[OP: "Cold"--The Oh Hellos]

When they all finally left the bookstore, it had been so long that Karui and Omoi finally rejoined them.

Sai still wanted to pick up more paper, so they made another stop there.

"Should have just waited for them," Omoi said, "not walked the same way twice."

"You didn't have to do it," Karui grumbled.

Mabui was almost bored by now. She already missed her office work.

She hoped the probation didn't get extended. Another week and a half of this already sounded too long.

"So are they going to pass?" Omoi asked her. "You watched them all day?"

"So far I see no signs of hostility," Mabui said carefully. "But anything other than that is classified."

"The Village keeps talking about them," Karui said. "Not that many people even saw them, so they think we know everything about them."

"I hope you're being discreet," Mabui said.

"We're not idiots," Omoi said. "I just wish we could speed this up. And what are they going to do if they know they're being watched? I just don't get the plan."

"If Uchiha wanted to hurt you, he could do it either way," Mabui pointed out. "Does he not seem exactly like the reports?"

"If you mean he doesn't seem much like he did in the War, from a distance, then I don't know," Karui said. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't our sources say he was the type to act alone or with only a small team, like when they attacked Lord Bee?" Mabui said. "Not to be..." She wanted to say "normal", but that didn't sound right.

"The Akatsuki were a big team like this, all together," Omoi said. "I don't really see it as that out of character. And those crazy people who work with him seem pretty nuts still."

"You're not already easing up on them, are you?" Karui asked suspiciously. "After just a few days? Aren't you supposed to be smart?"

"No, I'm not saying that," Mabui said. "But normally people who are planning to act against you are more...cautious. And so far they don't seem to be that cautious...most of them."

"They could just be dumb," Omoi said.

"They're not dumb." Mabui was sure of that already.

"Then it's a trick, I bet," Karui said. "No one is that nice, for one thing. After the way we treated them like criminals, they wouldn't be nice to us without it having another motive. They think they'll get our guard down and then they'll attack us."

"Yeah, which could lead to starting a war, you know," Omoi said. "Getting on the bad side of someone you can't kill is never a good idea."

"You were quick enough to demand revenge then." Mabui was never going to understand Bee's team.

Or Bee himself.

"Easy for you to say," Karui said. "They didn't do anything to you... Some of them even helped you for no reason at all. But they're okay with hiring people who attacked us unprovoked. That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, maybe they saved one of us to make up for it. Life for a life, right?" Omoi said.

"Killdeer Bee's life is worth more than an assistant's," Karui said.

What she said was how the Village would think--and how most people did.

Mabui agreed with it, even.

It still wasn't nice to hear, but she knew her logic was reasonable.

[I'm sure most of you are not liking Karui so far...which I get. But keep in mind this is how ninja are taught to think. Bee is more powerful and higher ranking than Mabui, therefore he's more valuable, by their standards. I'm portraying the characters more true to how the ninja think because I don't sugarcoat this stuff, even if it means people won't like them right off the bat.]

"When you put it that way, it sounds harsh," Omoi acknowledged. "But it's true, at least strategically speaking. Unless they think differently about how useful a Kage's assistant is...or hey, it could be your family jutsu. Have they asked about that?"

"No." Mabui frowned. "What would that do for them?"

"It's useful for secret stuff, isn't it?" Omoi said. "That could make sense...yes... What could they be plotting?"

Omoi was known for being paranoid and hyperbolic when he was pessimistic, so his ideas weren't worth much, but, unfortunately, he had a slight point.

There were uses for Mabui's talents...if espionage and sabotage were your goals instead of direct assault.

But she thought of what Shine had said to her earlier. It was strange enough to admit it, but anyone who would admit to wanting you to like them for security reasons would never expect you to sabotage your own Village for them, would they? It didn't make sense...

* * *

Ay didn't think it made sense either when she submitted her daily report later in the evening.

"She said that?" he said. "And that was it? No requests?"

"Sir, the only request so far is that I not speak badly of her incorrigible in-subordinates," Mabui said. "Which I found hardly suspect, though, given their behavior, a trifle naive."

"Hmrf, I'm assuming you mean that redheaded upstart," Ay said. "The one with the smug face."

"If you mean the one they call Dabi, that is the one person thus far who's been both rude and insulting to me every single time I'm around them," Mabui said. "The others ignore me or seem not to care."

"So everyone but him isn't suspicious or is pretending not to be?" Ay said. "Why?"

"It's possible they think only one person acting that way will be more of a distraction and less of an alarm to us," Mabui reasoned. "But Likstar did apologize to me for his actions."

"To make you less wary," Ay said. "That's conniving. I don't like that woman already."

Mabui almost smiled. "I thought you disliked her on the first day, sir."

"I didn't like her in the War," Ay corrected. "I like her less and less now. And Lord Gaara is just allowing her to do whatever she pleases. This is what comes of young, spoiled children becoming Kages. I knew he was not old enough to understand authority."

"Even so, Lord Ay, none of this is illegal," Mabui pointed out. "To punish them for it would be inciting them to retaliate."

"I know that!" Ay boomed.

She was silent.

Ay didn't really mean to act angry. It was his way to be loud, and she really almost didn't notice it now, but she knew to just let him think.

"Maybe leaving them alone in that house is too easy," Ay said. "We'll never know how they'll interact with the Village if they don't get around it more... Maybe you should show them around--nowhere important, though."

"That's a given, sir, but how do we know what's important then?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to be finding out?" Ay said. 

Mabui hesitated. "Sir...I don't know if this is out of line, but are you hoping I find something incriminating, or hoping that I don't?"

Ay was quiet way too long for him.

Finally, he said, "You know how reluctant we were to open the Village up to visitors, even under the circumstances of the war."

She nodded.

"If it doesn't work, the people will lose all respect for my leadership," Ay said. "And more importantly, the Village security will be compromised. If that's going to happen, then yes, I hope you find something incriminating on them as soon as possible to minimize the damage and give us a valid reason to submit to the Kage Council without looking like we're uncooperative... The Village can't afford to be attacked by all of them right now. If we were as strong as we were before the war, I wouldn't have done this."

"I understand that, sir," Mabui said. "But it seems that it puts our reputation in danger also if they really are sincere."

"Even if Gaara is sincere," Ay said, "he's hanging out in questionable company, and that's no good sign. That's his path to peace? I don't trust that for a second. There is no peace with people like those brats."

"There's no chance at all they are sincere also?" Mabui ventured, though she wasn't sure she should.

"Not much of one," Ay said. "Even if they were, the world will always see them the same way. The world never really changes its mind--and it won't about Cloud, either. We will always be the outsiders to the other Villages even if we become a part of the peace alliance. And I intend to make sure we're ready for a threat."

He frowned. "As you know, I've told the research team to make prototypes of the weapons they had on file...better late than never. That is not something I want this Team Zoo, or whatever their name is, to know about."

"I understand." Mabui nodded.

"Your job is keeping them from learning anything we don't want them to learn," Ay said. "To make sure they only see the side of this Village we want the world to see. That is why I allowed them to come here. Like the moon, there is one side the world must know of this Village, and one side that should be kept in darkness."

"That is a gamble, sir, if you forgive me for saying it, when they are here among us," Mabui said. "And I cannot be everywhere at once."

"The whole Village will not trust them," Ay said. "It's true you can't be everywhere at once, but, you can distract them. So do it."

"I will do it," Mabui said. "I'm not trying to shirk my responsibility. I just question if I can successfully do this. They already suspect me."

"There is some reason they are interested in you," Ay said. "That's the important part. Once you find out what it is, we can know how to act. Of course, any danger you seem to be in, you will let us know. I don't intend to risk lives on this if we can avoid it...but it is your duty to serve your Village, even if it's risky."

"I know that, but my loyalty was already called into question--"

"That doesn't matter!" Ay thundered, though his anger was more at the idea than at her specifically. "Those are just rumors. Pay no attention to rumors. Rumors do not matter."

Mabui nodded.

She left the meeting without feeling as if she'd accomplished much, however.

Ay knew of the rumors around her, but she had never spoken to him of any of the incidents surrounding them. She didn't think it was worth talking about...and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it either.

She was just going to do her job. That was the only thing to do.

But he couldn't have suspected how difficult it actually was, without knowing the full circumstances.

As further proof of this, when she got home late that evening, she found a sign stuck to her door that read: "Cowardice loves company."

The double meaning didn't escape her notice when she tore it down and threw it into her stove.

The sooner she got information on the team, the better, she thought.

[I suppose by now most people have figured out what is going on with her in the Village. I wonder how long it will take for the team to figure it out.

Who thinks she should have just told Ay what was going on? Does this count as workplace harassment?]

* * *

Day 88:

"A Village tour?" Wally said, when Mabui put the idea to them the next morning. "I guess we should take one. I mean, we always have before. Though you guys have seen a bookstore and a food store and a paper store already, so..."

"It was a weapons store," Sai said.

"I can't believe you went there without me," Tenten said. "If I'd known you were doing something interesting instead of lame books, I would have gone."

"Room for spontaneity is one of our strong points," Shine said. "You should have come if you thought the chance was there."

"And why the sudden suggestion?" Dabi spoke up. "Ay doesn't think we're getting ourselves a reputation fast enough?"

Mabui was surprised by how close that was to the truth...even though, from his tone, it might have been sarcasm.

Her reaction didn't escape his notice, but most of the team didn't pay that close attention to her.

Shine and Wally only shrugged. "It doesn't sound like a bad idea," Shine said. "So this would be an end to end tour, not just one section?"

"I suppose... It's not as if I've done it before. We don't tour," Mabui said. "But, if you're going to be here, you should know where things are."

"Like the jail," Dabi said.

"Ha," Suigetsu laughed. "Karin could sniff that out by herself."

Karin actually smiled, though whether it was a compliment or not was unclear.

"Do you want all of us to go this time?" Gaara asked.

"You're the Kazekage," Mabui said.

Temari frowned, then she said to Kankuro and Shikamaru, "Do you buy for a second that they really want us to know more of their vulnerable points?"

"Do you buy for a second that she intends to show us anything like that?" Shikamaru said. "There's a way to tour a Village stragetically."

"I see we're on the same page," Temari said.

"We should be. That's what Tsunade told me to do with you when you visited Leaf," Shikamaru said.

Pause.

"You think I didn't know that?" Temari said. "I can't believe you admitted it though."

"I always figured that, as early as you get up, it didn't actually work anyway," Shikamaru said. "But it seemed rude to ask."

"Temari does get up with the sun," Kankuro said. "But then, in Sand, that's when it's not too hot to work. 'Course, I work in the basement, so I can get up in the middle of the day if I want."

"Not that you should," Temari said. 

"If we say no, does it look suspicious?" Shikamaru wondered. "I really don't care about seeing this Village. They might just throw rocks at us."

"I think we all have to go," Kankuro said.

That was the case. Gaara thought it was best they all acted united if they were going to walk around the entire Village today.

Really, it being the 4th day of their stay, this was late coming.

Mabui still felt she wasn't enough to really supervise them and was almost glad when Karui and Omoi appeared yet again. Apparently, they still had nothing better to do with their time--or were avoiding selling tickets for Bee by claiming they were doing this, again.

"Okay, but if we find a beauty parlor, I have to make an appointment," Camie said.

"Is that a responsible use of the budget?" Choji asked.

"Beauty is very important," Camie said. "Especially when all the girls here are so pretty. I can't let myself slack off here." She tossed her sandy hair.

"Like you have anything to worry about," Ino said. "You've got the whole package."

"So do you," Camie said.

"Stop bragging about it." Sakura frowned. "I hate it when girls do that."

"Lol, you're just jealous," Camie said.

Sakura glared at her. "What are you saying?"

"That you're insecure." Camie didn't bat an eyelash.

"Move it along," Bakugo said, "extras."

"Did you just call me an extra?" Camie turned to him, with a warning look.

"Of course not," Bakugo said. "I said you're extra."

"Oh, well, that's okay then," Camie said.

"Those are...the same thing," Sakura said blankly.

"No, no, extras are people who are paid way less in movies and are barely on screen," Camie said. "Being extra means you're over the top in a cool way."

"It can be in a bad way too," Shoto said. "Mina said I was 'extra' about training and should loosen up."

"Your dedication is admirable," Momo said. "But I think Mina likes to have fun more than to study."

"She's such a natural, though," Camie said. "She doesn't even need to study that much. Maybe that's why Kirishima likes her."

"Weird Hair just thinks she's tough," Bakugo said. "Which she is...in a stupid way."

"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said about her," Camie said.

"If they start dating, I can't talk as much trash, because apparently it's not 'manly' to insult someone else's girlfriend," Bakugo said.

"That's so nice that you actually want to respect Kirishima's friendship," Momo said. Then she frowned. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Sorry."

"Savage by accident again, that should be your tagline," Camie said.

"Whatever, Ponytail. It's better than being sickeningly sweet," Bakugo said.

"Translation: I think he prefers if you roast him," Shoto said. "I wouldn't worry about it. I say rude things to Bakugo all the time."

"So you do know those things are rude," Bakugo said. "I knew you were just faking being dense as a freaking atom, you icy hot b-----d."

"Whoa, whoa, isn't that a little too far?" Ino said.

"I don't really care," Shoto said. "I've never really cared what he calls me."

"Then can I call you Prince Zuko?" Camie said.

"No," Shoto said.

"'Kay, I'mma call you that now," Camie said.

Sasuke actually choked on a laugh.

They cast him a strange look, but then Camie grinned. "Right? It fits."

"I think he laughed because you just ignored what Todoroki wanted," Sakura said in a bored voice. "But you ignore what everyone wants."

"True, true." Camie nodded like that wasn't even a criticism. 

"Well, you can't talk, Sakura," Ino pointed out.

"Ino, just shut up," Sakura said.

Ino frowned at her.

"Don't take that from her," Bakugo said. "Fight back. Frick, Flower Girl, grow a backbone."

"What if I don't want to be that mean?" Ino said. 

"Just a little mean," Shoto said. "Sometimes you are a little mean to Sakura...but then, she does bring it on herself."

"Hey!" Sakura cried.

"I'm trying not to be mean," Ino said. "But sometimes it still slips out. Old habits... Sorry, Sakura."

"Oh, don't apologize for it. That just makes it weirder." Sakura was disgusted. "I swear, ever since you became friends with Camie, you act like a different person."

"Actually, she was nice to you before that," Camie said. "You just didn't appreciate it."

"I think you're just jealous, anyway," Shoto mused. "Because Ino and Camie are closer now than you and Ino are, but that was your own choice. Why are you mad at her?"

"Shut up," Sakura said.

Shoto frowned.

Sakura stiffened. He still scared her.

"That's enough," Momo said. "Leave her alone."

"I guess you think other people are just stepping stones on the path to your victory," Bakugo said to Sakura.

"Hey--" she began.

"I can respect that," Bakugo added.

Sakura paused, confused.

"'Course, it's stupid," Bakugo said. "Now. You have to at least make some allies just in case people jump you when your guard is down."

"I have a team," Sakura said.

"Your team are the most uncooperative people in the whole Leaf Village," Bakugo said. "And that's counting when Sasuke even bothers to be on it. Sai's the only one who can even do his job, and he's kind of a wimp."

"Is that a compliment or not?" Sai wondered.

"I think all of his remarks are 50-50 compliments and insults," Ino said.

"Are you all coming or what?" Karui called to them impatiently. "The Village isn't that small, you know. It's going to take all day to see it."

"Are we going to see any food places?" Choji asked hopefully.

"Maybe at lunch time..." Omoi said.

Mabui had her clipboard up again. "I suppose I could pencil in a lunch break."

"Did you not before?" Wally was shocked. "When are you gonna eat?"

"I usually eat while I work," Mabui said.

"Sweetheart," Shine said, "I begin to think this being assigned to us full time was a much needed vacation for you."

"I don't find that amusing," Mabui said. "I work the way I do out of necessity."

"If you work that much, how are they not getting backed up without you in the office?" Wally asked.

"I prefer not to think about it," Mabui muttered.

Actually, it wasn't going very well without her around, but Ay had not passed that on to her since he considered it to be not her problem.

[I think we all know that one worker whom the whole business would fall apart without.]

Everyone was finally ready. It took a while with this many people, no matter how much Temari had grilled them on efficiency.

Eichi still wasn't used to getting ready quickly.

"I'm so sleepy," he sighed. "I stayed up way too long reading that comic last night."

"So was it good?" Hanabi asked.

"Actually pretty good." Eichi nodded. "I mean, it's interesting. The pictures make it more real, too. I see why people read manga."

"I guess I'll read it then," Hanabi said. "Science isn't really my thing, but you should try new stuff, right, Dabi?"

"Don't look at me," Dabi said. "Anime is too violent for them to let me have on my TV. Think it'll give me ideas."

"I just meant you're kind of narrow," Hanabi said. "Why don't you ever try anything different?"

"Well, when you get motion sick, that rules out a lot of activities," Dabi said. "And reading about those activities just pisses me off. So limited taste is a result."

"That's a stupid reason," Eichi said. "Just because you can't literally do those things doesn't mean you can't find out about them."

"Don't they make a pill for motion sickness anyway?" Hanabi said. "Didn't you use it before?"

"Relying on pills is stupid," Dabi said. "Life doesn't give you pills."

"Actually, considering that many things we make medicine from are part of the natural world, you could say that life does give you pills," Momo said.

"Good point," Ino agreed.

"Sounds like you're more scared to me," Suigetsu said. "You've got to learn to live a little, Dabi, or you'll end up Iike us--freaks of nature."

"I'm not a freak of nature!" Karin said.

"Fine, Jugo and I are freaks, and Karin is...whatever comes after that," Suigetsu said.

Karin smacked him.

"You really have a way with girls," Dabi said.

* * *

Somehow they finally got on their way.

At first it was nothing they hadn't seen before, but then they veered a bit more East, and the Village's ground area expanded a lot wider here. It was huge.

Much larger than Stone Village, Wally guessed, if they were talking square mileage. Stone had its homes closer together. The terrain of Cloud didn't really allow for this. They had blocks of homes, but then there would be rocks or space breaking them up and they'd move to the next.

The buildings that were high up were still mostly official ones, but there was an above-land shopping complex farther in.

This novelty interested Shine. She said it was like an air mall.

"So what's up there?" Tenten was hoping for something with more interesting weapons.

"Up there?" Mabui looked up like she wasn't that interested in the question. "More expensive clothing and appliances and entertainment, generally. Some restaurants."

"Oh, a sky restaurant. That's cool," Wally said. "Shine and I went to one of those."

"I thought you hated heights," Momo said to Shine.

"I do, but it was pretty cool. I didn't sit close to the edge," Shine said. "The view was good. We visited the Eiffel Tower too, and I was okay. Didn't take the stairs."

"I still think it's funny that someone who can face down a Tailed Beast without blinking is afraid of heights," Kankuro said.

"Two completely different kinds of danger," Shine said. "Living things have never scared me very much, but things that I can't interact with? Isn't that a little more difficult? I told you though, my job makes me more environmentally sensitive."

"I hope I don't get that," Wally said. "I think I'm starting to get a little more aware of the changes, but I've had to adapt so much to high speed, I can't think about heights and stuff Iike that."

"Maybe that was a blessing then. Maybe you're inoculated against that," Shine suggested.

"Heights are fine," Temari said. "Does it give you claustrophobia too?"

"Not as badly, but yeah, it can." Shine shrugged. "At least that's a little more predictable, but when you've been shoved in a cell as many times as I have, you get antsy around small rooms."

Karui and Mabui both gave her odd looks, but Omoi didn't seem to hear her.

"Just keep making us seem normal," Sakura muttered.

"For ninja, that's not really that unusual," Ino remarked.

"We passed that art museum again." Sai was making some notes. "I still wish I could go inside...but I suppose alone we can't."

"I don't know if we have time today, but maybe another day," Ino suggested.

"Why would you want to look at a bunch of art?" Sakura asked. "It's just someone else's pictures. Don't you prefer yours?"

"I've never actually really been able to compare," Sai said. "What if I prefer someone else's?" he got a strange look. "I might not like that...though I suppose one should improve one's craft."

"When the other art starts coming off the page, I think you can worry about that," Shikamaru said dryly.

"That's a good point." Sai brightened.

Ino giggled.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"What's that ahead of us?" Shine asked Mabui.

There was a much larger building on the ground. It had a small gate around it.

"That's our school for pre-Genin," Mabui replied.

This wasn't something Ay wouldn't want them to see, she figured, so she hoped they wouldn't ask to go in.

They would have if they hadn't suspected the answer would be no.

There were some kids outside tossing shuriken or using sham swords. They glanced up.

"Hmm, I feel as if they're judging me," Omoi said. 

"Dude, they just want a lollipop," Wally said.

Karui ignored the kids.

Mabui didn't seem to want to acknowledge it either. "We should keep moving," she said.

"Are they training with swords? Cool!" Hanabi was getting close to the gate. "I never get to train with something that big."

"Hanabi," Hinata called.

The kids peered at her.

"Leaf," one other said.

"Get out of here," said another.

"Terrorists!" said a third, and chucked a shuriken at her.

Thankfully, the ones they used weren't sharpened a lot, in case they missed.

Hanabi caught it in her fingers easily.

The kids gaped.

She frowned. "Hey, watch what you're doing."

"Oh, here we go," Dabi said. 

Hanabi threw the shuriken, and it hit the wall right next to one of the kids, who jumped.

"That's how you aim," Hanabi said. "If you're gonna throw stuff, at least do it right, you little--"

"Plebs?" Camie offered.

"Yeah, that," Hanabi said.

"Miss Hyuga, please." Mabui was not pleased. "That act of aggression--"

"Oh, sure, say something to her and not them," Dabi cut in, disgusted.

He grabbed Hanabi by her arm, but not that hard. "Let's go."

"I'm not scared of these little brats," she said.

"Not the point. The last thing you need is for them to notice you're here." Dabi dragged her away, which he could do easily enough.

Hinata took her other arm when she got near. "You shouldn't have gotten close," she said.

"I didn't think they'd be like that," Hanabi complained.

"I guess it's not too different from home," Eichi muttered.

Karui was staring at them.

"Wow," Omoi said. "That was kind of impressive."

"It's not that hard to throw those things," Hanabi said, tossing her hair.

"Not that," Omoi said. "Actually, I think you were a little off center."

"I was not!" Hanabi said.

"She wasn't," Sasuke confirmed.

Him saying it kind of freaked Omoi out, but he tried to act calm.

"I meant that I was surprised you didn't get angrier at them," he said. "Anyone else would have  started yelling if that happened to them. Do you not care that people think you're a terrorist?"

"Oh, that? That's nothing anymore," Hanabi said. "They're just kids, not a mob of angry shinobi."

She shrugged.

"They could be," Sakura said. "I mean...what exactly is stopping this from turning a mob on us?"

"Let's not trauma project," Shine said. "Their rudeness does not mean we need to be alarmed."

Mabui had her arms folded. "I would have said something to them, if you had left it alone," she said, almost defensively.

"Sure." Dabi didn't buy it.

"She did before..." Ino admitted.

"We can't exactly go around stopping everyone from talking." Karui shook her head. "Just stay out of it, Mabui. The Village will think what it likes. I'm sure those kids heard their parents talking about the Leaf."

"Out of curiosity," Wally said, "does anyone here like us? Or think we're here to help? you know...the whole reason we were invited? Or has that all been completely gone since we brought their enemies here?"

"What do you think?" Mabui said, with almost a bitter note in her voice.

"Isn't that the important part?" Omoi asked. "It's your enemies you have to worry about."

"Imagine if we said that about you," Shine said.

Omoi didn't seem to know how to answer that.

"Is there anything  more interesting in this freaking Village?" Bakugo changed the subject abruptly. "All we fricking see are stores and museums and s--t."

"Do you always use language like that?" Karui asked, with a disgusted frown.

"Frick off," Bakugo replied.

Karui glared at him.

"Can we eat now?" Choji asked. "All this walking is making me hungry."

"I'm too hot to eat." Momo fanned herself. "Why is it so much warmer here?"

"Oh, this is nothing," Omoi said. "A real heat wave would be worse... It's cold in the other Villages right now, huh?"

"Yeah, it's still snowing there." Hinata was hoping for them to forget the school, and this seemed like a safer subject.

"Snowing?" Karui said. "Like in the Land of Iron? Ugh." [That's where the Samurai live, if you don't remember.]

"It never snows here, right?" Shine asked.

"Never," Mabui said. "The climate doesn't support it... I've never even seen snow."

"You're not missing much," Shine said. "It gets old after one hour."

"How can my own fiance say something so wrong?" Wally said.

"Hon, you don't even like ice," Shine said.

"Totally different reasons than you," Wally said. "I can't run on ice and snow, but that doesn't mean they're not fun."

"It never snows where I live either," Shine told Mabui. "I love it here, weather-wise. It's so warm and the air is salty. It's relaxing."

"Hmm, I thought the stranger would hate our climate more," Omoi said. "That's what the others have been saying, that it's too difficult for the other Villages to handle and that's why they never try to invade us."

"The real reason is because you're so far away," Temari said, rather rudely, her brothers thought, since the subject was kind of delicate.

It was true that Cloud, for being a main Village, was much, much farther away from all the mainland ones than many of the small villages were, and that had always discouraged shinobi from trying got sneak into it. You had to cross so much enemy territory already even to get here. Your chances of making it if you were in a small group were slim...but a group this size had had no issues.

"Oh, of course, but why would your climate be the reason?" Wally said. "Sure, you're high up, but so is Stone Village, and it's not like you get snowed in. It's harder crossing the other lands to get here than it is going through this area."

"I guess it's just a rumor." Omoi shrugged.

Choji looked pouty about not eating.

"Maybe we should split up," Shine offered. "It is lunch time, but if you guys don't want to stop, that's okay. I wouldn't mind a break."

"I still want to find something actually interesting," Bakugo said. "We've been walking for 2 or 3 hours and freaking seen nothing. You afraid to show us the real stuff?"

Mabui wished he wasn't so good at guessing that.

"Well--" she began.

"I have an idea." Omoi suddenly got a gleam in his eye. "I know something that you might like--Bakugo, is it?"

"Yeah." Bakugo frowned.

"Right," Omoi said. "There is something that we do here that's a bit more exciting."

"Omoi--" Mabui began.

"Not classified," Omoi hissed. "It'll throw them off though, for sure. They'll expect it to be. I can take them to the bay--you know the one."

"That one?" Mabui said, in a low voice. "You know the kind of people who hang out there."

"Nothing a Chunin can't handle," Omoi insisted. "And there's plenty of them. No one would start any real trouble. It's the only way to get them off our tails about finding something really useful."

"I don't know if it's a wise idea." Mabui was still unsure.

"I'll take full responsibility for it," Omoi said.

This was not true. He'd be sure to blame her later if something went wrong, but Mabui didn't know him well enough to know this.

"If they want to go..." she wavered, still uncertain.

"What are you whispering about?" Bakugo said. "Is this some kind of trick?"

"Oh, no," Omoi said, easily. "She's just the squeamish type. It's a little intense. But you seem like you can handle it."

"Obvious trick for 200," Dabi said.

"Why do you keep making Jeopardy references?" Camie asked.

"Boredom..." Dabi said.

"I'm not afraid," Bakugo said. "Let's go."