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

Everyone else returned to the compound, and most of them were unaware of anything going wrong that day.

Karin and Shoto were not sure exactly how to bring it up, or if they should tell everyone or just the leaders.

Camie and Bakugo weren't talking all through dinner, which drew some notice from their friends.

"Did the world's weirdest couple have a fight?" Suigetsu asked Karin.

"How should I know?" she replied testily. "I can't read them the same way... maybe."

"Is something wrong?" Shoto asked Bakugo, since even he noticed.

"Mind your own d---n business, Icyhot!" Bakugo retorted.

Shoto took that as a yes but didn't ask for details.

Sakura notably was not making any kind of eye contact with Sasuke, which wouldn't have been strange for him, but for her was unusual.

No one really cared that much about their fight, though. They didn't expect much else of Sasuke after weeks, and, really, his presence in their team was something they half forgot about when he wasn't around, since he never talked to any of them.

Interestingly, Sasuke was starting to realize this fact slowly--and to wonder if it bothered him to be ignored or if he preferred it.

Shine and Wally ignored the tension between people for the duration of the meal, but Shine didn't catch a break after that because Camie applied to her for sympathy over the Bakugo thing.

Shoto asked Wally if they could talk, so Wally gave Shine a thumbs up sign.

Shine waved at him that she'd be there shortly.

"It's just so not fair," Camie said to her, not noticing the others. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Shine thought to herself that teens were so dramatic about their disagreements...but then, she was no one to talk.

"Okay..." she said. "So you don't know why he was mad?"

"Nope," Camie sighed. "Something about idolizing the ninja."

Shine knew already what was up.

"Well, what did you do right before then?" she asked.

"I was just telling him about Sai," Camie said. "And...you know, my girl Ino."

"Oh?" Shine couldn't help but be interested. "Did something happen there?"

"Well, it could, if they'd let it." Camie gestured. "I mean, who cares if Sai is weird? He's still great. That's all I was saying, and then Bakugo got all huffy, like I was raving about it."

"Do you see a connection there?" Shine asked.

Camie looked as if she was trying to count the points on her fingers, mentally.

"Uh...Sai?" she guessed.

"You have been pretty excited about hanging out with your fave." Shine could make that lingo sound natural since she was from California. "Which is great. I'm sure I would be too and have been in the past. But I was farther apart in age usually from them, so it was less of a question of why I was excited. To me, all you guys are just cute, but when you're all in high school range together, do you think it always comes off that way?"

"What? You mean, like, would I have something for Sai?" Camie snorted a laugh. "Oh, please, he's like a puppy. Cute, but I see him more as a pet...uh, if pets had, like, agency."

"Okay...not sure that's quite how I would describe him." Shine choked back a laugh. "But not everyone will understand that."

"Sis, are you saying that Baku thinks I'm into that?" Camie said. "Come on, that's so dumb. I would never. Sai's a good friend, but I think I would want someone more emotionally available... Does that sound bad? I mean, I know he's learning, but I'm kind of already clueless enough without adding another clueless person to this mix."

"Yeah, I'm not sure how many people would think Bakugo was emotionally intelligent," Shine said. "Though I think he gets more than he lets on, personally. But I see your point. But I'm a girl, and I'm 23--two very good reasons it's easier for me to understand how you feel."

"Oh, I get it." Camie winked. "This is one of those things about communication, isn't it?"

"I don't see how it would hurt to try."

"Right-o...I think I can fix this actually," Camie said, more upbeat. "Thanks, Teach. I think I just needed to hear it out loud. I'm gone."

She walked away.

"Happy to help," Shine said wryly. "Good luck, Bakugo..."

[Hey, we all know we should be very afraid of Camie after the previous stories, but mostly she's chill, so he'll be fine, I'm sure...]

* * *

"Okay...you're sure they meant us?" Wally asked Shoto.

"According to Karin." Shoto shrugged. "But no one would believe something that foolish, would they?"

"I don't think so," Wally mused. "I didn't even think they bought into that magic stuff here."

"Okay." Shine joined them. "What's the problem?"

Wally told her what Karin had overheard.

"Huh...that was not what I expected to hear," Shine said.

"Do you know what they meant?" Shoto asked. "Maybe you spoke in English?"

"No..." Shine reflected. "Oh...yeah, I did sing a song in Latin."

"Latin?" Shoto said. "I didn't know you knew Latin."

"Only a smidge, but memorizing a song is easy," Shine explained. "But since I purposely sing in Latin, it doesn't do the translation thing, I assume."

She slapped her forehead. "I never thought about it. I barely remembered I was even using another language."

"So that's not the same as casting a spell," Wally said. "This isn't Harry Potter." [I knew someone would make that joke if I didn't.]

"I suppose it could sound a little strange," Shine admitted. "This is my bad. Usually I'm so careful, and the kids didn't think anything of it--just thought I was making up words. probably."

"Everyone is bound to make a mistake," Wally said. "And it really shouldn't be a big deal. I don't think anyone is going to care except those medics."

"Yeah, why should they?" Shoto said. "We're helping them, and who would harvest organs from a hospital?" [Someone want to tell him where organ donations happen?]

Shine and Wally gave him dubious looks.

"Orochimaru would," Wally said.

"Well, we defeated Orochimaru, or helped to, so who would ever think we'd do something like he would?" Shoto said.

They laughed, kind of ironically. 

"If only life was that simple," Shine said.

"Maybe it's not, but, still, we're out in the open," Shoto protested. "I only told you because Karin was worried about it."

"Well, thanks...and Karin's actually been pretty good about helping us keep a sharp lookout," Wally said. "Glad we recruited her."

"Even though that's not really the reason I thought of at the time, it's a nice bonus," Shine agreed.

* * *

Bakugo and Camie both intended to talk to each other after dinner, and they practically ran into each other headlong when Camie went around the corner one way and Bakugo the other.

"Oh," Camie said. "Whoops... Uh, can we--?"

"We need to talk," Bakugo said at the same time.

Then they paused.

"Well, okay," Camie said. "You first."

"Not here," Bakugo said. "Outside."

So they stepped outside.

"Okay, about earlier--" Camie began.

"I thought you said me first," Bakugo interrupted.

"But you said outside," Camie said.

She got a look in response.

"Right...fine, go off." Camie shrugged a little impatiently.

Bakugo hesitated now that it came to the point. 

"I guess...earlier...I...kind of overreacted..."

"And?" Camie prompted.

"What do you mean 'and'?" Bakugo said.

"Aren't you going to tell me what's got you all riled up?" Camie asked.

Bakugo looked down. "Forget it. It was...nevermind."

"Oh, come on," Camie said. "We've gotta get better at communicating. We've only been dating for, like, 2 months. That's too soon to have problems."

"I'm pretty sure you can have problems no matter how long you've been dating," Bakugo said skeptically. "Just look at my parents."

Camie sighed. "Well, fine, I'll take a stab at it. I think maybe you've been feeling a little jelly."

"Don't use that word."

"What? 'Little'?"

"No, a fruit spread is not an emotion," Bakugo said.

"Hey, Lord Explosion Murder isn't a real name, but did I judge you?" Camie shot back.

"You just did."

"Bae, we're getting off topic."

Bakugo sighed. "Fine... Er, I hate talking about touchy-feely crap."

"Uh, yeah, but if you're going to have a girlfriend, you kinda have to," Camie said. "Why be together if we're not gonna check in?..."

"It's possible..." Bakugo said, with a lot of difficulty, "...that...I might be...a little bothered...by...things like that..."

"Ha, I knew it!"

Bakugo glared at her.

But then Camie sobered. "Well, actually I didn't know it, till after Shine said some stuff that kind of led me that direction, y'know? Hey...I'm sorry I didn't notice how I was making you feel. I mean, space cadet, right?" She pointed at her head. "I didn't even think about it."

Bakugo shook his head. "It's not your fault if I don't say s--t about it. I just didn't want to talk about anything bugging me. That's weak."

"Uh...I think that's just being honest," Camie said. "But for real, what's so annoying about it? Is it because I keep talking them up?"

Bakugo shrugged. "It sounds stupid about loud."

"No, I get it. If you talked up some other girl, or even guy, all the time, and I heard you, and you never said anything to me, I'd be pissed too." Camie was super honest about it. "I just didn't make that connect, you know? The truth is, I'm not that good at boundaries, but these peeps here are worse than I am at it, so it's been nice, being around people more clueless than I am. And Sai, I mean, I know you know what it's like to feel like you're stronger than everyone all the time at your schtick, but I don't usually get to feel like I understand anything better than anyone else. So mentoring a kouhai? That feels...I dunno, good. I thought I didn't have to explain that to you because you know my whole deal about being a ditz. But I guess that was also ditsy of me."

Bakugo felt bad now, actually.

"I didn't think about it that way," he said. "It just seemed like you hyped all them up like they're so great, but they're all hot messes."

"So who isn't?" Camie said. "If we didn't have a little edge on them, we wouldn't be here, but no need to rub that in, right? Look where you started last year, and now you're mentoring ninja? That's crazy."

Bakugo smirked slightly. "It is kinda...new."

"Admit it, you like the idea of being able to help someone else who actually thinks you're cool for more reasons than you can blow s--t up." Camie pointed at him. "Come on, inspiring people is awesome. They think I'm this put together person who makes friends easy. When am I gonna have that again? So yeah, I got a little carried away, but can you blame me?"

It was optimistic of her to think the ninja thought she was put together. But they did think she was talented, at least. 

Bakugo just shrugged. "Yeah...well, you're doing your best, so..."

From Bakugo that was a compliment.

"Anyway I kinda wanted you to support me," Camie said. "But I always feel like you don't like anyone, so..."

"It's not that," Bakugo said. "I mean...they're fine...not any worse than heroes--most of them. I can't...people."

"Hey, the good news is that they can't either. You fit right in." Cheerfully.

Bakugo raised an eyebrow at her.

"For real," Camie added for emphasis, "what do you got to lose?"

Bakugo shook his head. "Easy for you to say. You like this kind of crap. I don't like sitting around, talking to people about feelings."

"Are you saying you're actually envying me because I'm better at something than you are?" Camie said, in amazement. "Whoa...I never thought this would happen--I mean, I knew I was better than you at stuff, but like, I never thought you'd notice it."

"Hey!"

"But I think you've got it all wrong, 'cause you're scary, and people here respect that and think I'm a moron," Camie said. "So, like, they'll take you seriously. So sometimes I think it'd be better if I was more like that. But let's face it, I'll never be that way. This is just the way we are. Isn't that why we connected to begin with? Because we're both the way we are and people just can't deal with it?"

Bakugo smirked again. "Yeah...well...but people like you more."

"But I thought you didn't care if people like you?"

Silence.

"I guess everyone wants to be liked, deep down," Camie mused. "Except maybe crazy people... Well, hey, I think they'll like you if you just give them a chance to... Oh, and about that Sai thing, I can tone it down a bit. I wouldn't want people to think I'd cheat on you with an artist. That's so...I don't know, 80s movie."

"Is that 80s?" Bakugo said skeptically.

"Something like that." Camie waved dismissively.

"I just don't see what makes that milksop so great anyway," Bakugo fumbled.

"Okay, first of all, when I say great, I don't mean dateable," Camie said. "I mean, not for me. Two clueless people together is just a mess. I'm not attracted to him, if that's what you're worried about. I've never really been into that washed out, underfed look--just kind of makes him seem like a lost kitten. It's like that--I just want to take care of him. I mean, don't you feel bad for him? No friends, lost his only family, and he can't even, like, process it because of Danzo. His life sucks harder than almost anyone else. I just wanted to be friends because of that."

"Just pity?"

"Not just pity. He's pretty funny, but, like...again, he's like a pet," Camie said, "but human... That sounded bad, I just realized, but what I mean is, it's not like an equal footing thing... Gosh, that also sounds bad."

But Bakugo thought it was funny. "True. He'll never be better than you, right?"

"Ugh, that's a gross way to think of it," Camie said. "I just like helping someone for once. It sounds stupid, but it's not something I've gotten to do that much, like I said. Is that so bad?"

"No," Bakugo allowed. "That's fine... That's what heroes do, right? But don't you worry that he's not going to get it either if you lay it on too thick?"

"Hmm...I guess that's a thing that could happen." Camie tapped her chin. "That's why you bail me out, see?"

Bakugo rolled his eyes, but he wasn't really mad. 

"Well, fine," he said. "I don't care if you want to be nice to some punk, just so long as it's clear."

"Did I need your permission?"

"Uh...yeah?" Bakugo said. "Wouldn't you say the same thing if there was a girl I was spending a lot of time with?"

"Like that would ever happen."

Bakugo frowned.

"No, you're right, you're getting to be too much of a hot commodity ," Camie corrected herself. "Totes a possibility.... Wow, that b---h would so get it from me... But it's not like you can't stop me."

"I can't stop you, and I won't. But you're the one who said feelings were supposed to matter." He felt super awkward saying that, and you could tell.

"I did say that..." Camie reflected. "Fair enough. Should I just tell everyone the way it is?"

"No!" Bakugo didn't want them to know he even thought of things like that. "Just so long as we're clear."

"Okay, fine...and what about you? Are you gonna be more supportive?"

"I freaking support you!"

Camie raised an eyebrow. "Compromise works both ways, Bae."

Bakugo huffed. "Yeah...whatever. Just tell me if you need support so I know."

"I guess that would be easier," Camie agreed. "Well, I feel better now. Glad we worked this out. And next time you'll just tell me if you're bugging and not blow up like that, right?"

He shrugged.

"You're the best." Camie winked.

Bakugo reddened. "Camie..."

"You know, for a guy who says he's the best all the time, you sure do have a hard time with the compliments," Camie said. "It's easy for me. I just don't think about how anyone could read into it."

 Bakugo looked away. "I'm just not used to it. And you lay it on pretty thick."

"You want me to insult you instead?" Camie offered.

"No!"

"How do you want me to compliment you then? Just tell me."

"I ain't telling you how to compliment me!"

"Is it okay if I say you're hot?" Camie asked.

"It's...awkward." Bakugo was still not making eye contact.

"Okay--for the record, I don't think it is, so feel free to tell me that," Camie said, "or...anything at all."

Bakugo glanced at her sideways.

Now he saw the problem.

"That's what it is," he said. "We've got very different ways of showing affection. So you think it's normal, and I think it's unconformable, and then I think it's fine, and you think it's not talking enough or showing any."

"That's deep," Camie said. "That's probably it... Crap, I don't know though. How can I act like you?"

Bakugo thought. "But isn't the whole reason to be with someone because they're different from you? Otherwise it's like dating yourself."

"People do that now."

"It's dumb. You can't date yourself."

"But do you really want to date?" Camie asked.

"Huh?" Bakugo asked.

"I was just thinking--" Camie gestured. "--we jumped into this, which is my style, but if you're not ready for all this...we could...back it up."

"But we both know we like each other," Bakugo stated. "Can't just pretend now. What's the point of backing it up? I'm not a quitter."

"Me neither." Camie shrugged. "But if it's making it tougher on you, I don't want to ruin things... I really like you, and I would totes want to be friends even if we weren't dating. Which is new, 'cause before I wanted to date kinda for the experience and the excitement--which you're exciting, don't get me wrong, but I liked you anyway."

"I...liked you too," Bakugo said, struggling to sound normal. 

"Really?" Camie sounded surprised.

"The h---? Do you think we're together because I don't like you?"

"No, no, I just...you know, you don't say it that often, so..." Camie made a helpless gesture. "Maybe I annoy you now? I can't really tell when I annoy people, so sometimes I get paranoid about it."

"You don't really annoy me--usually," Bakugo said.

"Love the honesty there at the end. Hey, ditto to you, just so you know."

Bakugo accepted that meekly for once. "Well everyone's a pain in the a-- sometimes, but that doesn't make them bad to be around. So yeah, I'd just tell you if you were being annoying."

"No news is good news, I guess," Camie suggested. 

"I'd rather hang out with you than anyone else." Bakugo said that so dryly that it didn't even sound like a compliment.

But Camie put a hand to her chin. "Really? Oh, that's so sweet--"

"Don't get all mushy!" Bakugo backed up.

"Right, right... Ahem, that's cool, dawg." Camie struck a gangsta pose.

Bakugo finally had to chuckle. "That's so stupid... Don't do that."

"Why are you laughing then?"

"Someone has to be embarrassed."

"Oh, sheesh, you're full of it." Camie rolled her eyes. "Can I kiss you or something now?"

Bakugo looked around to make sure no one else was nearby.

"I guess," he said.

Camie had come closer, but she paused. "Well, if you're that unenthusiastic about it, then I won't. I don't wanna kiss you if you're gonna act like it's such a burden. I mean, I have my pride, so--"

Bakugo cut her off by grabbing her and kissing her instead.

Camie was stunned.

Bakugo blushed.

"Well...you wouldn't shut up," he said. "So..."

"Babe...is that, like, the first time you've actually kissed me first?" 

"It can't be," Bakugo objected.

"Whatever, I can't wait to tell the girls about this!" Camie got excited.

"Hey, don't tell them stuff like that!"

"Oh, but I want to brag on you and how great you are." Camie put her hands together. "Please?"

"No!"

"But what if they talk s--t about you again?"

Bakugo frowned. "Well, if they do that, just tell them off. They don't need to know all about it."

"Fine...I just think we have the best relationship," Camie said.

"Five minutes ago you suggested not dating."

"I was just testing you. I knew we'd never break up," Camie dismissed it.

Bakugo couldn't tell if she was kidding or not--honestly, he didn't really care.

[I love my crazy but compatible couple.]

* * *

Day 43:

The following morning, Team Zoe received a surprise visit from Kitsuchi, who delivered a formal invitation from the Tsuchikage for them to dine with him at a tea house in the village.

"What do you want to bet that tea house is a secret meeting place where we won't be spied on?" Shine asked openly when he'd left.

"If it was that easy to guess that, how could it be a secret?" Dabi asked blandly. "This sounds like a bad idea."

"I actually thought it sounded promising," Gaara said. "Perhaps he's ready to revisit our conversation from before. Maybe we've proven ourselves."

"In three days?" Sakura said skeptically.

"If we were going to do something weird, we'd have done it as soon as we thought he wasn't going to be receptive," Shine pointed out.

"Did Tsunade go to the medical center already?" Temari asked. "I wonder if she knew about this."

"We have to accept it, even if it's a trap," Kankuro said. "If we don't, we'll look suspicious. I don't quite like that aspect of this business."

Shine tapped her chin. "Well...hey, when in Rome, right? You guys are ninja. Might as well use it. Onoki will think we're idiots if we don't stake out this tea house first. But he'll think we're criminals if we overdo it. Some of you should go take a look at it, see if it's closed off. Any easy escape routes. Any places where someone could hide a trap or an attack. I don't think there will be one, but it pays to act prepared."

"Don't you mean to be prepared?" Shikamaru corrected.

"No, we can't really be prepared when we have no idea what this is about, but we can act like we are," Shine replied.

"Ha," Wally guffawed. "That speaks to my life in spades."

"I didn't get either of those phrases," Tenten muttered.

"I can go," Hanabi offered. "Sounds fun."

"I know shifty places," Dabi offered also. He hadn't done that much in this village, so perhaps he felt like he should be useful.

"Sai, can't you also make some rats or something?" Shine asked. "Something that won't be noticed."

Sai nodded.

"Everyone else, just do the usual, no need to act like anything's different," Shine added. "Except Momo. You and I need to take a little trip to the bookstore."

Momo nodded.

"Here then." Temari slid some of their currency across the table to them. "If you find anything interesting. This should cover it."

"Oh, thanks," Momo said.

"Couldn't she just make money? Literally?" Suigetsu asked.

"That's illegal!" Momo cried.

* * *

"You know, that Yaoyurozu girl is such a stiff," Suigetsu said when they'd split off to collect their things for the day--and he knew Shoto was out of earshot.

"She's nice," Jugo said.

"You think everyone who doesn't try to kill you is nice," Suigetsu said.

Jugo just shrugged like he didn't disagree.

"So she doesn't want to break the law, so what?" Karin shoved up her glasses. "I wouldn't mess with her. She can make anything. Anyways, everyone likes her. I never sense any tension between her and anyone else except her boyfriend...and that's probably just...romantic."

"Your idea of romance is seriously fricked up," Suigetsu said.

"What would you know about it?" Karin shot back. "You hate that kind of thing."

"Yeah, well, you're part of the reason for that." Suigetsu said easily the most hurtful thing he'd ever said to her--and he didn't seem to realize it.

Karin gaped at him because it wasn't something she could laugh off.

Suigetsu only registered her shock a minute later. "What? Oh, come on, the way you go after Sasuke, it's gross. If that's romance, I'd rather not like it."

"I don't think that's romance," Jugo offered. "I'm not really sure what romance is, but I don't think it's that."

"Great, Bird Boy has an opinion," Suigetsu said. "Now stop glaring at me like I did something wrong."

Karin closed her mouth in a tight line. Then she walked away.

"I may not understand humans that well, but, I think you hurt her feelings," Jugo said.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Suigetsu shrugged, but he felt uneasy, because usually Karin didn't take anything he said that seriously.

"I thought it was a terrible thing to say." Sakura passed them. She'd heard some of their conversation. "Karin shouldn't be friends with you."

"Oh, glass houses, Sasuke Fangirl," Suigetsu shot back testily.

"Don't mention that person to me," Sakura said stormily.

"Oh, what's this?" Suigetsu saw a new target who'd take his mind off his discomfort. He blocked Sakura's path. "Has the bloom finally gone off the thorny rose? What happened?"

"Shut up and get out of my way." Sakura glared at him.

"What did he do now? Have an opinion you didn't like?"

Sakura clenched a fist. "I said get out of my way."

"You're blocking the hallway." Sasuke had followed. He wasn't interested in what was happening here, but he was interested in getting out of the building.

"Sasuke, I think you finally offended your girlfriend." Suigetsu didn't let up. "What happened? Bad date?"

Sasuke didn't bother to respond to that, as he never did to Suigetsu.

"Suigetsu, stop it," Jugo sighed. "Why must you be difficult?"

"Me? What about the Cactus Guy?"

"Ugh, that name is so stupid." Sakura rubbed her forehead in a tired way. "And so is Water Boy, but I don't really care what they call you. Move."

"Hey, why so touchy?" Suigetsu pressed. "You know, you've been acting a little weird lately anyway, Cotton Candy Girl. Is it because your mentor is around to watch you now?"

Sakura frowned at him. "No...shut up."

But Suigetsu figured he'd hit on it--and he kind of had.

"You know, I've been wondering," he said slyly. "Tsunade has a bad history with your leaders on this team, and so do you. That wouldn't be a coincidence, would it? Or did you do something to make this happen?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Sakura, classically dense, walked right into his trap by reacting that strongly. "I never thought any of this would happen. I just talked about it out of concern. I'm not a traitor!"

Even Jugo stared at her in astonishment.

Suigetsu was puzzled at how well his gag had worked. He hadn't thought she'd actually done anything, and now it turned out she had.

But Sasuke had the most intense reaction, surprisingly. He hadn't cared till now, but he inserted himself between Sakura and Suigetsu with what seemed like cold fury.

"What did you do?" he said in a tone that he only used on enemies.

Sakura was freaked out.

"Nothing," she said, backing up. "It was all one big misunderstanding."

"Hmm, sounds guilty," Suigetsu said, as if he had a detective hat and a monocle on. He rubbed his chin also.

"It does," Sasuke said coldly. He wasn't amused.

"Oh, why do you care anyway?" Sakura deflected. "It won't matter in the long run. And I never did anything to hurt anyone. I just mentioned stuff, and that's not my fault that it made someone suspicious--if it even did. We don't know that any of this is because of what I said. They're weird enough on their own."

Sasuke took another step toward her. "Did you give Tsunade ideas about them?"

"Sasuke, why are you so worked up?" Jugo asked, bewildered. "It won't affect you if you just claim you didn't know. Granted, it's upsetting to hear it, but it seems like this was before this team was founded, wasn't it?"

Sakura was glad that someone was being rational.

"Yes, yes, years ago," she said. "Well, and during the war." She really didn't need to dig the hole deeper, but she did.

"That was two months ago," Sasuke said thinly.

"Still before the team formed," Jugo said. "We shouldn't be unfair. None of us would have thought anything of selling them out back then."

"Hey, I never cared enough to do it," Suigetsu said. "If you ask me, she was trying to get them in trouble."

"Hey, you didn't even know them--how could you sell them out!" Sakura picked the wrong thing to defend herself with.

"That's your excuse?" Sasuke said.

Now, normally, Sakura would have turned into a puddle if Sasuke spoke to her this way--well, she wasn't sure, since she only had experienced when he was under the influence of Orochimaru's drug or when he was going to stab her, and that had been far less specific, and even then he'd been more detached than furious.

Maybe that was it. Sakura was used to anger--anger didn't bother her nearly as much as indifference did.

Or maybe it was her nature to get bolder when someone played on her hidden guilt or insecurity--Dark Sakura.

Whatever the reason was, suddenly she went from timid to angry.

Standing up straighter and balling her hands into fists again, she said in a much more heated voice, "Now wait just a minute. What do you mean my excuse? I think I have every right to talk to my mentor about to something like that. And it's not like you were trying to threaten them or anything. Didn't you try to kill them during that time? I think what I did was a lot smaller by comparison."

Sasuke could not have been more shocked that she clapped back at all. So he was rendered speechless, and the other two boys could tell.

"Oh, gosh." Suigetsu was loving this.

Jugo thought he should get clear of the strike zone and started to back away towards the other rooms.

Encouraged by the silence, Sakura went on, "And where did you get off anyway? I never made any promises about this kind of thing in the past, and I didn't do anything illegal. In fact they even admitted that it wasn't a big deal. So what if I said some things? It won't matter."

"Wait, they know?" Sasuke was surprised to hear this part enough to interrupt her.

"Yeah," Sakura said, just as if she'd told them instead of it getting passed along by someone else. "And I'm still here, so I guess it's okay. And if they didn't kick you out for nearly killing some of them, then why can't I still participate? I mean, who are you to judge me?"

Sasuke was surprised yet again.

"Now get out of my way!" Sakura snapped at Suigetsu yet again and at Sasuke too.

Suigetsu got out of her way fast. He knew that tone, and Sakura was a better medic than Karin; he didn't want to see if she could chakra blade him like Kabuto would.

Besides, she could break rocks and be temporally invulnerable. He knew his place.

Sasuke wasn't as easily intimidated, especially by Sakura, so he didn't step aside right away.

"Even if they know, you're still liable for helping to cause this problem," he said coldly. "You could try to fix it. Give Tsunade more information on how harmless they are."

"I don't think they're harmless." Sakura frowned at him. "And why don't you do it? Since you're such a great team player now. Of course,  you doing it might really make things worse for them, and apparently you suddenly care about that, so that's a shame."

The "a shame" was pretty cutting for her.

"But I don't see how it's my problem," she added in the snide tone that Ino would have recognized as her goading one. 

"Why, you--" Sasuke began to again get mad--rare for him with Sakura also.

"Hey, no violence." Sakura held her hand up before he could do anything.

Not that he would have, probably, gone so far as to attack her, but she didn't even give him the chance to try.

"Anyway, if you do anything to me, I can defend myself. That's the rule." Sakura glared at him. "Right? And aren't you down your Sharingan right now? Not that it would work anyway... Too bad, you're basically useless on this team."

Sasuke gaped at her like she'd actually punched him.

Sakura might have felt slightly bad, deep down, but her anger was in full control of her words right now.

"Anyway--" Sakura shrugged it off. "--nothing I can say will help things. Better just hope this stupid tea thing doesn't go south, which if they're their usual selves it probably will. So why don't you worry about that, and let me do the actual work I'm supposed to be doing?--Which, by the way, is what they wanted me to do to keep up the cover, so I actually have something to do for this team. Bye."

She pushed past him since he still hadn't moved and went out the door.

"Oh dang," Suigetsu said. "I hated her before, but she just went to, like, my...4th favorite person in this team."

Sasuke said nothing. He seemed stupefied by what just happened.

[Aren't we all? I mean, I don't usually say "go, Sakura," but that was cathartic. Though really, Sasuke being worried about anyone but himself should be encouraged--I'm pretty sure her getting mad actually would encourage it though.]