[OP: "The Truth is a Cave"--The Oh Hellos]

Mabui had no idea that the team had decided they would help her.

She only knew they watched her very closely that day while they were at the hospital.

Sakura grilled Shi, who was of course heading up preparations, on everything she could think of--and if she did a little more because she knew he was being a jerk, well, that was just Sakura's way.

And Sasuke found it hilarious, in his own warped way, to watch her boss Shi around.

At first, Shi didn't plan on taking that from Sakura, but Sakura knew nothing if not how to invoke the name of her sensei to get what she wanted.

She tried to act like she had it all under control, and she crossed her arms.

"I know Tsunade-sama better than anyone else," she said firmly, "and what her standards are. And until I'm sure that you're meeting them, I won't give up. Do you want the legendary Sannin of Leaf to come here and find your medical system in a pathetic state compared to Leaf's?"

"But I've told you that I think we're really pretty advanced." Shi was trying to play the Cloud is superior card, subtly.

"I think I should be the judge of that," Sakura said. "Do you know anything about healing poisons with the hot water technique?"

"Uh...well, no, I've never heard of that particular method--" Shi began.

"Can you keep someone alive by making their heart beat by sticking your hand in their chest?" Camie called.

"Don't help me," Sakura snapped at her. But then she said, "Still, that is true."

"I don't see how that's possible," Shi said.

[It's not. That scene bothers my sister so much. Sakura should have gone through his rib cage at the angle the show had her hand in. It's literally not possible.]

"Well, I have, so if you haven't, then I'm not convinced about your preparations either," Sakura said.

Shi didn't want to be bossed by this little Leaf upstart, but she was Tsunade's pupil, and he didn't want Ay to get talked to if he offended her, so he sullenly agreed to help her inspect everything.

And then Sakura rubbed it in mercilessly.

"Gosh, I forgot how insufferable she is when she knows something better than you." Dabi rubbed his shoulder.

"This was my life while I was training under Tsunade," Ino said. "She had Sakura oversee a lot of my training, and I thought I'd kill her... Sometimes she was encouraging about it, but mostly she was like this. Bossy. She kept calling me her flunkie."

"Did you ever do that to her when you were helping her with her stuff?" Shoto asked her.

"What? No, I never did." Ino was offended by the question. "I never said a word about it."

"Proof that Ino is still a nicer person," Shoto remarked to Momo. "Remind me why people Iike Sakura more?"

"Who likes Sakura more?" Momo was confused.

Shoto had found a lot more Sakura fan pages than Ino when he started to research the characters, but he thought the fans didn't pay enough attention to the show. [Lol. Shoto is such a savage... Totally not just personal opinion...not at all.]

Ino and Karin were put to work too. Sakura said that they'd helped in Stone, so they knew what to do for Tsunade.

Shi was fine with Ino doing it--sort of--but neither he nor any other Cloud medic wanted Karin anywhere near them.

It took a lot of convincing to persuade them that Karin was trustworthy, and they had to be told that Stone had allowed it and Tsunade herself had said Karin had potential.

"At least she's directing her b--chiness at someone else," Dabi said about Sakura enjoying this so much.

"She's blowing off steam, I bet," Wally said complacently. "Sakura, in her way, probably finds the whole thing about Secretary Lady to be kind of disturbing. I mean, she was with us at the time, too, and it's just Team 7 who were fighting in the War alone for a while, so what if they'd been accused of doing the same thing?"

"I wonder how that didn't happen, considering Sasuke's reputation," Shoto said.

"Nepotism." Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Dabi, Mabui keeps clocking you," Camie nudged him. "Maybe you should apologize to her for being such an ass yesterday."

"I actually already did kinda apologize...sort of," Dabi said. "She's only looking over here to see if we're talking about her, which we are, so shut up."

"She thinks you blabbed everything to us," Temari said. "Which you did, so she's right."

"She is really cute though." Suigetsu frowned. "I mean, how un-intimidating can you get? No wonder people are picking on her more than anyone else. "

"Better not let Karin hear you call her cute," Tenten said.

"Karin? Why would she care?" Suigetsu said. "Besides, cute isn't my type, if I have one. I'm just saying, it's kind of unsettling."

"Why does it bother you so much to be around beautiful women?" Camie asked him. "Do I bother you?"

"Bold, Camie, real bold," Suigetsu said. "Ah, I guess it's actually just because I'm a freak. Around ugly people I don't really care, but everyone in this Village is so d--- good looking that I feel like I stand out more than ever."

"Oh, is that why you never liked Sasuke?" Camie said. 

"Nah, I don't like Sasuke because he's a prick," Suigetsu said.

"I heard that," Sasuke said.

"So?" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You're in a better mood again," Naruto told him. "Did you get over Shoto spilling all those beans?"

"I don't expect much else from Todoroki at this point," Sasuke said haughtily. "But that's not really it. I just don't see the point in dwelling on it."

"Huh?" Naruto said. "That doesn't sound like you, Sasuke."

"Even you." Sasuke cut his eyes at Naruto. "When did you start saying things like that?"

"No, I was serious--that really didn't sound like you. Are you okay?" Naruto squinted at him. "Maybe this Village is getting to you, huh?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said. "Just thinking about things." Moodily.

That was more like his old self, but like his calmer older self, not his...scary self.

Naruto knew something was different, but he didn't know what it was.

"Guess he's doing better since you talked to him," Wally said to Shine between fetching boxes for Sakura.

Sakura also seemed to enjoy bossing him, having things finally being the other way around.

Wally actually found it amusing to humor her, however.

"He'll have ups and downs, no matter what," Shine said. "And he's not likely to stay up for long right now...though I hope that changes. But at least he's less worried about it. I think what I told him helped him see this is normal. I hope he holds on to that thought. The thing about this stage is there is not much I really can do. If he's going to stick to it, he's got to decide to do it himself. That's between God and man, not us."

"I think you've done a fantastic job with helping him," Wally said. "Honestly, I didn't think he'd get to this point, but when are we gonna tell everyone about it?"

"Any time would be fine," Shine said.

"He's right, you know." Karin had heard what Naruto had said to Sasuke. "Something is up with you."

"I know something is different," Hanabi spoke up. She was sorting pamphlets for the wall--Sakura had said to make sure they were organized the right way, which  was excessive, but Hinata was just glad she wasn't doing anything worse. "I can tell because I'm not scared of him anymore."

Sasuke turned to give her a strange look. "You were?"

"I tried to hide it, but yeah, I was," Hanabi said. "But not now."

"Me neither," Eichi spoke up. "If that matters."

"There's a difference in your expression, I think," Momo said. "But, there's no need for us to talk about it if it embarrasses you."

"I wonder just how much everyone has been scared of me this entire time." Sasuke hardly heard her.

"A lot, probably." Suigetsu wasn't helpful. "But whatever."

"Not like him to care about that," Shoto mused.

"Hmm, everyone's gonna figure it out at this rate." Camie winked at Bakugo.

"I bet I know what it is," Temari said. "But if it's what I think, then he won't like if I say it out loud."

"I'm sorry, what is it?" Shikamaru was lost.

"Same thing happened to Gaara, after they came the first time and he accepted all this," Temari said. "He'd changed a little before that, but, when I saw that Shukaku was gone, I could see the look in his eye wasn't there anymore. After that Matsuri wasn't afraid of him anymore, and then other people began to catch on. It was like they could tell...even when they didn't know."

"Kids can tell," Shine commented. "They're very good at that. I think because they're more pure-hearted than we are. We lie to ourselves more as adults."

Sasuke supposed they were all going to figure it out sooner or later.

"It doesn't matter if you all know," he said.

"Know what?" Naruto said.

"Sasuke has become one of us," Camie said. "For realsies, not just as part of Team Zoe. He's in."

"He is?" Choji said. "I did not expect that. Well, good for him."

"Been waiting a long enough time for it," Hanabi muttered.

"I'm glad to hear that," Hinata said nicely.

Sasuke had expected them to be more surprised, but no one else had anything to say about it whatsoever except that they supposed it was time and that he'd come around finally.

Suigetsu didn't even have much to say other than, "I might have known they'd convince you in the end. Go figure."

And that was it.

He almost was disappointed, as he loved attention more than he realized he did, but then he realized that it was probably for the best.

"But maybe none of them think I'll actually stick it out," he said to Bakugo, since he figured Bakugo wouldn't care enough to try to be comforting.

"Maybe not." Bakugo didn't care enough to try. "You have a habit of quitting on things partway through."

"That's not helpful."

"Do I look like Shine to you? If you're serious about this, then that's all there is to it. Nothing's gonna stop anyone who's really serious about it. And if you're not, we'll find out anyway. I ain't gonna try to convince you to do something you're not really going to do."

"I think I'm serious, but I'm not sure I can really change. Until recently, I didn't want to that badly, but it would be worse to commit to this and then find it doesn't work for me than it would be to stay in limbo."

"Takes more guts to try than to stall...but then, giving up partway is also pretty weak... Who knows? Why do you want to change now anyway? Didn't you like being the way you were?"

Sasuke got really somber again. "No...I never really liked it that much. I just was that way. I couldn't help it."

"Then you're fine," Bakugo said unceremoniously. "Sounds good. Stop talking to me."

Sasuke decided to do as he said.

Oddly, that did actually make him feel slightly better.

They were really being nicer to him than he deserved. After the trouble he'd caused, at least no one was laughing at him for saying he'd change. Not like when he'd wanted to become Hokage.

He realized it must be because they took it more seriously this time...so had he done something to make them think he was sincere?

Was this all out of respect? Or did they just no longer care what he did?

"I'm glad," Ino was saying to Sai and Camie. "I thought he was acting different, but I didn't realize how different it was yet. It's sooner than I thought it would be for him."

"Actually, I think it makes sense. The way things have been going, he'd be cray-cray not to," Camie said. "I mean, more cray-cray than before. But, like, we don't need to talk about it. We talk about Sasuke way too much."

"I agree," Sai said. "I'm not sure I trust it yet. Did you know already, Camie, though? You didn't say anything to show you were surprised."

"Yeah, we kinda figured it out a few days ago," Camie said. "But we kept it on the Q.T. I really wasn't that surprised even then, though. I'm more shook that anyone is still holding out. Sakura is still. She's not exactly happy about Sasuke, you know."

"Ah, that again," Ino sighed. "I know why it bothers her. I just don't know what would make her feel better."

"I don't understand it," Sai said. "I don't feel happy for him or unhappy, I think. I feel neutral about Sasuke."

"Bro, you keep saying that," Camie said. "I thought he pissed you off... Hey, do you think that you're suppressing your feelings  about Sasuke because they're too hard to understand? Like how Shoto was ignoring how he felt pity for him, because he didn't know what to do about it?"

"Camie, that's a little rude, isn't it?" Ino said.

"But Shoto said it himself--it's not me," Camie said.

"Well, Sasuke might hear, you know." Ino had wondered if he could hear them--which he could.

"Oh...oops," Camie said "Laters. We'll talk after."

She walked away.

"It is strange," Sai mused. "Maybe that is it, though. I'm still having trouble trusting him after all this time."

"It's not been that much time," Ino said. "I think it makes sense... We'll see what he does. But I'm not gonna discourage him or anything. I think there's a good chance it's for real. Maybe it's too soon to be really happy, but it's not a bad thing."

"I guess not," Sai said. "I wonder if I resent him. Is that what this is?"

Ino shrugged. She didn't know.

[Personally, I think he's acting kind of jealous, but who knows?]

* * *

After that they were all busy for hours.

Karin didn't lose her chance to watch Mabui though.

Mabui never suspected she was doing it, because she thought Karin was just doing medical stuff. She didn't know that Karin could sense her chakra so easily that she knew where she was at all times.

Whenever Mabui left the area they were in, Dabi asked Karin if she was leaving the premises.

"Nope, just had to do something else," Karin said. "And stop asking me that. I'll tell you first if she leaves, if it'll make you feel better. This is creepy."

"Just wondering," Dabi said sullenly.

"Maybe she knows you're watching her. Stop being so obvious," Karin scolded him.

"Hey," Sakura cut in. "We need some stuff to restock and some things they don't have. I gave Mabui a list. She's got to order it through the Kage's office... Shi said he could, but I wanted him to help me oversee some surgeries, and he has to be there, apparently, for me to do them, because I don't have 'proper clearance'." She rolled her eyes.

"You're taking this way too seriously," Dabi said.

"Shine said that you and Shoto could go with her to bring back anything," Sakura said, with a mean look. "Since you're not doing anything and it's just grunt work."

"Why do I have to?" Dabi said.

"You've been standing around for the last 45 minutes." Karin folded her arms.

"This isn't really my thing," Dabi said.

"So go," Sakura said.

"Shouldn't you want a chance to observe the Kage house again?" Karin pointed out. "Anything suspicious? That's your new thing."

"It was my old thing. I always suspect the leadership of any establishment," Dabi muttered, walking away.

"Gosh, he's so annoying," Sakura grumbled. "And these Cloud medics are all idiots."

They weren't really any worse than anyone else--Sakura just had a grudge against the Village currently.

Karin didn't question it though.

And she tried to ignore the dirty looks they were giving her every time she passed them.

It said something that Karin was enduring it this long. In the past she'd been so jumpy that anyone who hated her and who wasn't in a cell would have scared her. But now she was all right, as long as she stayed near the team. If she'd been alone, she might have shriveled into a ball.

Shoto and Dabi were all ready to follow Mabui, who didn't seem that happy they were going to be the people helping her, but she didn't argue, since she had no authority to do so.

"Let's just hurry," she said instead. "I told Miss Haruno I could bring those things here today if they answered my message. The two that had these items are not that far away."

"That's good, I guess," Shoto said. "So why didn't you already restock them?"

"The terrain around here is difficult to travel over, so even common stock can take a while to get supplies for," Mabui said. "Usually the Village doesn't bother, but these are precise items, and you can't get them in every single town. Sometimes it's best to save the time and expense of paying for people to bring them here and just summon them."

"Summon them... Wait, you mean with your jutsu?" Shoto was curious about that.

"Yes...why?" Mabui bristled for some reason.

"Oh, nothing, I've just never seen you use it. I've heard it's rare," Shoto said. "Rare powers are interesting. It's rare where I come from too."

"I wasn't aware anyone else could use it," Mabui said. "Until I saw one of you do it." With a pointed look at Dabi. "But I assumed it was just another form of summoning, not teleportation."

"What is the difference exactly?" Shoto asked. "I mean, Tenten summons things out of scrolls, but what you do isn't the same."

"No...that is actually a good question," Mabui said, like it surprised her that he had one she could answer. "I'm actually not really sure myself how the summoning is different fully, but the theory is that we compact things into the scrolls somehow, like their own small pocket of air, on the paper. Teleportation is not as simple as that. You can send bigger things, and you don't need a scroll to anchor them to. Markings help, but they aren't completely necessary."

"So that's how you could send Ay and Tsunade in the war," Shoto said. "No scroll or circle on the battlefield, but you did it."

"That was highly dangerous," Mabui said. "I wasn't going to do it, but they insisted. I'm amazed that they survived. But Lord Ay is like his grandfather and very resilient."

"Hmrph." Dabi made an annoyed sound--for what reason, Shoto didn't know.

"And Lady Tsunade proved to be tougher than I anticipated," Mabui added.

You could see she wasn't intimidated by the topic once it was off herself, and actually didn't seem to mind talking about it.

Shoto had never heard her talk about anything with them other than the Village, and that had always been hesitant, so he was surprised that she could even sound interested.

Dabi was thinking she sounded a lot less stuck up when she talked about it. She must not have the best handle on her own abilities if she could still be surprised by them.

Which was interesting...

"So you've never killed anyone with that jutsu, I take it." He said what sounded tactless in Shoto's mind--and yes, he actually thought that without irony. [Glad he knows some things are tactless.]

But to Shoto's surprise, Mabui didn't bat an eye at the question.

"No," she said. "I know it can kill people. I was told that in training. It's forbidden to use it on anyone. But Lord Ay has the ability to withstand it, and it was war...the time for risks."

"So you could tear people apart with the jutsu." Dabi pressed the issue for some reason.

"Technically... Why?" Mabui wondered why he kept asking.

"Just interesting," Dabi said. "Sounds kinda overpowered. Your family must have been good assassins."

Shoto wondered why Mabui looked more offended by that than about the killing.

"When they were assassin," she said coldly. "But most of them weren't. It's always been considered a little vulgar to use the jutsu for killing. Cloud like to kill people upfront, using skill."

"Too bad they didn't use your family when they went to kidnap the Hyugas." Dabi didn't drop it when he should have. "I guess that would have killed the people, but one way to get rid of the guy who stopped the kidnappers."

Mabui stared at him in horror.

Shoto winced. "Dabi, that wasn't okay to bring up."

"You're one to talk," Dabi said. "It's a fair point, isn't it? "

"I'm not even quite sure what you're talking about," Mabui said. "That incident was caused by the Hyugas."

Dabi just laughed.

If he'd laughed at her in a cold way, she would have just been irritated, but he sounded like he only thought it was bitterly humorous.

"What?" She frowned.

Shoto sighed. "I'm not sure we should talk about this, but, since he brought it up, I think he's just mad because it wasn't caused by the Hyugas... Is that what they told you?"

"Frankly, the incident wasn't discussed that much," Mabui said. "I wasn't even a Chunin when that happened."

"Was it 10 years ago now?" Shoto said. "You weren't a Chunin... I suppose not. You must have been a child."

"Well, not a child," Mabui said, almost embarrassed looking. "But I became a Chunin later than most. It takes a lot to master the jutsu, and I had...other things to turn in before I took the exam. There's no set time for them anyway. We take them when we wish to because we don't hold them bi-annually."

"It's longer ago than 10 years anyway," Dabi said. "So she'd have only been the same age as Eichi or Hanabi are now, probably."

"I thought a bit more than that, actually," Shoto said.

Mabui frowned at him. "How old do you think I am, young Todoroki?"

"Don't call me that," Shoto said.

"But it's proper to call you that if an older member of your family is present." Mabui was confused.

"Just don't. It sounds wrong," Shoto said. "And no one calls Dabi 'Todoroki', so it doesn't matter. Shoto is fine too. I suppose I'm not that particular about formality."

"Says the guy whose girlfriend called him by his last name for weeks after they got together," Dabi muttered.

"Why do you even know that?" Shoto said.

"I heard her do it," Dabi snorted.

"It's none of your business," Shoto said. "Anyway...oh, right, did I offend you?"  He looked at Mabui. "Sorry, I thought you were 20-something."

"I am," Mabui said, a little miffed. "But not young enough to have been a child 10 or 14 years ago, thank you."

"Sorry," Shoto said. "How old were you?"

"I can't see that it has to do with anything we're talking about." She seemed to resent him thinking that she was older.

"She's 28," Dabi said.

"What?" Mabui turned to him. "How did you know that?"

"It was in your file," Dabi said readily. "Actually, might be older now, come to think of it. That was months ago."

"Where did you look at my file?" Mabui said.

"We're in the Kazekage's party," Shoto covered for him quickly. "They had files on a lot of people in the war."

"Oh...but they would only show it to..." Mabui decided not to finish that. "Nevermind."

"Twenty-nine isn't that old, is it?" Shoto said. "Why did you feel the need to correct me?"

"I was trying to say I wasn't a child when it happened," Mabui said. "Whatever you were assuming about me by assuming that is not true."

"Should have stuck with the child story if you wanted him to be less disgusted," Dabi said. 

"Dabi, don't speak for me," Shoto said. "But honestly, he's not completely wrong. If you knew about it, then believing that it was their fault is less excusable. I wonder if that means you were around when they killed their...father."

He remembered that the Cloud didn't know it was their uncle, fortunately, and he needed to keep that up or they might get mad.

"I heard of it..." Mabui said. "But he attacked--"

"He defended his daughter," Dabi cut in. "Sue him."

Mabui went silent.

It was true enough...

And she had personal reasons to wonder if that story likely wasn't told straight by the Cloud who'd spread it.

She wondered if Ay knew that or if it was another one of those things that he would not have questioned. He would have believed whoever did it.

But in fact, she didn't think Ay had been very directly involved. Probably had sent some higher level shinobi at the time to do it.

Shoto realized that Mabui hadn't had clearance enough to know better, though, and he didn't want to be too harsh.

"Nevermind," he said. "It's the past anyway... Dabi shouldn't even have brought it up. I apologize for him. He likes to twist the knife."

"Shut up," Dabi said.

"Believe me, I know that already," Mabui said, with a dry tone that seemed unusual for her.

Maybe after the other day she didn't see the point of hiding her irritation with Dabi anymore.

"I was thinking about your family jutsu," Shoto said. "So it's like the...other clans, where everyone can learn it?"

"Everyone could have, if they had any talent for ninjutsu," Mabui said, distantly. "But, it's a moot point now."

"Why?" Shoto said.

Mabui looked aside. "No one else in the clan is left."

They had assumed this must be true, but hearing her confirm it was still surprising.

"How is that possible?" Shoto said. "A whole clan... I mean...was it a massacre?"

"Sure, bringing up the Hyugas was too much, but asking someone if their family got massacred is fine," Daib said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line," Shoto apologized.

"It's not necessary to apologize. It wasn't a massacre," Mabui said primly.

But this time Dabi thought she was acting prim about it because she was trying not to show any sign of being upset, not arrogance.

And he wondered if all of her primness was not as much arrogance as he'd originally assumed. Contrasting her tone with Shi's, who really did want to rub everything in, put it into more perspective.

"Oh...what happened?" Shoto really didn't know when to stop asking about something.

Mabui, with forced patience, just shrugged slightly. "Shinobi die in battle a lot, so it was that and also illness. Natural causes, you know... The clan had gotten smaller in the last several decades anyway. My family was the last part of it after the previous ninja war and some skirmishes with the other Villages. It happens. It's not just to the Tsukura clan... Plenty of others were whittled down to only a few families, and most of them were fighters. No need to express any sympathy."

Funny, she said that before they could even try, like she wanted to change the subject.

Shoto took the hint, finally.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," he said. "I forgot how many people here are the last of their clan...Naruto, Karin, Sasuke, it's hard to keep up with it."

Mabui didn't want to talk about this any longer and made no answer at all.

Shoto felt he'd ruined this and wished he had Momo there to come up with something polite and sweet that would change the subject.

But they reached the Kage house right after that, and he didn't have the chance.

"Nice going though," Dabi said.

"Who brought up something unpleasant first?" Shoto said.

"My topic didn't have nearly the same effect," Dabi said. "Which doesn't surprise me. Of course that's gonna matter less than something personal. No one cares what they did to Leaf."

"Well, don't say that now. What if someone hears you?" Shoto said.

"Would serve them right," Dabi said.

Mabui paused and then turned and gave them both a stern look.

"Keep your remarks to yourselves," she said coolly. "At least try to act professional while we're here. You're going to make us all look bad."

Shoto didn't like being told what to do, but he figured he owed her after what he'd said.

Dabi just frowned at her and then rolled his eyes in a fake attempt to hide it.

Mabui would have liked to chew him out for it but didn't.

She just went into Ay's office.

Ay was thankfully in it at that moment and not too busy.

"I only need clearance to order these items with the Village budget." Mabui showed him the list. "Some of them can't wait. Haruno said she needs them for when the Sannin arrives."

"Tsunade will have plenty to say if we're not ready," Ay said. "Medical stuff is about the only thing she takes seriously. Go ahead...as long as we can afford it."

"I'm trying to keep it within the parameters," Mabui said. "I'm sure they'll understand... Shi also said he would drop by later with the results of vetting the staff."

"Why didn't he just send it with you?" Ay grumbled.

He didn't notice the subtle disdain in her tone when she answered, "I suppose he thought I would be too busy with the supplies."

"Eh, well, get on with it. There's another meeting in 5 minutes," Ay grumbled. "Never ending, these meetings. We really need another person in here to do some of the work you're not doing... Darui doesn't know anything about structuring meetings."

"I could come back--" Mabui started to say.

"No, better just leave things the way they are for now." Ay didn't let her finish.

She left.

The Todorokis were waiting for her outside.

They looked bored, openly. Which was very unprofessional.

More suited to the younger one though, since he was just so adorable.

Mabui was no more immune to the effect of Shoto's little, childlike face than the other older girls were, she just wouldn't have said anything about it.

She thought Dabi was just acting this way to get on her nerves, and it was working.

But after all he'd talked about the other day...she supposed she shouldn't be expecting much tact from this person.

"It's taking a while for them to get ready," she announced. "Once I send the message...you're not allowed to go into any of the rooms."

"So what do we do while we wait?" Shoto asked.

"I...don't know. Didn't you bring work with you?" Mabui said.

"There was a vending machine in the front," Dabi said. "Which seems a little out of place in a government building...unless it's welfare."

Shoto just gave him an annoyed look.

Mabui didn't get the joke, but Wally and Shine would have thought it was hilarious.

"Fortunately, I did bring something to do." Dabi took out a pocket-sized book.

"I didn't think of that," Shoto said.

"Because your're dumb." Dabi didn't look up.

Mabui almost found it funny.

"Your big complaint is that you're bored?" she said to Shoto. "It seems like a warrior should have something better to complain about."

"I guess I'm just not used to there not being TV and magazines everywhere you go," Shoto said ruefully.

"This isn't a convenience store..." Mabui said. "Or a doctor's office... Also TV is a luxury..."

"Really? Leaf had it everywhere," Shoto said.

"The altitude and lightning weather would make it harder to get really clear broadcasts in this Village," Dabi said without even looking up.

"That's...right..." Mabui was surprised. "I was just going to say that."

"I guess that makes sense," Shoto said. "We have the same problem in the mountains. But you should build a satellite or some--"

Dabi actually kicked him.

"What?" Shoto moved angrily.

Dabi muttered something that Mabui couldn't make out at all; it sounded like mumbling.

The reason was he'd just spoken in English.

"Technology," he said.

"Oh..." Shoto said saltily.