The release of tension when Kagome and Keiko walked into the cave was almost a physical force.

"You're back!" Akane said, beaming. "We were so worried! Tell us what happened!"

Kei settled down by the hibachi and gave Hazō a grateful nod in exchange for a skewer of roasted chicken. She nibbled delicately on it while thinking how to answer the question.

"Stinkers sent her into a whole corridor full of seals," Kagome grumbled. "Came out a couple hours later all banged up."

"Hang on, Kagome," Inoue said, pulling herself out of the mouse hole so that she could see who she was talking to. She winced, pressing a hand against the stitches in her belly. Noburi hurried over to fuss at her, but she waved him off and propped herself up against the side of the mouse hole.

"Start from the beginning," Inoue said, once she was settled. "You left here with Takahashi. Then what?"

Kei gulped down the bit of chicken she was eating so that she could offer the report that she'd been composing in her head.

"There were two guards, but Takahashi-sensei talked our way past them," she said. "He gave me the key to the shrine, I went in and found a fake scroll sitting on a pedestal. There was a passage under the pedestal that led down to an underground labyrinth. There were a large number of traps, but I eventually found the real scroll. I attempted to open it, but it was locked shut by a seal. I brought it back aboveground to find the village waiting—villagers and council both. Kagome managed to unlock the scroll and I signed it before anyone could stop me. This"—she waved the giant scroll vaguely—"is the Pangolin contract. Pandā is their first-contact representative; he appeared when I signed it and took me back to the Summon Realm. There I met with the Boss Pangolin, Pantsā of the Adamant Scales. He found me marginally acceptable as a summoner and said that I was free to negotiate with the individual pangolins in order to be able to summon them. Pandā then brought me back. In front of the council and the village he ordered me to take the scroll and leave, to go forth and fight the enemies of the pangolins. First among those enemies are the Tapirs and the Condors. Fortunately, the Toad and Pangolin clans are allies, so we will not have any issues working with Jiraiya."

Inoue cocked an eyebrow. "Why do I have the feeling that there are a good few things being left out?" she said with a sardonic smile. "Keiko, you are amazing. Congratulations kid; you done good."

Kei blinked. "I did?" she said. "But...it wasn't actually...I mean, I offended Pantsā when I used my bloodline. And I didn't think to have Pandā specifically say that the rest of you should go along when I leave. I realized that right after he vanished. And I let myself get hit by the traps, so I'm going to slow us down while we travel, and—"

Inoue's laugh was broken in half by pained coughing. "Ouch," she said. "Oh, man, don't make me laugh, that stings." She gestured at her prone and injured form. "I think I'm going to be slowing us just a wee bit more than you are, kiddo. Seriously, Keiko—you did a fantastic job. Be proud of yourself."

The knot in Kei's stomach loosened a bit. There'd been so many mistakes but...maybe there had been some successes as well? And Mari-sensei seemed pleased, so maybe the successes really had outweighed the mistakes. Of course, Mari-sensei was always kind, so maybe this was just her offering a generous interpretation. The funny, beautiful, confident jōnin wouldn't have offended Pantsā and nearly gotten herself killed.

"So, this Pandā," Inoue said. "What's he like? Can we meet him, or is it too soon to summon him again?"

Kei thought about that. Pandā hadn't said anything about when he could be summoned or how often, and he'd seemed very excited about meeting humans and coming to the Mortal Path. The team would need to meet him sooner rather than later, and this was a relatively peaceful moment....

"I think it should be fine, sensei," Kei said. She sliced the edge of her thumb with a kunai and touched her hand to the floor. "Pandā!" she called. "I choose you to summon!"

There was a bampf of purple smoke and the pangolin appeared. He stood hunched over, claws tapping together as he peered around nearsightedly. "Ooh! Hi, Keiko!" he said, then halted. "Oh...sorry. First names are a thing here, aren't they? You keep them secret because they give power over you, I think? Oh dear." He looked at the ground in embarrassment. "I'm terribly sorry. My mother would yank my tail for being so thoughtless."

Keiko smiled; it was oddly nice to be in a position to offer kind support for another's blunder. "It's all right, Pandā," she said. "You should feel free to call me Keiko. We don't actually keep our names secret, it's just that first names are considered intimate. They're only used between close friends or family members."

Pandā's head came up. "Ooh, or mates, right? Do humans really mate face-to-face? That seems so awkward! How do you—" He frowned, peering closer at Keiko, then shuffled over so he could get closer. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You look funny."

Keiko's blush was about to melt the stone floor beneath her feet.

"She's just a little embarrassed," Inoue said, amused. Pandā eeped and spun around to face her. The jōnin smiled and waved. "It's an honor to meet you, sir. Please excuse me if I don't get up, but I'm a bit stabbed at the moment."

"Oh, no, please don't think anything of it!" Pandā said. He looked around the cave. "Ooh, you must all be Kei—er, Mori—er, Keiko's clan!"

There were some vague sounds of agreement-with-reservations, but no one actually said anything. Hazō had his hand on Kagome's arm; the sealmaster slowly slid the wooden ring box back into his pocket, but didn't fully relax.

"I'm Inoue Mari, Keiko's sensei," the jōnin said. "Let me introduce you to—"

"No, wait!" Pandā interrupted her, tapping his tail on the ground excitedly. "This is my chance for my anthropologist training to shine for the first time in my life! I can totally do this!

"You're the clan matriarch," he said, pointing a claw at Inoue-sensei. "From your muscles and your bearing, you're clearly terribly strong. And looking at how old your kids are, you started very young. You must be very fertile."

Inoue-sensei blinked. A complex series of emotions flickered quickly across her face, none of them positive.

"Oh, please don't look so uneasy, sir," Pandā said to Kagome. "I know I'm terribly masculine, but I wouldn't dream of trying to usurp your place as her consort. Besides, it's not like I can't smell the smouldering sexual tension between the two of you."

Kagome opened his mouth. Then he closed it again.

"And this must be your heir, the first daughter," Pandā moved on to Akane. "She is very strong, with excellent child-bearing hips, and I'm sure she will make a good successor together with her very virile partner," he indicated Hazō.

Hazō and Akane looked at each other, then quickly away.

"It all makes sense now," Pandā said happily. "Keiko, you are the second daughter. I can see the deep love you have for your mother, and you resent your sister as competition for her attention and leadership of the clan. You wanted the summoner's power so that you could go off and start a new family with your mate," he pointed to Noburi. "I know he's not as manly as your sister's partner, which I suppose is another reason you might be jealous of her, but I can tell he's deeply devoted to you and will make a great provider for all the children I'm sure you'll have together.

"Although," he said more quietly to Noburi, "I understand that humans are monogamous, so you should really hurry up and decide between Keiko and this other female I'm smelling on you."

"Pandā," Keiko said very carefully, "I think you should come back another time."

Before Pandā could reply, she made the dismissal hand seal, and he disappeared.

"Well," Inoue-sensei said into the deadly silence, "that was an entertaining little series of misunderstandings. I've just remembered that I am completely exhausted after being stabbed, so I'm going to go back into the mouse hole and get some sleep." One hand pressed to her belly, she crawled back into the shelter and out of sight.

"Yeah," Noburi nodded as she disappeared. "No offence, Keiko, but that new summon of yours says some crazy things." He paused. "I'm going to go do stuff. See you later."

"I also have miscellaneous matters to attend to," Keiko announced, and followed Noburi out, making sure to head in a completely different direction.

Kagome and Hazō simultaneously muttered something about needing to set up more traps and write more lists respectively, and one ran outside while the other retreated into the depths of the cave.

Akane stood alone.

"Well, I thought it was hilarious," she said to nobody in particular.

o-o-o-o

Takahashi's elegantly-clad daughter led them into the inner sanctum, got them settled on cushions, and vanished with a murmured, "Father will be here momentarily."

In truth, it was less than two minutes before Takahashi glided in and slid the door shut behind them. He strode to the dais and settled easily on his cushion, arranging his hakama neatly around him. No sooner had he done so than Minori was back with a tea tray. She set it gracefully in front of her father, bowed to him, bowed to the genin, and vanished silently. Without speaking, Takahashi made tea.

Over the weeks of her training Kei had seen the Isan tea ceremony done nearly every day. It had been performed for her alone, for her and Minori, and for her and various combinations of the Takahashi clan. She still wasn't completely fluent in it, but she had learned to read the basic elements. Usually Minori was the one who actually handled the tea implements; the fact that Takahashi was performing the ceremony himself, and that the only people present were himself and the three genin...she found herself sweating, hoping desperately that Hazō and Ishihara would not humiliate her in front of her teacher.

Her eyes grew wider as the ceremony progressed.

Takahashi began by washing the tea bowls with hot water from the kettle, afterwards emptying the water into a pot intended for that purpose. He did not turn the cups towards his guests as he dried them. There is trust and respect between us; you do not need to examine the cup for residue or poison.

He dried the first cup with a bleached-white napkin, then swiftly folded the napkin into a circle and lay it to his left, on the imaginary line connecting himself with Akane. The sun, provider of warmth to all those around it, it meant...but also lack of wisdom, bringer of harm through carelessness, depending on the intent of the host. He set her cup at the sun's seven o'clock position, indicating that the intent was mostly the positive with some hints of the negative.

The second napkin was laid between himself and Hazō, folded into the stylized shape of a tapir. Loyal, strong, protector, but also young, not too bright, in need of a minder. The cup was placed at nine o'clock.

Kei held her breath as her own cup was dried. Takahashi's fingers danced through the motions of origami with speed born from a lifetime of practice, forming the napkin into a mountain lily. The mountain lily grows even in the tiniest crack on the sheerest cliff face. Your strength is that of the lily: determined, resilient, indomitable...but it also meant fragile, lacking in physical strength, uncertain, precarious. He paused, looking up and meeting her eyes for just a moment. The blood drained from her face as he nodded very slightly; his eyes flicked down, drawing her own gaze to the cup as he set it down.

A finger's width to the right of twelve o'clock.

He met her eyes again; the tiniest of scraping sounds echoed in the silent room as he slid the cup to the perfect twelve o'clock. Time passes, character becomes.

Kei swallowed as the room seemed to spin around her from shock. The world went blurry for just a moment, and when she came back to herself she was holding a cup of tea.

Takahashi raised his cup in salute and all four of them drank together. The tea was aromatic, a base of black with hibiscus, anise, and something spicy. Strong, not bitter, a touch of sweet and a taste of tart. Complex, good and bad, worthy of analysis.

Takahashi lowered the cup, cradling it casually in his hands. "You wished to speak to me?" he asked.

Kei struggled with words for a moment; the silence dragged on just a bit too long. It would have become painful had Takahashi not sipped his tea, creating a natural pause.

"Yes, sensei," Kei said, finally getting her tongue sorted out. "I wanted to thank you for the training you have given me, and the support you have given all of us. As you know, we'll be leaving soon."

Takahashi nodded. "So I'd gathered," he said. "When a summon tells you it is time to go, it is time to go." He lifted his tea to his lips for a moment. "It is with great sorrow that I hear you are required to take the scroll with you. Since the founding of the village it has been our treasure, the center around which our village has turned. Things will change enormously now. We shall need to find a new center."

Kei nodded, fighting the urge to clear her throat nervously. "Before we leave, I wanted to tell you something that I learned in the Summon Realm: the Pangolin clan are enemies of the Tapir clan. Pandā saw the tapirs when I summoned him at the shrine and didn't react, so I suspect they don't have a specific issue with non-sapient tapirs, but I felt it was still important to mention."

"Thank you," Takahashi said. "That could be important, yes."

Kei looked at Hazō and gave him a small nod. A feeling of relief went through her; she no longer needed to take the lead in the conversation. She would speak only to correct errors in plans, or if asked. (Ishihara, of course, had been counseled very carefully to not speak at all.)

"We wanted to ask you one thing before we leave, sir," Hazō said. "How will we be viewed? We aren't taking the scroll of our own choice, yet we are still concerned that people might blame us for it. I wouldn't want to make new enemies."

Takahashi thought for a moment. "I think you do not need to worry about acquiring new enemies," he said, the tiniest bit of stress on 'new' making the intent clear. "Change is upsetting and frightening, but most of our people are reasonable. Reasonable enough, at least."

"I see," Hazō said, thinking that through. "I'm glad to hear it. We have very much enjoyed our time here. I wish there were something we could do for the village to express our gratitude."

Takahashi sipped thoughtfully from his cup. "That's very kind of you," he said. "It's not necessary, though. Things will be very busy here for a time, probably best not to add the excitement of a gift on top of that. At least, not for a time."

Hazō's eyelid flickered in surprise but he gave no other sign. "Of course," he said. He took a sip of the tea. "I suspect the pangolins will keep us traveling for some time."

Takahashi nodded. "I would expect so. A full turn of the seasons before you would even have a moment, most likely."

Hazō nodded. "It seems likely, yes." He smiled. "And, as if the pangolins weren't enough, we also need to get in touch with a contact of ours. He's a high official in Konoha, the most powerful ninja village on the continent, and we occasionally work with him. He seems to trust us, at least somewhat, so I'm sure he'll have a great deal for us to do."

The marble of which Takashi's face was made became granite. "I'm sure he will," he said with a polite nod. "Such a man must be busy all the time. I'm sure he never gets out of his office." The air became heavy with something that was not quite killing intent but that hinted at the possibility.

"That's definitely true," Hazō said hurriedly. "Very busy. Probably sleeps in his office all the time. I'm sure he never has a chance to travel."

The granite softened slightly and Takahashi nodded. "I hope he finds interesting and lucrative employment for you."

o-o-o-o

It had taken them longer to get to the fishing hole this time; Noburi was mobile on his crutches, but still needed to be careful. A nicked artery was no joke, and he couldn't afford to tear it.

Still, they were here now. Noburi had brushed the snow off a fallen log and spread a blanket on it for them to sit on. He'd also brought along a canteen of still-hot tea (after verifying that it was only the tea ceremony that was fraught with hidden meaning, not the tea itself) and they were sharing it between them. They each wrapped their hands around their tea mugs and huddled into their cloaks; the day was windless and relatively warm, but it was still winter.

"Yuno..." Noburi said. He bit his lip, gathering himself for the conversation that he knew he needed to have, no matter how much he would prefer to have his teeth extracted. "We need to talk."

"Yes?" she said, looking at him with soulful eyes.

Agh. This just didn't get easier. "Yuno...there's something you need to know about our betrothal," Noburi said. He took a deep breath. "It was a political move on the part of Elder Kannagi."

Yuno nodded. "Yes, of course," she said. "All marriages have political overtones. By allowing me to follow my heart and marry you he was foreclosing the option to have me marry into another clan."

"Um, no," Noburi said, fiddling with his mug. "That's...not what I meant. I meant...our marriage was never intended to happen."

Yuno blinked. "What?"

"It was a ploy," Noburi said. "The idea was that you and I would be betrothed, so Kannagi could show the other elders that my team and I were tied to the village by blood. It gave him political clout and helped him get elected to the council. He was supposed to cancel the betrothal, though, so that he didn't look too radical. He wanted to keep ties open with the conservatives, and he couldn't do that if he was allowing an outlander to marry one of his children."

Water was brimming into Yuno's eyes. "But...."

"Yuno, I'm sorry," Noburi said. "I do like you, but I'm not ready for marriage. It was never supposed to go this far." He swallowed. "Look, I know you're miserable here. Me and my team, the pangolins ordered us to leave. We'll be going in a couple of days, once our sensei is a little more healed. You could come with us, if you wanted...?"

Yuno scrubbed furiously at her eyes. "'Come with you'," she snapped. "You cast me aside, and then you want me to go with you? For what, pity? Because you feel sorry for me?"

"No!" Noburi said. "I like you, really. I think you're smart, and funny, and really scarily good with that axe, and my team likes you, so I thought—"

"You thought?!" Yuno snarled, jumping to her feet. "You thought? What did you think, that it would be fun to have me follow along at your heels like a puppy, just in case you decided it would be fun to have a girl later?" Her voice rose as she spoke; by the last word she was looming over him with her fists clenched at her sides.

"No, that's not it!" Noburi said, leaning away in fear. "I just—I...I didn't want you to be unhappy! You said it yourself, the people here fear you and distrust you, even though you've done nothing to deserve it. You should—"

"I should get as far from you as I can, before I do something to earn the reputation the village has given me!" Yuno snarled. "I'd rather be feared and distrusted than pitied! Get away from me, Endo Daisuke! I never want to see you again!" She turned and leaped away at full chakra-boosted ninja speed, leaving Noburi staring dumbly after her.

For long seconds there was no sound except the river.

"Well," Noburi said to himself. "That went well." He climbed to his feet with a groan and began folding up the blanket.