It was late morning when Minami returned. Kagome was on self-appointed guard duty at the time, squatting on top of the shelter and refusing to talk as he glared out at the desert and marinaded in his own furious thoughts. Hazō and Akane were enjoying a semi-private picnic while Noburi napped and Keiko did completely unnecessary maintenance on her weapons.

The land was flat enough that Minami could be seen coming from ten miles away; she was making no effort at stealth and throwing a rooster tail of dust in her wake. By the time she arrived the whole team was packed and ready for departure.

"Thanks," Minami said, accepting the canteen that Hazō silently extended. She tugged the bandana down from the clean half of her face and used some of the water to wipe at the dust and dirt on the other half. "Interesting meeting; nothing definitely helpful, but we'll definitely want to report this in. They had some info on supply dumps Akatsuki has hit in the last month as well as chatter about people who have hired them."

"Who hires an entire organization of S-rank ninja?" Noburi asked. "What would you even hire them for? I mean, most ninja missions are civilian protection, courier work, Yakuza assassinations...hiring one S-rank for that, let alone a whole bunch of them, would be like using a Hellfire Tornado jutsu to kill mosquitoes."

"You'd be surprised," Minami said, shrugging. "There's a lot of dead-man switches—someone will pay a lot of money to Akatsuki or another high-powered mercenary and say 'if anything happens to me, kill so-and-so or release this information or whatever.' Shika once argued that they provide at least some positive social value in the form of contract enforcement. Also, major consortiums will sometimes hire them to eradicate all threats in a large area around a new mine or other resource. It's a lot of money upfront, but it saves a tremendous amount in reduced guards, not having to lose time to workforce disruption, and being able to pay lower wages because the area is safe enough that workers want to go there."

"In point of fact," Keiko said, "there is a town in eastern Wind Country that pays to have a secure zone thirty miles wide around their walls. They have a retainer set up with unknown parties—almost certainly Akatsuki—to clear the area every six months. They have been doing this for five years and their economic output has increased twelve-fold across that time. The Nara have notes about it, along with preliminary designs for doing the same thing around Leaf."

"Huh?" Hazō said. "They're not clearing the area around Leaf...I mean, sure, it's not the Swamp, but we still got attacked by those tree badgers on our way in, and that patch of blood beets was only a hundred meters from the walls."

"I did not have time to research the information in detail. I would assume the plan simply has not been put into practice yet."

"But that's nuts," Hazō said. "If it would produce such positive—"

"Here," Kagome said, tossing a satchel at Minami's feet as he jumped off the roof.

She looked at the satchel and then looked at him. Her body language was extremely calm.

"And this is...?"

"Brushes, inkstones, blank paper. All my writing materials." He eyed the satchel longingly for just a moment, then firmly dragged his gaze away from it to look her in the eye. There was something off about his bearing, a determination that had Hazō's hackles standing on end.

Minami eyed Kagome carefully, clearly unsettled. "Your writing materials."

"Writing materials. Can't make new seals without this stuff."

"You still have your seals?"

"Don't be...yes, I still have my seals. I'm no good in a fight without them and I won't leave the group undefended just to make a point."

"Mm-hm. What point might that be?" She shifted her weight, glancing around with a studied casualness that failed to disguise the fact she'd just marked the locations of the rest of the team

"I've been missing for fifteen years because my bosses betrayed me twice," Kagome said, a hint of a snarl hiding bashfully behind the words. "There is exactly one thing I still care about, and that's my team. Kurosawa Hazō, Wakahisa Noburi, Mori Keiko, Ishihara Akane, Inoue Mari. Jiraiya, I suppose. A lot of people say things like 'Anything that hurts them does so over my dead body.' Fuck that. Nothing hurts them, period. If that means wiping out every living thing within ten miles, I'm fine with that." He snorted. "We spent a while in a minor ninja village built into the side of a mountain; day after we got there I had the slopes mined so that we could have just buried the stinking place. I still think we should have done it that way.

"You are a threat to my team, and threats look better in lots and lots of tiny red pieces."

"Is this supposed to be reassuring?"

"Yes. Because killing you would be an even bigger threat to my team. Setting all of Leaf against us doesn't protect them. Should have seen that. Didn't look far enough ahead the first time. Haven't had to worry about the long term for fifteen years, fell out of the habit. Hard enough being alone, everything always trying to eat you. Think about the future, just makes it worse. Spend all your time wondering when the hunters are going to show up, when the perimeter is going to fail. Wondering if it'll be the chakra voles tunneling up under your bedroll and eating their way through your liver and out your belly, or the mind birds eating your eyeballs while you stand there like an idiot not even knowing what's happening, or the—"

He paused mid-sentence and took a long, shuddering breath. "My point is that when I was on my own there was no advantage in thinking about the future. That's different now, and I'm trying to get back in the habit. So. Protecting my team is what matters to me, and I can't do that unless you trust me. From now on, I will protect you the same way I protect them. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Even if you turn on us, even if you shout Wakahisa's abilities from the rooftops of Leaf, I will protect you. I will obey your orders in the field. I will be the best soldier you have ever had. I will protect you from anything at all. Earning your trust is the only thing that could protect my friends, and therefore I must earn your trust."

Minami was leaning back, more shaken by Kagome's words than she had been by his attempted murder. "What...but...you tried to kill me."

"Yes. But I won't again. No matter what. I will protect you, even if you betray us."

He leaned in. "I will protect you...but, if you betray them, I will blow your entire clan into teeny tiny pieces."

"Kagome!" Noburi started moving forward.

"Noburi, stop." Keiko's voice was cold. "Everyone stop."

"She gets it," Kagome said, not breaking eye contact with Minami. "She understands. She probably doesn't agree, but she understands. I'm sure she thinks this is the wrong way, but it's the only way I can see working. Can you understand it, Minami?"

Minami studied him. "You're being completely honest, aren't you?"

Kagome nodded, still not releasing her from his gaze. "Yes. 'Clear Communication no Jutsu', Hazō calls it. I'm no good with people. Most of 'em are stupid and the rest are liars. I've never been a good liar; best I can do is just not say anything. No one believes that, though. Ninja lie; it's what we do. People lie, too. We're trained not to believe other people. Well, I'm not leaving any room for disbelief. Here's the sweet and the bitter: I am not your friend and you aren't part of my team, but I will be your loyal and obedient soldier. Whatever you say, I'll do. For whatever my word is worth—and that's not much—you have it. I'll do whatever it takes to make you want to keep my team safe and keep their secrets hidden. You can have anything I own, anything I know. Seals, intelligence, cryptography, engineering...just think how valuable it could be to the Minami clan to have their own crypto guy, their own sealmaster, a security expert who can secure their compound, someone with experience teaching sealing who is willing to give their kids lessons for free. Not easy to come by, eh?"

"No. It is not."

He dropped to one knee in a posture of fealty. "Clear Communication: Protecting my friends is the only thing I care about, and I will do whatever it takes. Protect my friends, keep their secrets, and I'm yours. Betray them, and I will kill everyone you care about. Is that clear enough?"

She stood, studying him silently. Hazō held his breath, feeling the world teeter around him.

Minami nodded in decision. She stepped forward, grasping Kagome's hand and pulling him to his feet. "You are. Pick up your gear, soldier."

A very small and very brief smile shivered across Kagome's face. "As you command, Captain Minami."