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

Shine felt sorry for Ay as they told him what happened.

Sakura made Dabi show him the burns so that he would know he really had been injured.

They had been mostly healed, but you could tell they were electricity burns.

Mabui showed him her injuries without saying much.

She didn't say much at all, except when they asked her questions about it to clarify.

Until Ay heard that this had been going on for months and became enraged.

"Months?!" he exploded. "What do you mean? How was it I was not informed about this a long time ago?"

Mabui flinched noticeably. She was not used to Ay yelling at her, just around her.

Shine put a hand on her shoulder, to her surprise.

Dabi answered before Mabui could.

"You were the one who sent her to investigate us," he said rudely. "Why would she tell you something that would mess that up?"

"Do not speak for me!" Mabui finally found her voice.

"Well, talk then," Dabi said.

This was more effective than the badgering had been, it turned out.

"I didn't want to report it because it was so minor." Mabui held her chin up more defiantly. "Until now it was not violent. I had not thought they would stoop so low, sir."

"And what were you really doing near that area of town?" Ay asked Dabi then. "You must have been following her. What is the meaning of this?"

"Someone had to." Dabi wouldn't normally have taken that route, but Ay was grating on his nerves already, and he liked provoking him.

It kind of worked better than you'd think, since that reminded Ay that he had not recognized the situation himself effectively, and he looked like he might choke on his rage.

"If I may," Shine said, "we had started to suspect this was going on, and we wanted proof."

"Well, you could have told me if you noticed it," Ay said. "Getting proof was our responsibility."

"And if anyone did, they would have accused more Cloud of helping us," Shine said. "Clearly that's a problem for your Village...so doing it ourselves at least minimized the damage to just our team. Mabui is already in hot water--why do we need more people to be? I'm sorry...but if we had been wrong about it, you would have accused us of being paranoid, wouldn't you? We needed to know for sure. But, by all means, investigate it now. I hope you do."

"Don't try to give me orders," Ay said. "This is ongoing with your team. First you get attacked in the street, and now Mabui is attacked because of you."

"Oh, because of us, huh?" Dabi said. "Who assigned her to do this anyway?"

"Touya, please." Shine grabbed his arm. "It's not Ay's fault."

Ay was starting to answer and then paused, as if surprised to hear this.

"I blame only the people who did it," Shine went on.

"I agree," Gaara spoke. "I only want to find some way to keep us all safe."

"It's more difficult if your stay here is not welcome," Ay grumbled.

"But if we were to go now, it would not guarantee anything," Shine said. "If you drive us away, the Village will not necessarily stop trying to hurt her--or anyone else they think may have associated with us. And there are more of you who do. It seems to me your own honor is being questioned, Lord Ay. But backing away from this because of what they did would be a mistake, in my opinion, and, while I know you don't value my authority, I've dealt with things like this many times."

"Do you think I haven't?" Ay said.

"I don't know, have you?" Shine shrugged.

Ay frowned. "Mabui is no traitor. This is all because you singled her out to begin with. Why did you do that?"

Mabui looked up sharply.

Shine glanced at Wally, who nodded.

"The thing is, we're not sure," Shine said. "It was not planned... If you had asked us that when we arrived, we might have told you so. She was in the right place at the right time, and someone else asked us to save her. That was what happened. Wally was the only one there, actually."

"Yes, and if I'd had the chance, I'd have taken more than one person," Wally said. "But everyone else refused to be moved except her...and she didn't actually say it--someone else asked for her. It's not her fault, if you want to pass blame, but, can I just say, I hate that you're blaming her just for being alive, like that's some kind of crime. She didn't ask us to do it, and it's not a crime to have your life saved. What is wrong with your Village?"

"Hon--" Shine tugged his arm now. "Patience..."

"What a turn around," Dabi said. "Usually it's you who's going off."

"Touya, not now," Shine warned him.

Ay took this in with a grim expression.

"Who else knows that it was not planned?" he asked.

"Just our team," Shine said.

Ay slammed his fist into his desk, making the teacup on it rattle.

"So all this was just one big coincidence?" he said. "Then there was never any reason to..." He paused.

"Not to worry," Shine said. "We know why you chose her. But I think you chose well anyway. She's good at what she does."

"There's no need for flattery," Mabui spoke up. "I have not succeeded. I apologize, Lord Ay. This was my own incompetence. Had I known how to handle it, this would not have happened."

Ay didn't acknowledge the apology, so it didn't seem like he really agreed with it, but the others all glanced at her sideways, and Dabi rolled his eyes openly.

Mabui didn't appreciate the gesture, but she had no time to reproach him for it.

"Who cares whose fault it was now?" Sakura said. "The point is we're all in trouble here...any of us could be..." She meant that Tsunade could be also.

"Well, aside from you just packing up and going, what else is there to do?" Ay said. "The Village seems to have spoken."

This made the team feel as if the bottom had just dropped out of their stomachs.

"So that's it? Whatever they please?" Shine said. "Your people can push you around so easily? How have you stayed in power?"

"Watch your tongue, girl," Ay said. "Mabui is just one person, but what if it spreads? I can't have a civil war over this. You are no closer to winning over the Village than before."

"If they'd leave off attacking us for one day, maybe we could be," Shine said. "Ay, you must not give in to this. It might appease them for a short time, but their impertinence will only grow. It always does. Leaf has done similar things, and it only led to that idiot Danzo causing damage."

Shine was too smart.

If there was one thing about Cloud and Leaf, it was that they both thought they were the best Village, and they both competed with each other constantly. More so on Cloud's side.

Also, Ay hated Danzo because of the Summit shenanigans he'd pulled and thought he was a weasel.

So playing both those cards at once made him pissed off but not wanting to agree with his own enemies.

"Well, what do you suggest?" he said irritably. "Your ideas have not helped so far."

"I have not had much of a chance to help, have I?" Shine said. "And I'm not a mind reader. I'm not sure what the Village wants from us. But, we must stand firm. I know that. We want you all to be safe also, and I wish to clear Mabui's name as much as you do. I hate it when people are blamed for things that are not their fault."

There were two meanings to that, if you read into it.

"What do I matter?" Mabui began to say now. "The real danger is that the Village will take sides if this gets around."

"You shouldn't speak of yourself that way," Gaara said.

"I would not neglect my responsibility when the Village is in danger," Mabui insisted.

"Well, it sounds as if there's not much to clear up," Ay said. "This was all one huge misunderstanding. However, Mabui is not much use as a spy if you know she's one."

This was what Mabui had expected.

Shine got an odd smile.

"Well, Lord Ay," she said, "we're in an interesting game here, don't you think?"

"Game?" Ay repeated.

"Surely you see the irony," Shine said. "You've been watching us, and we've been watching you, and thus far we've succeeded far more than you have at seeing what's going on in this Village and stopping it. I'd say we're winning the game. But really, I don't care if we know we're in one. The challenge is more interesting that way. So what if we know she's spying? You must see we knew that from day one. We still let her do it. I have no fear. As long as you just own up to it, I'll even offer this: We can up the ante. She can collect data on us openly, and we'll even cooperate with it as long as it's not dangerous to us to do so."

"It wouldn't be anything that worth learning if it's not dangerous to you." Ay said what Mabui would not have dared to say to them.

Gaara was offended by his openness.

Shine? She laughed.

Ay narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, you want dirt on us so you can control us, I know," she said. "Funny, we already have dirt on you, but we're not really trying to use it on you. You want to even the score? I'm afraid that will be difficult for you. We're innocent."

"Likely story," Ay retorted. "No one is innocent."

"Charming worldview you have there," Wally said.

"An only too realistic one in this danged country," Dabi muttered.

"Mabui is innocent," Shine insisted, which seemed like tonal whiplash to Mabui.

She couldn't keep track of what Shine was trying to accomplish with the conversation.

"Yes, well, only we believe that," Ay said. "You could have just spared her the trouble of all this, if you knew from the start."

"Well, you might ask yourself if we didn't want to be suspicious," Shine replied. "But really, having someone do surveillance is only wise on your part. You don't know anything about us, right? But surely you see that if we return the favor, that's only reasonable."

"What kind of logic are you using?" Ay said. "Why should I trust you anyway? You never say where you're from or what you really are. Lord Gaara is keeping his secrets. That's suspicious."

"Not all secrets are kept just to hurt others, Lord Ay," Gaara said seriously.

Ay looked at him oddly.

"It's true that we hide things about ourselves," Shine said. "But there are reasons for that that are not malicious on our part. As I told Tsunade once, we have enemies too, ones that we don't want to follow us here--just as you don't. Now, as long as they do not know we're here, there's little chance of that. But suppose we told you, and you were indiscreet with the information? We invited trouble to your house. Is that really so hard to understand?"

Ay had to think about that.

Mabui wondered why that explanation had never occurred to her in the past... Surely it was possible...but...they didn't seem like they would have enemies. Which was odd, since everyone had enemies.

"I don't like the idea that you have enemies," Ay said, "whom we don't know about."

"It also looks as if you have enemies that we didn't know about," Shine replied. "So we're even. Ay, come on...be realistic. No one is free of trouble. And no one is free of baggage. I'm sorry that it's a problem to you, but it's not as if Gaara has no enemies that could follow him here, and so does every other Village... Frankly, all of you are linked to each other, which is part of why you've never allied for very long. When you share someone's benefits, you share their weaknesses too...but the benefits outweigh the weaknesses, in my mind, and most of our friends have decided this also. You might too, if we ever got around to that."

"I doubt it," Ay said. "If keeping ourselves from being attacked is not the point of this, then what is?"

Gaara looked uneasy. "Well, Lord Ay...that is what I wish to discuss with you at some point, but we never seem to be at peace long enough for me to be sure it's a wise idea."

Pause.

"Ay, you're not a cruel man, are you?" Shine spoke finally. "If you simply stopped looking at us as the problem, would you really want to make us suffer? We have no malice in our hearts toward your Village... We didn't have to step in to help, did we? If you really looked at us, I think you would see our intentions."

This was really throwing down the gauntlet because she was asking Ay to admit that their motives were clear, and that would force him to admit what was only fair treatment.

Ay didn't want to concede anything.

He was almost out of patience with the situation, but he also couldn't just force them to go. He knew that.

Gaara wondered if he would simply give in to anger and throw diplomacy aside, though.

Gaara knew that this whole thing had been unfair for Team Zoe from beginning to end, and he was sorry that Mabui was involved in it now, but, it wasn't right for Ay to put so much blame on them.

Yet, what had he come to expect?

Finally Ay spoke.

"Yet again you seem to wish to force my hand by my Village and yours," he said. "Just silence is not enough. You know what I must do. And you have no way to stem the tide of anger that's brewing in the Village. I cannot have a civil war."

Gaara shook his head.

Shine looked around. "Ay-san, no one but we are here right now--ther than Mabui, and I think she knows already...but I want to hear, what is it you really want?"

"Eh?" Ay frowned again.

"We talked about what we want," Shine said. "But what is it you want out of this? Simply to keep the Villages from ganging up on you? Or did you want true peace between them?"

"What's your point?" Ay said.

"Simply enough, if you truly wanted this as badly as we did, you would not be swayed by some mild disagreements with the Village." Shine shrugged. "I know I wouldn't. A leader must lead in the face of adversity, no matter what side it comes from."

"I suppose you think this because no one of your own followers has ever attacked anyone or expressed clear disdain for your decisions," Ay scoffed.

Hearing that, all of them started to laugh. Even Sakura looked wry, though she was also embarrassed.

Gaara even laughed, though he tried to choke it back.

"Man, I wish that was even half true," Wally said, eyes watering. "That was...something else right there... I mean, would've thought he was joking with us if he didn't look serious..."

"Lord Ay, please," Shine said. "You really think that's never happened to us? I should tell you about the time two of our followers fought each other over a grudge, just a month or so ago... Some of the time they started it up with the other Villages too. Adversity of this kind is nothing new. We've had trash and rocks thrown at us and been called any amount of insults, but that's all nothing to me. Such pathetic attempts to dissuade me have never worked."

"If that's all true, maybe your methods are just not effective," Ay said.

"Then what does that say about yours?" Shine replied. "It took weeks for that to happen to us, mostly. It's taken days here."

"Burn," Dabi muttered.

"So I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't do myself," Shine said. "I'd deal with my people if they acted like this, but it would not sway me personally. I know what I think. So what is it you want?"

"Why do I need to explain myself? It is you who wanted to come here," Ay said.

"We made a suggestion. It is you who invited us, actually--after making it very condescending that you did at all. Such a show of distrust right off the bat would have offended a more touchy person than Gaara, but he's humble enough to meet you halfway. I am not quite so humble as him, I think, because I'm starting to get a little angry at you for acting as if this is not us doing a kindness to the Village. I have never understood why you all act as if we must prove ourselves to you. We are all are offering the hand of friendship after so many years of bloodshed, and we're the criminals? You all think backwards."

"That hand of friendship has always been a snare."

"I'm not sure how your Village of all ones would know that," Shine said a little coldly. "When did you ever try it before?"

"It has been tried, and it's failed," Ay said. "What makes you different than others?"

"Now, that is a good question," Shine approved, holding up a hand. "That's one worth asking. What does make us different from the others? And I think you could answer it yourself after seeing how we've acted thus far. Do you think we're fools for trying to do this? I think you're a fool for spitting at it. If you can make enemies or make friends, which is the wisest? And, if you were a more humble man, you might see that overlooking some blunders to make peace would only be the wisest thing to do. But you were not going to let us have any room for error. Why else try to discredit us every time something completely outside our control happens?"

"Now wait a minute," Ay said, standing up again. "I will not be spoken to in this way!"

"SIT DOWN," Shine suddenly said, so loudly that her own people jumped.

Ay glared at her. "I will not."

"Stand back," Shine told the others, her eyes blazing now.

"Shine...what are you gonna do?" Wally asked.

"Nothing," Shine said, "to him."

Wally stepped back carefully.

"Miss Likstar, do not get too angry," Gaara said. "I wish to keep our cool, though I understand your frustration at this moment."

"It's all right, Gaara. I think I know what I'm doing," Shine replied. 

She stepped forward, and Ay tensed.

"Babe, do you mind getting that tray?" Shine asked Wally over her shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, sure," Wally said.

Shine's sword suddenly appeared in her hand without much warning, and before Ay really knew what she was going to do, she had sliced it with much more strength than he'd thought she had, and it cut through the huge desk itself, rending it in two, so evenly that it fell to either side like a cracked eggshell.

A sharp blade makes less noise, and this made almost none at all, and then the two halves fell and crashed. Papers scattered everywhere.

Wally had gotten the tray off securely, so none of the cups were broken.

He set it down carefully without a word.

Gaara was surprised, and Sakura was horrified.

Dabi was smirking.

Mabui stared at Shine in astonishment.

Ay, instead of getting more angry, just stared at the desk like he considered it a statement of sorts.

Then he looked up at Shine warily.

"Let me make something clear," Shine said, in her intimidating voice that made everyone always want to back away from her. "I take the harm to my people very seriously also. We are not weak, and we're not unable to defend ourselves, with or without your permission. We ask for it only to preserve the peace as well as we can. Did we need your say so to do anything? No, I have no obligation to obey you. I am cooperating with you because I want to. Threaten us again, and you will see how easily we can make good on our promise to defend ourselves. And stop blaming us for what your Village is doing. I'm no pushover. They are at fault ,and I will say it if I want to. If it's too hard for you, then we can settle this ourselves. But I don't want to have to fight you. That puts a bad taste in our mouths and a damper on our peaceful relationship. However, if it comes to that, I am quite able to defeat you, and you will find that out."

Ay stared at her in astonishment.

The silence was tense.

Gaara wasn't sure if that was the smartest thing Shine could have done or the most foolish, if Ay snapped.

"Are you threatening me?" Ay finally said.

"No," Shine said. "We will never lift a finger against your Village without you starting it first. But I will promise you one thing: If you make us an enemy, we will be the worst enemy you could ever have. Because someone you force to be your enemy will always be the one who will crush you the fastest if they must, for we have no wish to drag out any battles between us. If you want to war against Gaara, I would help him stop you in a heartbeat. I think I would win, don't you?"

Ay frowned at her again, but silently.

"But, short of that, we have no wish to fight," Shine went on. "And I will not blame you, for your Village is doing this without your consent. But the minute it becomes something you are encouraging, I will know what to think. So you can pick a fight with us, or you can make peace. Do the wise thing, Ay. No other Village would give you this many opportunities to redeem yourselves after the events of the past week."

She lowered her sword. "Pride gets in the way of everything. Will you let yours be the reason this Village suffers?"

Ay scowled at her again.

"We'll handle the issues with the Village ourselves," Shine went on. "I think we're more than able to. I wouldn't bow to their whims for a million of your ryo. I had hoped you would share that sentiment with me. I heard you were a man of great courage and willpower."

She stepped back finally and looked at Mabui. "As for your citizens who have been helping us thus far, I know we will do all in our power to protect them. No one will lay a hand on her if we can help it. But it will not be easy to do that if she is not working with us. It's become a safety issue now, whatever it was before. She can continue her spying for all I care, but I won't have anyone killed on our behalf. That's disgusting to me."

That might have been a jab at Ay's history with the Hyuga clan, who knew?

"As for the rest of this, I think it's your move," Shine said. "You have 24 hours to think about it."

"Are you giving me an ultimatum?" Ay said.

"I mean that we won't stay here if you will bend over for these people," Shine said. "They're attacking your own assistant, for crying out loud. If she's not safe, then no one is. And that means this is serious. But if you will stand your ground, then we can work together. We must not expect to see eye to eye, but the kind of thing we can work with. If this peace is important to you, then you let us know by tomorrow. Or, we can go, if you really, really want us to do that. There are more things to consider. I understand that..but my mind is made up, and I have your support?" She glanced at Wally.

"I agree with you," Wally said. "It makes the most sense to just decide now... We've waited long enough."

"I agree also," Gaara said, recovering his self possession. "I didn't want it to come to this stage so soon, but, if we stay, we must know that it is for a real purpose, not just probation. I can't risk everyone's safety on a 'maybe' at this point."

"All right, let's go," Shine said. "But, Mabui, if I could speak to you for a second outside?"

"Uh..." Mabui glanced at Ay.

Ay made no move to stop her.

"Fine." Mabui followed them out the door.

"What were you thinking?" she began, but Shine brushed her off.

"I won't be scolded by you," she said firmly. "Sorry. I just want to make you an offer. I'm not sure how things will play out here, but, if you're afraid to stay here, and we go, we can take you out of the Village... Maybe there's somewhere else you can go... I don't want to leave you here if your life is in danger. I know it's not ideal because it will confirm everyone's suspicions, but it's better than dying. You can think about it. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it wouldn't be right if we didn't offer some other plan in case this does not work."

"I..." Mabui was almost speechless. "But I couldn't... You..."

"Don't go home alone again," Wally told her. "Take someone with you. Or you can stay at our house if you have nowhere to go till this is resolved. Do the smart thing, okay?"

"Ay will not be pleased with us doing that," Gaara said. "But, as usual, Shine-kasa...I think you're right. It was too late for hesitating...but was the desk really necessary?"

"I wanted to show him how dangerous we could be without actually hurting anyone," Shine said. "I thought that would get the message across...and I'm 90% sure breaking his desk is nothing Ay hasn't done himself."

"I wish you were wrong," Mabui muttered to herself.

"Here's for the desk." Gaara pulled some coins out of his money belt he had. "I think this should cover it."

Mabui was speechless yet again. Really, Gaara was almost as big a mystery to her as the other two were.

They then left.

Dabi cast her a glance as if wondering what she was going to do.

She wished she knew.

* * *

Ay stewed over the conversation.

Tsunade dropped in to see him just an hour or so later, anticipating he'd be in a mood after that... Though all she knew was that they'd talk to him, but, knowing Shine and Wally's general personalities and Gaara's unconventional views, she figured that was enough.

Ay didn't hesitate to tell her that they'd made quite the sensation, though he didn't go into that much detail... However, the broken desk was a giveaway.

"Their proposal is that we're somehow getting a favor from them instead of the other way around," he said sourly. "And that I would not want them as an enemy. It was a threat, certainly."

"I haven't known them to threaten people often," Tsunade said. "Your Village must have done something to warrant it."

"Bold of you to say when you've only just arrived," Ay said. "What's your take on this...? Didn't you observe them in the previous Villages?"

"Just Stone," Tsunade said. "But I heard of them in the others. Mei was quite taken with them. Kakashi has no problem with them. Onoki was at least not their enemy when they left Stone, though perhaps he's not their fan either... However, all I've seen of them tells me you do not want them against you."

"They would hurt us?" Ay said.

"Personally? I don't think so." Tsunade sipped some tea. "But, trouble seems to follow anyone who treats them unjustly. Even if it didn't, I have a feeling they could do more by simply talking than most of us can do with force. I gave up trying to fight Likstar a while ago."

She held her index finger up. "To be frank, Ay, you're not a match for her in the intelligence department. She's easily the most sly person I've ever met, unless you count Orochimaru, but his was a different kind."

"She can't be trusted, then," Ay said. "She speaks as though she cares about her people, but Lord Gaara is under her influence entirely, and her partner seems to be even more so."

"Lord Gaara is not under her influence entirely," Tsunade said. "I've seen them disagree. I'm starting to think, however, that he has good reason to have faith in her. Her directions have always seemed to lead them the right way, from what I've heard. Her partner is not as stupid as he looks, either, that's just his game. Trust me, either of them are a threat. Teamed up with Lord Gaara, it is no surprise they've had such success so far, not to me. You were smart to have your assistant watch them. She's more observant, is she?"

"Mabui is an intelligence shinobi," Ay said, "and has always served me and the Village well...but you've no doubt heard already what's happened to her because of them."

"I've heard...but they are not to blame," Tsunade said candidly. "The Village has judged her without knowing the facts. Do you really try to defend them for that? You can't be so insensible."

Ay respected Tsunade enough to take this from her more than from the younger leaders, but even so, he didn't like it.

"They're a constant problem for me," he said. "The Village hates them so far, yet we can't just not be part of this alliance if all the other Villages will side with Lord Gaara."

"I agree...and, really, they're good allies to have," Tsunade said. "They would make you far stronger. It's convincing your Village of that that's your challenge. They seem to be as stubborn as you are."

"They're not used to outsiders, and I suppose not all of them are appeased by the war itself," Ay said.

"I guess a 2-day war is not enough time to win over everyone's support," Tsunade mused. "Hence this peace mission."

"It seems as if Stone didn't like them as much as the others," Ay said. "Why is that?"

"Some of it is classified to Stone themselves. But my assessment is that Stone is too inflexible. They're narrow minded also and have never particularly trusted the other Villages. Not that any of us trust each other that much, but them less so than anyone. It's no surprise that they struggled with the peace mission. But in the end, Team Zoe won out, so to speak. I will say this: They will help even their enemies. That's why Uchiha is with them, not just to show off. I thought at first that was it, but, watching them, I saw he was well in hand with them. He's quite drawn to Miss Likstar also, and he's never liked anyone that I ever heard."

"Tell me about that," Ay said. "I don't like his presence in my Village after what he did to Bee."

"That was some youthful folly," Tsunade scoffed. "Even he'd probably say so now. I won't lie and say Uchiha is not dangerous if he wants to be, Leaf of all people knows that... But when I watched him in Stone with them, I saw him the most obedient I've ever seen him. He would not show me any respect, but he respected Likstar, and by extension her team. If you want him to be nullified, she needs to like you."

"And you think he's that friendly to her? That means she has a powerful weapon on her side."

"She wouldn't use him as such. In fact, she wasn't happy when he tried to defend her...strange woman. But he would defend her--that's all you need to know...and it's only been months. That says something about her methods. I'm not saying I agree with them all, but they work on those rogue shinobi they've picked up. They made them willing to submit to authority again. Whatever they do, it's not imaginary. Can you afford to ignore it?"

"It doesn't look like it," Ay said. "But the Village won't be satisfied by this. Even if I agreed with them, on principle, things must change for our people to survive. I can't force compliance without creating more resentment. Cloud Shinobi are free-spirited people, and they change their minds rarely. "

"I know that," Tsunade said. "But you'd better think of something that will change their minds." She sipped her tea again.

[I hope everyone is now happy with Tsunade's part in this story. She's not the antagonist of it, and she's willing to help them when she can. People might have been salty about her role in the Stone fiasco, but at least she can learn from it.]