[Opener: "Healing Begins"--Tenth Avenue North]

"I can't eat anymore," Shine said. "I don't know how you all eat so much."

"I've never met anyone who eats as little as you do at a time." Dabi shook his head. "And your boyfriend eats like a horse."

"Well, then we're well matched," Shine said. "I never did get that cup of coffee..."

"There's a coffee shop just up the street," Naruto offered.

"I'm so there," Shine said. "Oh...wait, I don't have money." She laughed at herself.

"I'll take care of it," Hinata said.

"But you've already done enough," Momo said. Hinata had paid for their meal.

"If you help Neji, it's a small repayment," Hinata insisted.

"We haven't helped him yet," Shoto said.

"Well, you helped us already..." Hinata said.

She was timid but more stubborn than she looked.

"It's just a cup of coffee, I guess," Shine said. "I'd do as much for anyone, just to be nice. And Momo, you're one to complain--you bought me clothes."

"Speaking of clothes," Momo said, "we should change ours. I think we stand out too much like this."

"They aren't...so different," Shine noted. "I saw someone in regular clothes while we were walking around."

"They seemed more plain than these," Momo said. "At least mine... Dabi's jacket is kind of unusual too."

"The jacket stays," Dabi said. "Not negotiable."

"I would think you'd be too hot in it," Shoto said.

"I'm always cold, actually, you twerp," Dabi said.

"Try not to start any fights while I'm gone." Shine was walking away.

"Says the queen of picking fights!" Dabi hurled after her. Then he sat back. "Oh well, at least the food's decent. It would have sucked if they didn't eat the same stuff as us."

"From here, I almost could believe we're in a small town at home," Momo said.

The Leaf exchanged a look.

"How big are your cities?" Sakura asked.

Momo realized her mistake. "Oh...oh, I just mean this place feels comfortable, that's all. Not that it's small."

Shoto had more on his mind than just small talk.

"Since we're not going to see Neji tonight," he said, "maybe we should learn more about all of you. We've barely had a chance to do more than exchange our names."

"You want us to tell you more about ourselves?" Tenten said warily.

"Why?" Ino said, also warily.

"I think that's taboo," Dabi observed. "Remember, everything is a secret. Everything can kill you? Trust no one. These guys are all a barrel of laughs. I wonder how anyone makes friends here."

"Usually you're friends with people you grow up with," Sakura said.

"Sometimes," Ino said saltily, though they didn't know why.

Sakura glared at her.

"Well," Momo said, "if you won't tell us about you, then maybe we should take the first step. Why don't you ask us about ourselves?"

"And you'd tell us?" Temari said, dubiously.

"As long as it's nothing that would be a problem," Momo said.

"Well, that's our problem also, isn't it?" Kankuro said.

"We aren't gonna ask about your powers, geez," Dabi snorted. "Just about your lives. I guess even that's too much information though."

"You start then." Tenten crossed her arms.

"What do you want to know?" Shoto asked, not sure about this.

"I have a question." Naruto put his hand up. "Why are you guys so interested in Gaara?"

The three of them exchanged a look.

"We don't really know the answer to that," Shoto said.

"We didn't know we'd meet him beforehand," Momo said. "But after meeting Temari, and then Kankuro and him, Miss Likstar picked out that he was the one we were supposed to help. We're following her lead... We're all her students, as you know. So she's kind of training us."

"That's why they don't know that much," Shikamaru observed. "That Likstar-san, she knows a lot, you can tell."

"Well, she's always like that," Dabi said. "When she'd just met me, she figured out who I was in just a few days and hit me with it like a brick. But she never gave up the secret to anyone else. For that she had my grudging respect."

The ninja seemed to find that reassuring, slightly.

"And who are you?" Sakura asked.

"His brother." Dabi pointed at Shoto. "But that was a secret till I was ready to drop the bomb. Everyone knows now, so not much use hiding it."

"I really think the rest of us should have seen that coming," Momo said. "But I knew so little about it."

"What, were you long lost or something?" Ino asked.

"They thought I was dead," Dabi said.

No one found that surprising.

"I see," Kankuro said.

"Here's a question," Tenten said. "Who are your families?"

They all exchanged a glance again.

"I suppose it doesn't matter if they know that," Momo said. "I'm from the Yaoyorozu family... I wouldn't call us a clan, but we're very wealthy. My parents expected me to learn useful skills, even though we have servants, but I've been used to living in more comfort than my classmates, from what they've told me. I don't believe my family has any claim to fame other than being successful and talented, however...not like your clans, from the sound of it."

"My father is a famous hero," Shoto said. "Currently, he's the top hero in the country... I guess it's sort of like your Jonin, but they serve the people, not just the city. Well...I guess it's pretty similar. He runs a big agency--that's a place where a lot of heroes work."

"It's strange that you call them heroes," Tenten said, distastefully. "That sounds pretentious. Shinobi just do their jobs. We don't expect to be called heroes for a little thing like that."

"A hero is more like a job title," Shoto said. "But it's funny you say that. Shine and Wally also thought it was weird to call it that. They think that the term 'hero' is better left as a title for someone who does unusually noble things, not who serves the public."

"It has lost its meaning," Dabi said.

"I suppose that's what Stain taught." Shoto was salty.

"Say what you will, but the guy had a point." Dabi frowned at him.

"Please don't start this now," Momo begged. "No need to argue."

"Who's Stain?" Naruto wondered.

"I have a feeling we don't want to know the answer to that," Shikamaru said. "Even if they'd tell us."

"But why have none of us heard of your families?" Ino asked.

"Have you heard of all the families of all the countries in the world?" Dabi shot back.

Ino shook her head.

"Then it's not that surprising, is it?" Dabi said.

Ino accepted that answer.

"So what do you all do?" Sakura asked. "Train, like us?"

"Mostly," Momo said. "We do internship--uh, extended training under pro-heroes. We're provisional heroes right now. We're only in our second year. Shine said this mission would probably be beneficial to us, though it might not make our fighting skills greater, but we're sorely lacking in some understanding of how people think. She thinks we're a little too sheltered at our school."

"After that visit to that area, I think she's right," Shoto said. "We don't really know what's out here."

"I fully agree with that," Dabi said, flatly. "You little snowflakes aren't ready for the real world. But this experience has been enlightening for sure."

The ninjas weren't sure that was a compliment.

"And instead of fighting people, you just...do things like what you did?" Sakura asked. "That seems like a high level just for rookies."

"Perhaps it is. I really just follow Shine's lead," Momo said. "You'd have to ask her. She's always so sure about her beliefs. At first they seemed strange to me, but over time they began to make sense. It felt like I was missing something before in my life, and I finally know what it was."

They looked at her oddly.

"For me, it was a little different," Shoto said. "I came to think of it as something that must be true, because it makes people different from before. And it helps me to understand why I never felt satisfied with the status quo. But I also needed something to build my confidence on, and I'm not convinced that just the ideal of heroism was enough. People have been worried about that a lot, and we weren't sure whether being a hero is the moral high ground as much as it used to be. We need something bigger than that to guide us. One human's ideology is not worth any more than another without something to back it up--that's what I realized. And, our teachers are not like other people."

"How so?" Shikamaru was skeptical. "Other than being odd and kind of snarky."

"Oh, I know that's how she seems at first," Momo said. "But truly, once you get to know her, you would not meet a kinder person who would do more for people while asking for nothing in return. She's saved our lives many times and been there for us when we're upset. Her insight is usually so profound also--it's like she can read what's in my heart at times. And her partner is the nicest person you'll ever meet, always ready to do anything to help anyone if they need it or to give them an encouraging word. I always know that both of them will treat me with kindness and compassion if I have a problem."

"Despite how severe she seems at first," Shoto said, "Shine never criticizes anyone unfairly. I've grown to respect her advice more, and she treats me like I can think. I find that's not that common with other adults. They don't want us to think for ourselves, but she encourages it."

"In your case that's dangerous," Dabi said. "You don't like to follow orders."

"And you should talk?" Shoto asked.

"Hey, I like that Shine has no respect for the pricks who run that stupid school," Dabi said. 

"I wouldn't say no respect. She likes Mr. Aizawa," Momo said.

"Well, he's all right compared to the others, if a pain the a--," Dabi said. "But at least he's not a phony. The rest of them though, ugh. She never cares about people's fame, though, and I appreciate that. The other thing that I liked about her, though, was that she took those of us that most people consider to be refuse seriously. She gave us in the LOV a fair chance, and I'll admit, so did her partner. They don't see us as trash, though we know we are trash to the rest of the world."

Naruto perked up his head.

"She'll be hard on you at first," Momo addressed the ninja. "To see what you're made of, but if you're down, you can be sure she would never kick you further. She stands up for people if they need it."

Temari recalled that Shine had defended her several times since they arrived, though Temari had attacked them twice.

"I believe you." Gaara seemed to agree. "You all took pity on me, and you don't even know me. That's unheard of, almost. Though, I suppose, Naruto also does that."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, it's not that big a thing to feel a little sorry for someone."

The other ninjas didn't seem to agree.

In fact, Momo had noticed very little sympathy of any kind being exchanged between them. How could they not have such a basic emotion?

Or perhaps...it was that their culture did not encourage it. Maybe they hid their sympathy.

"You all think highly of her," Ino noted. "I guess it's normal to respect your sensei."

"I suppose it is," Momo agreed, glad there was something they had in common finally.

"What did I miss?" Shine startled them by reappearing with Hinata.

She did have coffee.

"Is that any good?" Dabi asked.

"Judge for yourself."  Shine handed him a cup of it. "You drink it black, right?"

"Sure, like my soul," Dabi said.

Shine threw a napkin on him. "As Camie would say, that joke is so over."

"My mom says that coffee stunts your growth," Shikamaru said. "She doesn't allow me to drink it."

"Well, I don't know if that's true," Shine said. "But it is true that my sister, who is a non-coffee drinker, grew a whole inch taller than me, and I've been drinking it since I was Momo and Shoto's age."

"And you're ginormous," Dabi said. 

"Only to you, shorty." Shine shrugged carelessly.

Shine was already much taller than most of the women in the village, which had not escaped the girls' attention. And taller than at least half the men.

[The reason I always put this joke in is because of the anime "Lovely Complex", which is great, but the tall girl, Risa, in that show is 5'7". Half the women in my family are either that tall or taller, and she's called a giantess!]

"We were telling them a bit about ourselves," Momo said. "You should tell them about you."

"I'm interested to hear that," Temari said, intently. "You're not from their same school, right?"

"I do work there, now," Shine said. "It was nice of them to take me on--that, and they wanted to control me, I have no doubt, but we make do." She shrugged.

Saying that so openly about your boss shocked the ninja, but they were also surprised that the heroes didn't bat an eyelash. They were used to Shine making these statements, and it had stopped registering as surprising to them.

Dabi just thought it was true and nodded in agreement.

"Well, I can't go into my life too much," Shine said. Without totally losing you all, she added mentally. "But I come from a small family. Tight knit. My sisters and I have been taught together, at home, for most of it, and now we live apart from our parents, and I and my partner have been together for about a year or two, give or take. My partner's name is Wally. He's also my boyfriend. I used to work alone before that, and it's so much easier to work with a partner. This is my first mission with trainees." She nodded at the other three. "So far I'm not sure how I'm doing."

"I think you're doing fine," Shoto said.

"How could you be doing better?" Momo said. 

"We're still alive," Dabi said. "I won't flatter you by saying you're a brilliant leader or anything, but what else would you expect for what we've been doing?"

"Actually, that is a good point, Touya," Shine nodded. "I guess I could be doing worse, and how much better can I do? We're not in mortal peril--that's something. It's been difficult to work without my partner, however."

"So why did you leave him?" Sakura asked her.

"Boss said to," Shine said. "I'm sure all of you can understand that. I think perhaps because it's more normal for one of your older fighters to travel with their trainees, isn't it?"

They nodded.

"That makes sense," Ino admitted. "So your village also does assignments."

"I guess you could say that in a very vague sense," Shine said. "I like to think we have a little more freedom with the decisions than most people, but we have our rules and our orders. It's an interesting job, very dangerous at times but very rewarding. When I'm not working, I'm usually reading, writing, or doing events with my community of faith or my family. Not a very interesting life."

"If you left out all the cool parts," Dabi said.

"Ah, you'd never be intrigued with me if you saw me at home." Shine waved him off with a smile. "I'm far too tame. Sometimes this job is like having two lives."

"Shine, you might do dumb stuff at home, but you can't convince me you're ever 'tame'," Dabi said.

"Tamer," Shine amended.

Against their will, some of them were starting to find her charming, in an odd way. Her easy way of talking to her subordinates and valuing their opinions, was not one every Jonin would have had, and usually subordinates preferred the ones who did. She was odd but interesting.

And the other three were growing on them, though Dabi was still the most difficult to accept.

Somehow there was something about them that felt a lot more open than Shinobi from other villages would have been, and far less guarded, and although most of the Leaf thought that was dumb on their part, it was hard to feel they were a threat.

But they did not like to be convinced so easily either. So they did not voice these thoughts.

"I should get home," Hinata said, regretfully. She knew if she was not home on time, on a non-mission night, her father would scold her. If he noticed at all, that was.

"Come find us early tomorrow," Shine told her. "We'll speak to Neji then."

She nodded and left.

"Well, my mother will be cross if I don't get home also," Shikamaru said.

"Hah," Temari said. "Are you also a mama's boy?"

"You haven't met my mother," Shikamaru said.

"I'd think it's more normal for a mother to want her child to be home after dark than to be okay with him being out at this time of night," Shine said. "Unless this village is much safer than where I live."

It was not.

"If we see you tomorrow," Naruto said, also getting up, "you should meet Choji. He'll be sore if he misses all of this excitement."

"Was that the fat one?" Dabi asked.

"Don't use that word," Ino warned.

"He'll punch you," Naruto said.

"He was the one who was hurt," Momo said.

"Yeah, but he's better now," Ino said. "He'd be pretty mad if we left him out of all this."

"Sure, bring him," Shine said carelessly. "As long as he can keep a secret."

"Choji can keep a secret," Shikamaru said.

It was more likely that Choji would never tell anyone anything, actually.

Tenten also needed to leave, in fact. Only Naruto had no curfew. Because he had no parents.

But before things got too awkward, Iruka Sensei appeared.

"Naruto, shouldn't you be at home?" he said.

"Eh? Oh, don't be like that," Naruto whined at him, but affectionately.

"Who is this?" Shine said.

"Eh? Oh, this is Iruka Sensei," Naruto explained. "He was my sensei before I became a Genin."

Iruka bowed to them.

Shine scanned him with her eyes and decided he had a kindly expression.

"Are you and Naruto close?" she asked.

"He saved my life," Naruto supplied. 

"I try to check in on him," Iruka said, a little warily. "Who are you?"

"Relax." Temari held out a hand. "They're with us. Helping us on our mission to help Leaf."

Irakua must have heard of that. "Leaf thanks you for your gracious help." He bowed again.

"You guys are always so polite," Shine said to Momo.

"Shouldn't we be?" Momo said.

"Oh, no, it's one of the few things about your culture I like," Shine said. "No offense."

"I'm not sure if that was offensive or not," Momo said. "I hear Americans are very rude."

"Well, the French are worse, I'm told, but I can't say for sure either way. In America, it depends on where you live. The Midwest people are quite polite. But I might add, that politeness is determined by where you live. For where I live, I'm a very polite person usually, but we're more open and more likely to mess with people in my state." Shine shrugged. "I wouldn't mind having some more standards though, but I don't think the bowing thing would catch on. We're too against monarchy and ceremony in America."

"That's not so bad," Dabi said. "I hate ceremony."

Iruka gave them a weird look.

"They're from a distant village," Temari supplied. "Very different customs. But they're allies of the Hidden Sand."

Well, that was kind of the truth.

"I see," Iruka said.

"You should probably go," Shine said to Naruto.

"I should too," Sakura said, yawning. But she seem sad. "I can't believe Sasuke..."

"Don't worry, Sakura. I will find him again," Naruto promised her at once. "I swear it. He's not too far away yet. Once I'm fully recovered, I'll go after him. Maybe Pervy Sage will even help. He paid me a visit earlier today."

"Pervy Sage?" Shine asked.

"Jiraiya-Sama," Sakura said. "One of the Legendary Sannin. Naruto always calls him that, though it's not respectful."

"He doesn't care," Naruto said.

That was not really true.

"Why do you call him that?" Shine asked, afraid to know the answer.

"Oh, because he likes to peep at naked women,"  Naruto said. "I've even used my sexy jutsu on him!"

Sakura turned pink. "Not that gross jutsu, Naruto!"

"I don't want to know what that is." Momo covered her ears.

"What is it?" Shoto, who had no real idea what sexy meant, being his oddly sheltered self, but thought it had something to do with how female heroes dressed, wanted to now.

"I'll show you," Naruto said.

"Naruto, don't--" Iruka began, but it was too late.

Naruto did the jutsu.

Dabi almost choked on his coffee and closed his eyes at once.

Shoto did also.

Momo blinked and then said, "Stop, don't do that! Stop it right now!"

Shine was dumbstruck for a second and then took her sword and hit one of the clones so that it disappeared.

Sakura and Iruka didn't seem that surprised, and though Kankuro was taken off guard, he and Gaara also didn't seem that troubled.

Temari looked a little disgusted. "Do you really use that on a Sage?" 

"Did it work?" Shine asked faintly.

"Sure it did," Naruto said.

Shine looked ready to be sick. "Naruto, do not ever do that in front of me ever again."

"What? Why not?" Naruto said. "Because you're a girl?"

"Exactly," Shine said. "And the next time you do that in front of me, this sword is going to hit you in the head."

She held it up.

"I don't think they appreciate your jutsu," Iruka said, uneasily. "It's still shocking."

"What?" Naruto didn't seem to see the problem.

"Just go home, Naruto," Sakura said. "I'll walk you there."

She really just didn't want to be alone at the moment but also wanted to get Naruto and her out of there.

Once they left, Iruka really wanted to make some kind of apology. 

"He doesn't know any better," he told Shine. "Don't think little of him. That jutsu does work surprisingly well on some people." 

"And have you told him why that's not appropriate to do?" Shine asked.

"Don't you think you're making it out to be a bigger deal than it is?" Iruka said, confused. "It's just a little prank. A distraction jutsu."

"Where did he even get the idea for that?" Shine asked.

"I don't know. Naruto has spent a lot of time alone.He could have picked up some things from what other people in the village do." Iruka shrugged.

"I need to bleach my eyeballs," Dabi said.

"I really don't understand what the point of it was," Shoto said, uncertainly.

"It was something I never needed to see," Shine said.

[Just how I feel about it on the show. And how no one in the fandom or show seems to think that a 12-year old kid doing that in front of a grown man, and it working, was a sick form of perversion was beyond me.]

"If you are that squeamish," Temari said, "you won't like Genjutsu at all."

"If I'm understanding how they work correctly, does anyone actually like them?" Shine asked.

"Well, no," she admitted. "But using them is a valued skill."

"Why do I have a feeling that it would take weeks here to learn anything about this place that is not dangerous?" Shine said.

"It would take longer if you're relying on Temari to teach you," Kankuro said.

Temari rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

Back at the Kage house living quarters, Momo thought they would just go to bed, but to her surprise, Shoto and Dabi both were in a mood.

She'd thought that they'd been normal during dinner, but maybe it had just been easier for them to pretend while in front of strangers, because now they seemed upset.

"Are you two okay?" she asked, while Shine was in the bathroom taking a shower.

"No," Shoto said. "Aren't you still thinking about Sasuke?"

"I...I am concerned about him," Momo said. "But Shine is in charge, and I'm sure she knows best."

"You know that's just the kind of thing she'd tell us not to believe," Dabi said. "She expects us to think for ourselves only when it's not questioning her."

He was being quite unfair here. But he'd been stewing on this for hours, and despite their praise of her earlier, he still had been turning it over in the back of his mind--until he'd worked himself up into too angry a temper to think anything was true. 

"That is unjust." Momo could not allow this. "She was upset also, I'm sure of it, but we agreed to do as she said, you're right. If we were acting on our own, maybe, but we're not. We've never done this before. This is a strange world. How can we think of acting on our own? I hope you're not really saying that she's wrong."

"What I don't get--" Shoto said tightly, as if Momo had not spoken, "--is how she can let Sasuke go. She could have followed him with her Sight, and we could have gone with her. Sasuke is still a kid. I know he's a very unpleasant one, but letting him do this is irresponsible on our part. As heroes, we would never leave any child in the hands of someone like Orochimaru. It's like Eri all over again."

"Is the situation the same? Eri did not choose to be captured," Momo said. "Isn't it true that if you dragged him back here, he'd only leave again?"

"I think it's the mark that's influencing his thoughts," Shoto said. "I read more of Camie and Bakugo's note earlier. They mentioned that Orochimaru's curse marks make people angrier, or they feed off their anger and turn it to the dark side. It's not his own power. Actually he got it from some mentally ill kid who's got an ability that plagues him. It sounds like a kind of MPD. Sasuke may not be in his right mind."

"And after his brother hypnotized him, it wouldn't be better," Dabi said. "I don't think he's making really informed choices right now. You don't really think any normal kid would do what he's doing?"

"It's concerning to hear that about him," Momo said. "But I don't know if he's completely unaware of what he's doing."

"What if the reason he did not care was because of the curse, though?" Shoto said. "We could remove it and see if it frees his mind."

"He didn't agree to it," Momo said. "What if it killed him?"

She didn't think she was changing their minds at all.

"It didn't kill Gaara," Dabi said. "Shine herself said that it was harder than a curse mark. Her giving up on this is what I don't understand. She didn't give up on me, and I was crazier than Sasuke."

"Maybe she saw something in you that she didn't in him," Momo said. "I admit, even I feel like you're not the same kind of person."

"We're pretty similar," Dabi said. "I may not be the nicest person in the world, but I would save him some of the same hell I want through. He's only a little younger than I was when I started down that path, too. I know what it's like to grow up that way. She's going to ignore all that happened to him. It's more like my parents than it's like Shine."

"I... You're putting some kind of expectations on Shine that are not fair," Momo protested. "I've never known her to neglect anyone if she can help them. She tried."

"She tried for less than one day," Shoto said. "Maybe she didn't like Sasuke, maybe he said no, but there are times not to take no for an answer. I don't see how we can allow this. It's too unjust. It's...messed up. It's like standing by and allowing someone to become corrupted and maybe murdered. His brother will probably kill him."

"Yeah, Princess, how can you be okay with that? Aren't you heroes supposed to be noble or something?" Dabi said.

"I'm not okay with it, but short of forcing him to come back, what can we do?" Momo said. "And forcing him might have repercussions of its own. If we look at the bigger picture, who knows? Remember that we're strangers in this world. We don't know all the circumstances, or even all that will happen. we just have guesses. We can't be sure if it will play out how Camie says. That was for a show. The show is not reality for this world, it's just a picture of it. I recall Shine's explanation, don't you?"

"Yeah, but so far it's a very close picture," Dabi said. "I have no reason to think it won't happen that way if we don't do anything. We're the ones sent here to change it. This world is a hot mess, and the people here are totally clueless. No one else is going to step up if we don't. We have the chance to do something, and you and Shine want to let it alone because you think it's overstepping? So what? I'm pretty sure it's in the book to try to stop things like this."

"But they are not always stopped..." Momo said. "Bad things do happen sometimes. You're not God, Dabi."

Dabi looked annoyed at that.

But he went silent.

"Well," Shoto said, "there's no point arguing about it. We don't agree, but I don't want to fight. I just don't like it... We should rest."

Momo saw he was done talking about it, and with Shoto, that meant he was done period. So it would be useless to try to talk anymore till he'd calmed down.

She sighed and went to her side of the apartment.

She didn't tell Shine about the fight because she didn't want to give Shine a reason to have a problem with either of the boys, until they'd had time to think it over. She was sure they'd realize that they were being unfair, once they'd had some space. They were just keyed up now.

But it was uncomfortable to think about it, and she spent a pretty restless night.

* * *

https://youtu.be/rKNwx82kPjY

["Hello My Old Heart"--The Oh Hellos]

Hinata did come and get them bright and early the next morning.

So early, in fact, she woke all of them up.

Temari had not expected to sleep that long. Usually Gaara's restless movements woke her up far sooner; you had to be prepared to duck with the Shukaku around.

However, Gaara had slept pretty much through the night.

"Wow, we slept in," Kankuro said aloud, rubbing his eyes.

"Wow, you look different without that makeup on," Dabi said.

"It's face paint, you jackass," Kankuro fired back. He'd been hoping to get it on before Dabi and Shoto woke up, but now it was too late.

"He really does look more like Gaara," Shoto said, also tired.

Gaara sat up, sleepily. "I guess I fell asleep for real."

"Yeah, weird, huh?" Temari said.

Then she realized that the reason for that was the Sand Raccoon was gone.

"Oh my gosh, you actually slept," she said. "How do you feel?"

"Good, I guess," Gaara said, as if checking himself. "A little strange."

"Your circadian rhythms are all messed up probably, from not sleeping," Shoto said. He knew all about this from Endeavor's hounding him to take proper physical care of himself. "It'll take a few weeks to get used to sleeping normally, but you'll feel a lot sharper then."

"I guess we'll get used to it," Kankuro said. "Temari, why did you come in here anyway?"

"Because Hyuga is outside," Temari said. "She took early in the morning very seriously. I guess she's determined to go through with this."

Everyone got dressed and ready, though sluggishly, and went into the hallway.

Momo and Shine had hurried to get up also.

They'd dressed down a little too, more like exercise casual t-shirts and pants and sandals. Though Momo couldn't bear to make ones as ugly as the big blue-ish ones, so she made more normal sandals, but it would pass a bit more easily.

Hinata herself was dressed in the same clothes as before, a light colored hoodie and pants. And she looked just as nervous.

"I...uh...brought someone else," she said.

"Who?" Temari was wary at once.

But to their astonishment, a girl much younger than Hinata (with hair that was more brown than hers and with the same silver, saucer-shaped eyes) dropped down from hanging on the ceiling.

Despite being at least 3 years her junior, she had a much bolder way of moving than Hinata did, and stuck her chin out at them.

"Who is this?" Kankuro asked. "Your sister?"

"My sister, Hanabi," Hinata said.

Hanabi bowed.

"Your sister is named after fireworks?" Dabi said. "Sounds like Bakugo's cousin."

Since no one knew that was a person, they thought he was making a word play joke. [Bakugo literally means explosion, for those who don't look up the names.]

"I...uh...hope it's no extra trouble," Hinata said in a timid voice. "She caught me going out and wanted to know what was going on."

"And you told her the truth?" Dabi questioned.

"I thought--it might be useful," Hinata said. "To have someone else who would know what we're doing, in case there's any trouble."

"Usually you're all so secretive. I'm surprised you would include her," Shine remarked.

"I'm right here," Hanabi spoke up. "I can keep a secret. I'm skilled with the Byakugan. And Neji is my cousin too. If something happens to him, I want to know about it."

She tilted her head. "Or if something happens to Hinata."

"Are you even over 10 years old?" Dabi asked.

Hanabi frowned at him.

"She's talented," Hinata explained. "She'll be the new head of the clan..."

Suddenly, the inclusion of Hanabi made more sense.

The new Head... So some day, Hanabi might be the one who decided if the curse mark practice was worth continuing. Or at least, she would have more  sway than Hinata in deciding it. 

If this worked...

"She can join us as long as she's okay with risking getting heat for it later," Shine said.

Hanabi nodded.

"We're asking kids that," Dabi said.

"Sometimes there's no one else to ask," Shine said. "Let's go."