[OP: "There Beneath"--The Oh Hellos.]

"Okay, boys," Wally addressed most of the guys while the girls were talking. "The real fun part begins. We get to put in the fertilizer...and let me say, what you guys put in that stuff is really...uh, potent."

"It's probably fish guts," Shikamaru said.

They gave him a questioning look.

"I've known Ino for years," he shrugged. "You really think she's never mentioned this stuff? Not that I enjoy gardening, though it's not the worst chore. At least you can sit in the shade."

"No, you can't," Kankuro said.

"I guess if you were on your porch...?" Wally said uncertainly. "But there's not a lot of shade right now. You're gonna be okay, genius?"

He didn't say genius in a mean way.

Shikamaru sighed. "I just want to get this over with. I hope Stone Village ends up liking this for all the work it's taken."

"You know, without West-san this would have taken weeks," Gaara reminded him. He'd already conferred with the Tsuchikage, and everything seemed to be on track.

"Oh, I couldn't have done it without you guys," Wally said. "So, who's gonna volunteer to spread that gross-smelling stuff?"

No one put a hand up.

"I could use clones..." Naruto said.

"Yeah, just let him use clones." Suigetsu made a face. "I hate fertilizer."

"When have you ever used it?" Jugo asked.

"The idea of it is enough," Suigetsu said.

"Shine tells me it's not as dirty as you think it is," Wally said. "I hope that makes her feel better about it, because personally I've never warmed up to that idea of moving poop around...and fish guts isn't much better... Still, it's important, and you don't want to make the girls do it, right? Ladies love it when guys do things for them that they'd rather not do."

"And who's trying to impress the ladies?" Shikamaru said flatly.

"I wouldn't mind impressing them," Naruto said. "But can I use clones to do that?"

"Let's ask a lady." Wally pulled Hinata over. She wasn't quite ready for it, but Wally was so used to grabbing people and moving them that he sometimes didn't think of how surprising it was. "Hey, Daytime Girl, can you tell us if the girls will be impressed if we use clones to do the dirty work instead of doing it ourselves?"

"Impressed?" Hinata said, not ready for this.

"Yeah, we're talking about how to impress them," Wally said.

"But...you already have a fiancée, Wally-sensei," Hinata said.

"Oh, sure, but you can't stop impressing a girl just because she already said yes to the ring," Wally said. "What kind of hero would do that? I mean, what if she changed her mind?"

"My mom says men stop trying as soon as they're married," Shikamaru said.

"Then your mom got what she expected," Wally said. "But no offense, I'm sure she was happy."

"Well, maybe...if she's ever happy..." Shikamaru said. "She's a harsh woman."

"You talk about your mom like that?" Kankuro said.

"Well, it's true." Shikamaru wasn't used to anyone objecting to him saying it.

Kankuro couldn't have imagined talking about his mother like that--then again, his mother was very different from Shikamaru's, but then, Kankuro didn't talk about his father that way, and his father had been a jerk.

"Seems to me you just call any girl harsh who expects you to do anything," Suigetsu pointed out. "Now, she's really harsh if she's just crazy and mean for no reason whatsoever, no matter what you do."

"Hey, boys, standing around and talking bad about girls is not what we're here for." Wally clapped his hands, startling them all.

"In general, I think women are pretty okay," Shoto said sincerely.

Wally had to choke back a laugh at his tone. "Erghm--Come on, I wanted to see you in action here. Just because I'm faster than you doesn't mean I'm gonna carry your rear ends all day. Someone step it up here. What do you think, Hinata?"

"I...I don't see the problem with using clones," Hinata said, "if they can handle the weight..."

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Naruto said. "Huh...those are big bags...but with enough clones--I mean, they can hold my weight for a few seconds."

"I think we've spent too long talking about this," Gaara said.

"Easy for you to say--you use sand to do everything," Naruto pointed out.

"I see." Gaara rubbed his chin. "So you think I'm not doing enough personally? I suppose it's like my sand armor--I often don't struggle with things other people do. Perhaps I am sparing myself too much."

"Oh, no, little brother, the Kage can't just be scooping around dirt and manure with his hands," Kankuro said. "That's not right."

"I don't know, I read in the holy text that the Lord once washed the feet of his students," Gaara said. "A footnote said that was a job reserved for very low servants."

"Yeah, it's like the garbage guys at home," Wally said. " I mean, they're undervalued but, dang, it would be gross if they didn't do their job."

"But still," Kankuro said, "they already think we're weird enough doing this in person, and people keep coming by to watch."

This was true. Stone Village inhabitants thought it was a novelty just as much, if not more so, than Mist Village natives had. They kept coming by to watch them work from the street.

Sasuke didn't like it one bit. He was sure the story if this was going all over the village and would probably go beyond it. But he knew that if he tried to get out of it the answer would be no. And by now he knew that Shine meant it when she said no and would not change her mind...at least she hadn't so far.

Most of the others were bothered by the attention but trying to ignore it. Shoto didn't really care, and Momo thought it was a good sign.

Sai was oblivious to it and only thought it was odd that they were so interested.

"You know, you boys are looking at this all wrong," Wally said, after a glance at the onlookers who were currently standing at the edge of the property--mostly kids, teens, and a few women who must not have been working ones, and a couple older men. "Sure, they may think you're a little kooky for doing this personally, but Gaara is the cat's pajamas in kages right now. Everyone loves him because of the war alliance, so if he does it, they'll think he's just onto something big. Works for celebs all the time at home. If a car is ugly, you just get some famous person to promote it. Or foot cream or something like that."

"Kages don't do promotion," Kankuro said, in a tone that said that ninja considered this to be like peddling snake oil.

"That's not the point I'm making," Wally said, a little annoyed. "What I'm saying is, you have an edge. Just own it and they'll get used to it."

"I believe he may be right," Gaara said. "Anyway, their opinion is no reason for me not to work. We train people ourselves. What is this but a different form of training?"

No one made any further protest.

Reluctantly, they started to lay out the fertilizers and the soil with it, while the girls brought in the plants.

[Here's an image of a simple greenhouse, it's smaller than what they'd be doing, but the basic structure is similar.]

[Image free from rawpixel]

The two moms who were helping them with this (Ming and Lulu were their names) had brought their other children with them along with Ryuji and Lin.

Some of those children were quite young; one was less than 2 years old.

Shine had stopped working in the dirt when he started crying and fretting because the other children weren't paying him any mind--they were too busy asking their moms if they could help. Playing in the dirt looked fun to them.

Shine walked up to the tot and began to make silly faces at him until he stopped crying and started to giggle adorably. Then she pulled a stuffed lion out of her bag and started to tickle him with it.

This was a side of her that the ninja had not seen yet, and none of them would have thought that the serious or sassy Shine was capable of acting silly to amuse a child.

"Wow, it's just weird to see her make those kinds of faces and talk baby talk," Tenten remarked.

"Somehow, it doesn't fit her, does it?" Ino said.

"Oh, no, Shine loves kids," Momo said, handing them another roll of garden tape to tie tressels with. "She does childcare at her home all the time. I like kids too, but I've never got a chance to be around them so much. I don't know how to take care of them..." She sighed. "I wish I did. I'd like to be a mom someday."

"Ugh, sounds like a lot of work," Tenten said. "I'm not good with kids... I mean, I've never actually watched them."

"I want kids," Ino said wistfully. "But who knows when that will ever happen..."

Ming, who was Ryuji's mother as well as the toddler's, was surprised at Shine doing anything, but she said, "That woman is a natural with kids. She must have some of her own."

"I don't see why she'd be on the road with this peace team then," Lulu replied. "Unless her husband was watching them."

"Uh, she's not married." Naruto heard them.

"No?" Ming said.

"No, that guy is her boyfriend." Naruto pointed at Wally, who was carrying three bags of soil at once.

"Oh..." Lulu said. "I see."

"Her fiance actually," Temari corrected. "Naruto, get back to work."

"I was," Naruto grumbled, moving along.

"So do they have kids?" Ming asked Temari.

"Nope," Temari said. "At least they've never mentioned it..."

"I don't." Shine looked up. "I can hear you, you know. I've just always babysat and taken care of my younger siblings. Kids are easier than adults, you know. They're straightforward. And they're sweet. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, you go ahead," Ming said, sounding a little burnt out. "I couldn't get anyone to watch them for me, so you're helping."

"Hey, guys," Shine said to the other kids, "want to play a game?"

"What kind of game?" they asked her.

"It's called Simon says," Shine said. "I'll explain the rules."

Shine was a genius. She had all of them doing exactly as she said and thinking it was a game for the next hour almost. She made it funny by telling them to do silly things so they didn't think of it as following orders, like everyone had to act a like a duck or a fly or play dead.

Then, of course, the kids wanted to try being "Simon", and she let them, and they came up with even sillier ideas.

That kept them busy for quite a while, and the others were amazed. None of them thought they could have handled two kids, let alone 5, not counting Ryuji and Lin, who were helping the boys move stuff.

"Shine and I both love kids," Wally told the guys. "That's why I fell for her. There's this orphanage I visit at home--they get a real kick out of a superhero visiting them, of course, and they're great kids, you know? They don't have a lot, but they're glad for what they have. I never invited any of my hero buddies to go with me because I thought they'd think I was just using the clout to look like a good guy...or just asking them to do something they didn't want to do. They're not all really great with kids...and I didn't want the kids to get scared, you know? I mean, my friends can be pretty intense. But after I met Shine and we started to talk, she mentioned how much she liked kids, and I mentioned the orphanage and she acted like I brought up going to Disneyland or something."

"Disneyland?" Gaara repeated.

"It's like this really fun place," Wally said. "At least if you like the movies. It's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, but I never thought they took the parents' emotions who had to pay for it into consideration when they advertised that." [But do they ever?]

"I see," Gaara said, though he didn't.

"It's like a carnival," Shoto supplied. "But much bigger and open all year around."

"Oh..." The ninja understood now.

"So she acted like she was going to a carnival about the idea of visiting an orphanage?" Kankuro thought that sounded a little batty.

"Oh sure," Wally said. "I asked if she wanted to come, and she jumped at it. And I thought, no way does a woman like that really want to spend her afternoon with kids she doesn't know, but she loved it. She wanted to come back. I think I was in love from that point, really, though it took a while for me to work up the nerve to admit it."

He got blank looks.

"What?" he said.

"Remember that orphans are seen as losers," Dabi reminded him, leaning on a shovel. "Always thought that wasn't very fair. But it's bad karma, having no parents. Doing something in your past life."

"That's terrible," Wally said. "Our book says to take care of orphans. God has a special place for them. Widows too."

The ninja glanced at the two widows who were working with them right now.

"But you don't believe in karma, right?" Shikamaru said.

"I guess it depends on what you mean," Wally said. "If you mean that if you do good things, good things will happen you, I doubt that's always true, but I think more good things will happen to you if you do the right thing than if you do the wrong thing, and that people will spread that good you do for them. That's why I like to spend time with those kids. Someday, they might give it back. Even this dude, the Humanite, he's a criminal, but even he was about that idea of spreading culture to the innocent. See, even bad guys can agree that kids are the hope of the future. And who knows if an orphan could have a great future? A lot of orphans have changed the world. Hey, can't really be cursed if that's the case, right? Isn't this group made up 50% of orphans anyway?"

Gaara, Kankuro, Jugo, Naruto, Sai, Suigetsu, and Sasuke all looked either at each other or at the ground.

"But people do think we're cursed," Jugo spoke. 

"So don't listen to 'em," Wally said. "I believe that no one can decide your potential for you based on your family or your circumstances. Crazy stuff happens all the time. Heck, I was a nobody before I was the Flash, and now I'm world famous. You never know what can happen. And all of you have all these gifts. I just don't think anyone can put a cap on your potential."

Since potential was a highly valued thing in the ninja world, this might have been the most meaningful praise to any of them that Wally had given--though he and Shine would have said that kindness and compassion were more important things than potential achievements, but, to their current batch of students, that was still a new idea.

"I like that," Naruto said. "I mean, we've done a lot already, and I don't have parents. "

"I suppose there's really nothing in that superstition," Kankuro allowed. "I mean, I can't say life was any easier when we still had one parent..."

If anything, just the opposite, he and Gaara privately thought.

"So the karma where you inherit bad luck from your past life," Shikamaru said, "that's not real?"

"I don't see how you'd know for sure..." Wally said. "And if that was real, how do you explain that some people start off with bad lives and get better? Isn't that karma thing just an excuse not to try to change anything?"

Shikamaru nodded slowly. Shine had also put down the idea of karma and past lives...and from a practical standpoint, he could see why they didn't think it was a useful idea.

He supposed their idea of heaven and the afterlife was different.

"I guess now we know why you spend so much time with this group of rejects." Suigetsu turned to Wally, a bit snidely. "You and your woman both just like hanging out with people no one else thinks will amount to anything."

"I guess that's about right." Wally didn't get mad. "I did that before I believed in the book, but now that I know it says to take care of the least of these because that's like Jesus, I think it makes a lot of sense. Sometimes you just know a thing is right before you know it's right."

"It does explain, at least, why Shine and him are together," Shikamaru said to Kankuro. "I couldn't figure out what a smart woman would see in such a happy-go-lucky kind of hyperactive guy. "

"Maybe she just likes funny people," Kankuro said.

"Shine seems to like a lot of odd people," Shikamaru said. "I don't really see a pattern in it. But it's her business, not mine."

"Yeah, but you're taking an interest," Kankuro said. "At first I thought you didn't care. All people are pretty much the same to you, aren't they? But now you get it. Know them long enough and you start trying to figure them out. They draw you."

"I wouldn't put it like that." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head like he didn't care. "But it's a rare challenge, something that I can't figure out right away. I suppose I enjoy a challenge if it doesn't require that much physical effort from me."

"Still with no motivation, huh?" Kankuro said. "What does my sister see in you?"

"What's that?" Shikamaru looked at him sharply.

"Huh? I didn't say anything," Kankuro lied. "Get back to work."

Now he sounded like his sister.

Kankuro actually liked Shikamaru fine, as far as he knew him, but he had his doubts about whether or not he'd ever have the spine to handle Temari and if she was just setting her sights on the wrong kind of guy. But she tended to be pretty determined once she got an idea in her head, and it was no use trying to talk her out of her choice.

* * *

Sasuke was more bothered by what Wally had said than he let on. Wally had already forgotten about it, but it stuck with some of the boys who had never heard it before.

To Wally it was so natural to encourage people in that way, he didn't even think of it as unusual, but to them...? No one ever believed in them.

Naruto even voiced it to Sai and Sasuke, since they were both orphans also.

"I mean, I've tried really hard to prove I could be Hokage," he said. "But no one ever thought I could be for a long time, till Lady Tsunade and...Jiraiya-sensei." He paused for a second and then went on, brushing aside the sadness. "Anyway, even they never said it like that. People always picked on me for not having parents when I was a little kid."

"Why would someone pick on you for something you can't help?" Sai said.

"Well, gee, Sai, you talk about things people can't help all the time," Naruto said. "Like their body parts for example."

"Oh, you mean when I said--" said Sai, and Naruto nudged him so that he would shut up.

Sasuke didn't care what Sai had said, but he had been treated the same as how everyone treated Naruto. Not that people ever pushed him around--they didn't dare--but they whispered about it and looked away when he walked by.

Bad luck, that's what they thought. You had to be cursed to have something like that happen to you...as if it was your fault that your family died. As if it was your idea to be an ohpran.

He clenched a fist, seething slightly at the memory. And he wondered how Naruto spoke of it so lightly. One thing he'd never understood about him.

"But Wally-san makes it sound like it's no big deal," Naruto said. "Even like it could be okay to be that way. I gotta say, I don't really get half of what they talk about, but that part of it seems nicer than shinobi are."

"Indeed," Sai agreed. "They are very kind people after all. Sakura gave me the wrong idea of them entirely."

"She did?" Naruto said.

"Oh yes, she seemed to find it strange that I was going with you all. She said they weren't nice people," Sai said. "But she seems to have completely misunderstood their intentions. They're not harsh at all."

"Well, they're harsh to Sasuke," Naruto said, not seeming to care that Sasuke was standing right there.

"Oh, I don't think they've said anything about him that wasn't true," Sai said. "So it can't be harsh."

Sasuke glared at him, but Sai took no notice of it.

Funny, he'd stopped being afraid of Sasuke at some point, Sasuke wasn't sure when...but he would bet it had to do with the DJs and their treatment of him.

"Geez, Sai, you really know how to say the worst thing possible," Naruto said, rubbing his head. "I don't know--I get mad at them when they're mean to my friends, but then they're really nice to other people, and I can't decide if they're nice people or not. It's weird, usually I just like or dislike some right off, but I keep going back and forth with them."

"I think the reason is just that you want to take your friends' side and you think that makes you and the DJ enemies," Sai observed.

This was surprisingly savvy from him, but to him it was his summary of the facts, not emotions.

"Hmm, I guess that could be it," Naruto said.

Could be? Sasuke thought to himself in irritation. Was Naruto really not that self aware? No wonder they never spoke.

"Eh, well, Sasuke, what do you think?" Naruto applied to him. "They're jerks or they're nice?"

Sasuke gave him a look of derision at being asked.

"I don't care about things like that," he said coldly. "I don't really like anyone or anything, so it's no difference to me if they're jerks or not. But they've never done anything to you, so why you're concerning yourself about it is something I don't understand."

"Well, they shouldn't talk to you the way they do," Naruto said. "But every time I tell them that you're our comrade and it's not right, they laugh at me or say something else bad."

Sasuke wondered at what point Naruto would wonder if that was because they were just right--he decided probably never.

But he considered it beneath him to break it down for Naruto personally. 

"But I really don't think they're so unkind to Sasuke," Sai said, not even looking at Sasuke, so clearly he didn't care how he felt about hearing this. "They allowed them to do this and have protected him from the consequences of his actions--and looked after his physical wellbeing, at least. And the rest are just words. Sasuke has said worse about them and his own village."

"Hey, Sai, you really don't know when to stop talking," Naruto said.

Sasuke began to wonder how Sai could stand this kind of patronizing attitude that everyone seemed to have towards him, outside of the DJs. Naruto and Sakura never listened to him at all. [It's true on the show and in the few movies that Sai is in--they never take him the least bit seriously even when he's right. And if they do listen to him, it's only when someone else is agreeing with him, like Shikamaru, whom they do respect. Poor Sai has to be the most right character who gets the least acknowledgment for it because he's considered weird by them.]

"I don't see the problem." Sai surprisingly actually pushed back a little at Naruto this time.

"You're just kind of a dummy, sometimes," Naruto said.

"Why?" Sai continued to push back.

"You just don't understand friendship," Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke privately thought that Sai really wasn't missing much if Naruto's definition of friendship was ignoring the obvious. Maybe Sai understood it just fine. He at least seemed to understand that Sasuke didn't want to be their friend anymore.

Sai seemed to be more upset by that last part; he looked blue.

Naruto didn't notice and walked away to get back to work.

Sasuke went back to pretending he was working, though he was barely moving anything.

Suddenly, Sai started to breathe more roughly again, and a glance at him showed that he was flushed like from anger or excitement--or embarrassment. It was impossible to tell which it was based on his expression.

Sasuke had no idea what was wrong with him and didn't feel that much concern, but then Shikamaru said, "What's wrong with Sai?"

And the girls turned and ran over, Shine included. She handed the toddler to one of the older kids.

"Sai-Fi, what's buggin'?" Camie asked.

Sai didn't seem able to answer--he just looked dizzy.

"Oh dear..." Momo pursed her lips. "Is it like before? Maybe I can help him."

"It must be," Shine said.

"What did you do?" Shoto turned to Sauke suddenly, accusingly.

Sasuke stared at him coldly. Sure, he hadn't actually done anything, but he wasn't going to lower himself by explaining it to Shoto. He was too proud.

"What makes you think it was him?" Sakura asked.

"Because no one else was by Sai, and he just started having a problem," Shoto said.

"Naruto was by him," Hanabi spoke up. "A few minutes ago."

"What would Naruto have done?" Sakura said.

"Well, it was him or Sasuke, so take your pick," Dabi said. "Which one do you want to defend?"

Sakura bit her lip and glared at Dabi.

Ino looked at Sai in concern and then at Shine, who was scanning him.

Her eyes gleamed gold for a moment.

One of the onlookers, who was watching them with curiosity, gasped a little at that.

"Back up and give him some space," Shine told the others. "I think it's a panic attack of some sort. He needs room to calm down."

They backed off.

Shine and Wally made Sai sit down in the shade and dabbed some cold water on his forehead and neck, and Shine talked to him a low voice, till he finally calmed down a little.

"This happened twice now," Dabi noted. "Something's off with him..."

"What could it be?" Ino wondered in a worried tone.

"Perhaps it's some residual effect of the suppression jutsu he practiced for years." Momo was on the money without knowing it. "Perhaps now that he's starting to feel things again, it's catching up with him physically. Emotional and chemical responses are very closely linked in your body, and if you suddenly started to feel emotional again after years of nothing, I imagine it would make an imbalance. Sudden burst of feelings, perhaps."

"But wouldn't he have less feelings after all the surpression?" Shoto said.

"Perhaps at first," Momo said. "But could it also go the other way? I mean...people go to one extreme or the other usually, and perhaps Sai is naturally more emotional, so the suppression is wearing off and reverting him back to that state. If that's true, then it's plausible that, since he's never learned to manage those emotions at all, they're going out of control."

"If so, why doesn't he experience rage and hatred and fear?" Dabi asked.

"Or, like, positive stuff," Camie said.

"I don't know," Momo said. "A panic attack is fear, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but isn't it more being overwhelmed?" Dabi said. "Not just afraid of one thing? That's what I'd think he'd start experiencing if he got his emotions back suddenly--and anger and the other stuff."

"Or positive feels," Camie said yet again.

"But that's horrible," Ino said, "if...if it's all coming back in such a painful way."

"Yeah, emotions can suck," Dabi said. "I didn't feel much for a long time--it was easier that way."

"But it was dead," Shoto said.

"Yeah." Dabi shrugged moodily. "Might as well be dead if you can't feel. At least that's what you start to think. But getting emotion back? It's not always a nice thing. I didn't want to go there, and I still don't. But if your boy Sai can't even help it, that could get dark for him."

"That's nonsense," Sakura insisted. "Sai will be fine. I'm sure this is just happening because of you and your weird powers anyway."

"That might be true," Momo said. "That could have caused a change...but it should have been a good change."

"Maybe it is good," Bakugo suggested. "Maybe he's got to toughen up and this is the only way to do it. Sometimes change hurts, but no pain, no gain."

"Hmm, you know, Baku is wise," Camie said. "But it still bums me out to see Sai suffer. Like, the bro has been through enough already."

"Maybe it'll stop happening." Hinata tried to be hopeful.

* * *

For Sai it had felt as if, after Naruto's words, some kind of flood of hot, fiery feeling that was like stinging nettles has gone over his skin. 

What most would call feeling shame, but for Sai, not used to it, it was much more intense, like being shoved into a microwave oven for your feelings might have been.

And that somehow had made him afraid, hence it turned quickly into a panic attack.

Shine and Wally managed to calm him down by distracting him and then coax him by getting him to focus on things he could feel, hear, see, smell, etc...but he still felt shaky after it passed--and tired.

Shine let him sit out the rest of the workday, though some of the others thought that was unfair. They lacked sympathy, or they didn't think it was a big enough problem for him to need to rest.