakurian ANBU Captain, now Sunagakurian Medical Chief apparently. I had to attack him and my cousins to take my soul back from my brother’s corpse. Long in the past though.” Maki offered no further explanations, figuring that much would leave the other Sennin wondering what the hell he was drinking currently.



”As for not asking him to come back, I say we leave the decision on that to him. The fact is he’s building relations while we ourselves need him here. How often has he been out of the village instead of in it of late? How many times has he simply vanished when Konoha needed him here? Even if nothing is going on, a Kage should be present for his people.” As he walks by the desk once more, now pacing as he speaks, he snatches up the small statue and tosses it in the air ahead of him, catching it and snapping it back up in his pacing.



”Skirmishes, but no attacks?” What an odd thing to say to him, that there had been no reports of attacks…but skirmishes. He sets the statue down, now suddenly showing Asuka making a face by holding her mouth wide open with her hands and sticking her tongue out. ”It’s not panic, Asuka. Paranoia? Maybe. But not panic. One of the tenets of leadership is to lead, oddly enough. And it’s hard to do that when you’re not present. As for teaching a class, I would not dream of taking that job from your new Head Jounin or my wife. Good catch on Manzo by the way, he’s a sharp one.”



He stops pacing and turns, fixing a suddenly intense stare at the woman before him. ”As for your worry, since when do you care about how I’m doing?”

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka listened to his explanation and looked at Rayne who simply snickered at the comment, they both knew this type of stories were not uncommon in this world. "Well, I do had a pleasant ending." She simply said.


"He hasn't left the village in years." Asuka explained as soon as Maki stopped explaining "I'm pretty sure the only one who "vanished" was Umashi and Yomi took over for him. Takeshi has always been in the village when his needed? The only time I can think of of him not being a call away was when I took care of some traitors inside the village, he was fighting to protect my predecessor." Asuka said back "Although I agree with your first point it was decided to be signed in Cloud and Takeshi agreed, if you send a letter to him he might get worried and I would rather avoid getting him worked up when his in the middle of diplomatic mission. As for Manzo, Takeshi takes the credit. Didn't even know the guy."

"Well, we may not have the best relationship but I don't hate you Maki. You are still part of Leaf and I'm gonna worry."

 

[Kairyuu]

Maki pauses for a long moment, eyes on the other Sennin. ”I recall he made his own trip to Sand before me. He also came back from, Cloud actually, in handcuffs. He’s made several trips out of the village since he got the position, or at the least was not reachable by the public. I even heard of one when I was…in recovery in my home. Regardless of the validity of the statements, the sad fact is this is something being spread. But that is neither of our decision to make, as you suggested I’ll send him a letter and let him make the decision.”

The Advisor walks to one of the chairs before the desk and takes a seat, even as before both of the women’s eyes the statue begins to move. It was not a fluid motion, indeed the metal seemed to flow like sand around itself as it went from holding it’s mouth open with the tongue out in a childish gesture of prankful glee to spreading its arms wide and making a scary face.

”I have to ask why it is we have such an antagonistic relationship. We’re both Sennin, we both love our home land and want to see it better. And we both serve the same Kage without hesitation. Tell me, would you be up for dinner? You and Rayne with Hoshirei and I at the Isaki estate. I can guarantee the food will be like nothing you’ve had before.”

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka sighed, not because she thought he was wrong but more at her own stupidity. But even then, it was in the fact that the decision ended on Takeshi's shoulders which they both agreed, it seemed he ignored her point about not sending a letter but she wouldn't push it, it wasn't worth it. "Since I've been Sennin he hasn't left the village, I know it hasn't been as long as you but it counts for something. People have left, but Takeshi-sama has stayed behind... even when..." Asuka stopped herself from saying anything further and decided to change the subject. "In any case, just make sure to point out 'The village is fine, this is just a suggestion' would not want an angry Hokage to show up at my gates."

"I don't see it as antagonistic Maki-san." Asuka spoke, a few moments passed when she realized what he meant. God damn it, having said that she knew she had to fix this kind of thing before it blew up even worse. "I disagreed with your appointment because... well... you threw meteors on my face if I recall correctly which promptly made Takeshi-sama kick my ass." She giggled at the thought. "That view has now changed. I see our relationship as one where we will mostly disagree and Takeshi-sama will make a decision shutting one of us up. Doesn't mean I don't respect you, just one with very different points of view." In any case she nodded to Maki "As long as Hoshirei promises not to throw knifes at my direction." She joked with a slight laugh "Seriously, between Hoshirei and sensei... the woman of Leaf's leadership are terrifying beings."

 

[Kairyuu]

They agreed to leave it to Takeshi, at least. Maki nods at her request to leave it open to him to come and not make it sound like the village was on fire and plagued by demons and Frost shinobi. He firmly believed that Takeshi had no better place to be than home, nothing more urgent to do than rule the roost as it were. Cloud was not worth his time away. He had other people to handle that aspect of things. Maki, for instance, was likely not liked in the least but he could handle it well enough.



He restrains a laugh as she claims to not see their relationship as antagonistic. It seemed all she did after Mikasa’s betrayal was throw blame at him, even as she began now with the meteor comment. ”I did apologize for that. Do recall, I’d just lost my eye and my arm to an enemy none of us knew about, and I was tortured the entire time it took for my saviors from Konoha to extricate me from that she demon. The brain is a curious thing, so strong and absolute in its convictions sometimes, and yet so fragile to such trauma.” He doubted few in the village knew as much as he did about the matter, having extensively looked into his own condition in the past few years.



”I can agree that having opposing viewpoints is a good thing, so long as we do not disagree for the sake of arguing with each other. It allows discourse to be had on a wife array of subjects that can bring us out of our comfort zones and force us to confront our own opinions from new angles that might shift our way of thinking for the better. Truly a wonderful thing to have if done right.”



He rises, as he does the statue of Asuka seems to once more shift the metal particles around itself until it forms a small, silvery-gray representation of the woman before him holding a whoopie cushion and giving a grin. ”Alas, I cannot make my wife promise anything. Sometimes even I get terrified of her wrath, but never so much as the members of her clan if they do wicked deeds around her. I’ll let her know to expect you for dinner then. An official date will likely be delivered by her. Keep the statue, think of it as a gift. I must be going, its getting quite late.” He raises the cane in a gesture of farewell before stepping free of the room.



What the fuck happened to me in there and why the fuck did I begin talking like some dandy twit?

(Topic left unless stopped.}

 

[Kairyuu]

Voiding the bmod call and canceling the topic due to Takeshi and I having IRL interfere