[OP: "The Lament of Eustace Scrubb"--The Oh Hellos]

Day 54: 

Gaara thought Mirai was going to cry when he delivered the news about the towns supporting them.

It seemed like a small thing to him, but apparently it was unlooked for kindness to her.

The rest of the Council seemed to think so also, even Yuko and Ayashi, who so far had still not warmed up to Team Zoe.

After that meeting, Gaara heard that the business with Sasuke was over, and Momo had joined the others to start meeting people who needed healing.

Soon their Rain guides had gathered at least 50 people like that at one of the larger and slightly cleaner buildings.

One that Ino said might be converted into a hospital if they had the technology for it, but Pain had hoarded all the medical technology to himself it seemed.

No one wanted to go into his old Kage house to find it.

However, Kyuu asked them if they would consider it.

"It might be useful," he said. "I know you think the place is haunted, and...well, some of us might agree with you there, but it's an eyesore to just leave it as it is, and someone else might use it if we don't."

"I'm sure I would never touch any of what Pain used for his unholy transfer jutsus," Momo was disgusted.

"On the other hand," Dabi said, "we shouldn't leave it there. Any crackpot could take it and become the next Pain if they have the power to. Maybe we should commit arson again."

"Arson?" Kyuu said.

"He means that we've been burning evil labs," Shoto explained flatly. "Orochimaru's, mainly. We destroyed his tools and records so that no one could use his knowledge again."

"Though we haven't found them all yet..." Momo muttered.

"You people take this seriously." Kyuu seemed kind of surprised. "You didn't even think to use any of it?"

"I would rather die," Shoto said, and he sounded serious.

"For once, I agree," Dabi said. "That whole things smacks too much of Ujiko and AFO's psychotic experiments."

"Shine says that no good comes out of using things that are clearly profane, even if we think it's for a good cause," Momo added.

"Your sensei is a strange woman," Kyuu said. "But for some reason, it's a relief to hear that. But I should warn you, Yoku has been after us to find some use for that stuff. I don't think he'll support you destroying it instead."

"So why doesn't he take it then?" Dabi asked.

"He won't say, but I think he's too afraid to go in there," Kyuu said. "Some think this Pain left traps there, even if it's not haunted. But if you would..."

"So you want us to do it because you're too scared to?" Bakugo was disgusted. "Pansies."

"Bakugo, are you sure that might not be for the best?" Shoto said to him. "You want them to be tempted by it? We couldn't use it even if we wanted to. I'm sure it's not compatible with our bodies."

"Well, sure, but that sounds messed up." Bakugo made a face.

"You know, for a guy who's so brash most of the time," Shoto said, "you seem oddly nervous around anything resembling ghosts and evil science experiments."

"Shut up," Bakugo said, embarrassed.

"Have we finally found what he's afraid of?" Dabi said. "I should have seen that one coming."

"Hey, shut up." Camie kicked him. She'd joined them at some point with the other girls. "Don't make fun of someone for being afraid, Dab-King."

"I wasn't exactly making fun, I just thought it was weird." Dabi rubbed his shin. "And that hurt."

"So now that Sasuke is...fine," Bakugo said, weirdly. "Is he going to help with all this?"

"Should he?" Momo asked.

Someone waved at her.

"I better get back to work," she said. "You know...when I heard about supernatural gifts, I never thought they'd be just as much work as quirk training, but it really is almost like muscle." She rubbed her arm. "I guess Shine is right about all this being intertwined."

"Rub it in that you have one and we don't," Dabi grumbled.

"I'm sure you and Baku will figure yours out soon," Camie said. "Mine is weird anyway. I mean, seeing stuff clearly? How is that useful?"

"It's already been useful more than once," Shoto pointed out.

"Well, what even is your gift? Purifying things with ice?" Camie said.

"I don't really know. I've wondered if it's like holy water, but with ice," Shoto said.

"I thought that was a Catholic thing," Dabi said.

"I think it is...but I guess they could be right about some things," Shoto said. [I'm not really making a statement here about whether or not this is valid. This is fiction after all. They're just hypotheticals. I hope no one take this to be actual doctrine.]

"I think you and Momo's gifts kind of match, don't they?" Camie mused. "You're both the white mage, in DnD."

"We're not mages," Shoto said. [*Laughs in my fantasy au story for MHA.*]

"Is it weird that I've almost missed Sasuke being around?" Camie changed the subject back to before. "He's the worst when he is around, but I guess he's hard to ignore."

"I find him pretty easy to ignore," Shoto said.

"No, you don't," Dabi scoffed. "You always glare at him. I ignore him."

"Neither of you are being straight shooters right now." Camie rolled her eyes. "It's still cray-cray."

"I don't know." Ino looked at her. "I think you just get used to people. I didn't really like Choji or Shikamaru that much at first when we were kids, but they're like my family."

"I did miss making fun of him," Bakugo said.

"Ah, how sweet," Camie said, with a goo-goo-eyed expression.

"You guys are so weird," Tenten said. "Hey, are you going to help more?"

"We're not medics," Bakugo said.

"You can still move some more supplies. We're going to run out..." Tenten said. "Though...there's still plenty of boxes of first aid supplies..." She looked puzzled. "Wasn't there the same amount as earlier this morning? We must have gone through more by now. Did someone bring more?"

"I never counted 'em," Bakugo said.

"I took inventory," Karin said, "but I really think there's about the same amount... Did we just not use them?"

"No, no, we did," Ino said. "Momo decided to use her gift only on people we can't possibly help with our jutsu. That's been only a handful so far, so I've tapped into the supplies... The medics here are the most elementary ones I've ever met, and I thought Stone was behind us... Sakura would be horrified if she was helping us."

"I think she's gonna help us," Camie said, pointedly.

Sakura had finally caught up to them.

But she was equally surprised to see how much they had left.

"Did you use anything at all?" she asked.

"I'm sure we did..." Karin checked her list of people they'd seen already. "I mean, there's...30 people here at least already...and that's just the ones who we've already finished with, not the ones still in line."

"Well, that amount of supplies won't go through more than another 30 or 40," Sakura said. "It looks like more than it is till you start putting it on." She put her hair up.

"By the way, how was Sasuke?" Camie asked.

"I didn't really talk to him much after the fact," Sakura said, a little coolly. "But he's mostly back to his usual, irritating self."

"I'm never going to get tired of hearing her call him irritating," Dabi said.

"You need to get a life," Shoto said to him with annoyance.

"Girl, what you talking about? How is Sasuke irritating?" Camie said.

She was being ironic, but her tone could make it hard to tell, and Sakura just gave her a look of disbelief.

"Yeah, really, he's been pretty amiable," Bakugo said, also ironically, but he was even harder to tell since he spoke so roughly most of the time.

"You two are pieces of work," Sakura said. "You've been saying he's annoying this entire trip. Now I'm agreeing with you, and you're acting like it's not true? Are you just messing with me?"

"Duh, what else would they do?" Dabi snorted. "But are you feeling okay? That's not like you to be so lucid."

"Dabi, if you don't shut up, I'll shove this medical gauze down your throat!" Sakura warned him hotly.

"I won't stop you," Shoto said.

"Someone's still salty," Dabi said.

"Someone hasn't apologized for what he said." Shoto glared at him.

"Apologize? Have you met me?" Dabi said.

Momo gave him a look.

"Oh, come on, you're not serious?" Dabi whined. "To him? I won't do it."

"Sakura, should you use medical tape to make sure he can't remove the gauze?" Shoto turned to her.

Sakura started to smirk slightly. "I think actually a bandage might be more effective..."

"You think that's going to work on someone who can set things on fire?" Dabi scoffed.

"I think the implied message is that you're being unkind," Momo said. "Come on, please, can't you just try to smooth it over? Shoto's even extending the olive branch."

"It's more like he's extending the hatchet he cut the branch with," Dabi replied.

"Nice creative answer," Camie said. "But stupid if you're trying to patch things up."

"And who says I was?" Dabi said.

"But brothers shouldn't be fighting," Hinata reminded him.

Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Maybe we should just let them talk," Momo said, moving away again.

"Fine," Sakura said. "As long as I don't have to talk to them." 

She moved away also.

So did the others.

Shoto and Dabi looked at each other awkwardly.

Shoto cleared his throat. "I could say I was sorry first, but, I really think you started that fight, so..."

"You expect me to actually say those words," Dabi snorted.

"No..." Shoto said coolly. "But you could at least get within the realm of saying something like that."

"Hah...wow, your snarkiness is really improving."

"I've learned from the best," Shoto retorted.

Dabi almost was proud...almost.

He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I guess I didn't need to say all that crap before. I just say whatever I feel like saying...but maybe I was wrong... I guess you've decided to try to give the Cactus another chance."

"I don't like him any more than before." Shoto looked at his left hand critically. "I just realized I was starting to remind myself of him a little too much...again."

"And me, I bet."

"No." Shoto looked up. "I don't think that's the way that we're alike...at least it's not the only way. I think we're both stubborn, but it's been...pointed out to me that I have high expectations that are not realistic for people who haven't been given the same opportunities as me."

"Oh, don't start with that 'born lucky' crap," Dabi said. "This isn't Avatar."

"Isn't that the one with the fire users in it?" Shoto said. "The one Camie calls me 'Prince Zuko' over?"

"Yes."

"They let you watch shows with fire users?"

"Ah, it's a kid show... Besides, who said I watched it under house arrest? The classics are the classics." Dabi shrugged. "That copyright expired years ago. You can find pirated videos of it anywhere." [In the time MHA is set in, the copyright for Avatar would have expired probably decades ago... Can you imagine the reboots that would have been made?]

Shoto didn't really care about it. 

"The point is, maybe I do act superior sometimes," he admitted slowly. "I don't realize I'm doing it usually."

Dabi scoffed. "I think you do."

Pause.

"Maybe--" With great restraint on Shoto's part. "--I suppose...it was just kind of ingrained after a point. I never knew that made any difference. I hate to think anything Dad taught me rubbed off, but maybe I didn't notice."

"Be honest, was it really just Dad?" Dabi shrugged sullenly. "Even Mom was like 'you're a special little snowflake because you're not like Endeavor.' It's not like the rest of us never heard her talk."

Shoto hadn't really thought about how it would feel to know that your mother said that to your brother but not you... He knew he'd have been crushed.

"I'm sure Mom...thought you had potential," he said, awkwardly.

"Don't kid yourself, or me," Dabi said. "She knew I was a failure."

"You're not a failure," Shoto said, strongly. "We should stop using the metrics that Dad uses. Power is not everything."

"No, there's character. And I failed that too," Dabi said.

"That can change... It's not too late for character to change," Shoto insisted. "I have to believe that just as much as you do, or I'll never surpass Dad's character."

Dabi might have said 'you already have' if he'd been the type to say anything nice or encouraging.

But he really wasn't.

At least...he didn't think he was.

Still, Shoto was trying to be humble, and that wasn't something Endeavor would have done--at least...not years ago.

"Tell me something," he said, shifting his weight. "Dad never regretted anything he did till you started going to that d--m hero school. What set him off?"

Shoto thought. "Shine has speculated that maybe it was not just him failing to surpass All Might on his own, but that...maybe it was because I showed how little I respect him, and I was the one he thought of as a real person, for a long time. Maybe it got his attention, in a strange way. I don't know that he'd listen to me...but he has said things like that."

"That just figures," Dabi said. "The only one who actually met his expectations and now he decides to realize they were jacked up to begin with."

"It's...ironic. But...well, Shine has always said that when you get what you want, you don't--"

"Always like it," Dabi flatly. "She loves that quote...but it's true. Most of us got what we wanted in some ways... We didn't end up liking it that much."

"I made him angry," Shoto said. "I rejected him, and it never felt like it made any difference in the end. Or it wasn't just Dad--it was inside me. Whether I consciously knew it or not."

Dabi shrugged. "I don't know. I get angry still...but even getting angry at all, instead of feeling nothing, is better. Maybe one day I'll get over it... There's something in all this don't let Endeavor decide your future for you as well as your past..." He looked up. The rain was light right now, but he still didn't want to risk getting soaked. He didn't want to catch another cold... He'd only just stopped coughing as it was.

"I know what would have happened if I did stay," he went on. "I would have stayed mad. Lashed out...at anything that pissed me off. Not being any smarter than Endeavor, as much as I hated him."

"I also realized that," Shoto said. "That makes us actually different, though."

"Hey, we should start a club. Sasuke can join us if we include psycho brothers. You have that in common."

Shoto frowned. "Even I can't compare you to Itachi."

"Really? The whole wanting to kill your family thing?"

"I didn't think you really wanted to as much as you felt compelled to...but I can't see you ever doing it that way. Not to children...and...everyone else." Shoto shook his head. 

"I thought I was helping society." Dabi shrugged. "Horrifying how crazy I was...though, for all I know, maybe they were rubbish. But who was I kidding?"

"But you don't want to do that anymore, right?" Shoto said. "Sometimes I can't tell how much of that life you've really left behind, the way you talk."

"Old habits." Dabi rubbed his neck now, like he was getting an ache. "I don't think about killing people anymore, if that's what you mean. I do wish I could cook a few people's toes, but that's about it. It's not exactly that I'm benevolent now, I just have other things to think about, replacing all that crap with learning and trying to figure this crap out. I guess it's good therapy to find a hobby."

"Shine is doing a lot to help you," Shoto said. "I never thought you'd accept Dad's help either."

"I'm just doing it to screw him over," Dabi said. "I'll be a scourge to the family name for the rest of my life anyway."

Shoto shook his head. "Maybe if you'd stop thinking that way, you could change it. I don't believe you really hate Mom or Fuyumi, or Natsuo, anymore."

Dabi chewed his lip for a moment.

"I don't know...maybe not...but they'd be ashamed of me."

"Fuyumi isn't really. I'm sure Mom won't be either," Shoto said. "Natsuo is just...afraid, I'm sure."

"Well, he should be. I'm pretty sure he could get beaten up at that college of his for having a villain brother," Dabi snorted. "And he's such a pansy..."

"I didn't think of that," Shoto said. "But who would dare? He's the son of the Number 1 Hero."

"Doesn't mean much if people don't respect that hero either...and you found people who kick your a-- at UA. You really think it's so far fetched?" Dabi snorted.

"But even so, hasn't this mission made you wonder if you're suited to something else?" Shoto asked. "I don't really see it, but you've made an impression on some of the shinobi. They seem to think you have a talent for certain things."

"What? Arson?"

"No...other things," Shoto said vaguely. "They should explain it themselves, but I don't think they see you as criminal."

"Yeah, but look at the competition," Dabi said. "Most of the stuff I did they can do without even breaking the law here...but no one who really had ethics would hesitate to assume I'm just a 'rogue' or whatever they call it."

"So are many of them," Shoto said. "Isn't this the one place in the universe you fit in?"

Dabi snorted. "Sure."

Shoto gave up. Dabi wasn't going to listen to him... Maybe it would take something more outside of his own life to convince him that he should stop acting like the bad guy.

But at least their argument appeared to be resolved. They both didn't speak of it again, and the tension was gone.

* * *

Sasuke was almost happy to get a chance to wash off after the last several days, but realized that his current clothes were rendered pretty much useless after the incident and the danger up to this point.

He didn't want to mention this situation to anyone, but...since he had no way to remedy it, he had to ask Shine when she checked in.

"It's fine," she said. "I think we can figure something out. Plus, I never liked that outfit anyway."

"What?"

"Nevermind," Shine said. "Anyway, aside from that, do you still feel fine?"

"Back to normal," Sasuke said.

"I was hoping you'd feel a little better than that."

"Oh, shut up."

"Excuse me?" Shine narrowed her eyes at him.

"Uh..." Sasuke recalled he couldn't say that to her. "Look, there's no reason to keep making wisecracks about it."

"I didn't realize you were so sensitive," Shine replied.

She got another glare.

"Sorry." She shrugged. "But I suppose if you're feeling better, there's no reason you can't rejoin the rest of us. You missed quite a bit, but the real fun is still on its way."

"By fun do you mean 'work'?" Warily.

"Yes," Shine said. "And really, this Village is quite welcoming. Who would have thought all those rumors would end up being nothing? Just goes to show."

"I don't trust them."

"Oh well, you've spent the last several days shut up in here." Shine waved off his concern.

"Did they ask why I'm here yet?" Sasuke had wondered about that before.

"No..." Shine said. "And I'm fairly sure no one knows who you are. But think about it...how would they have heard of you? Itachi was more famous, but all you did was join the Akatsuki, and they mostly associated that with Pain. But you left after Pain died."

Sasuke frowned. "So no one knows who I am here?"

"Isn't that good? You can enjoy the anonymity we so appreciate for once. I love it. No one has any expectations of me, and I get to surprise them every time." She winked. "More fun that way."

"You don't have any problem drawing attention to yourself when you want to," he replied.

"Well, neither do you, but I must advise against doing it," Shine said. "At least like you did before... You know some people saw that fight. I told them it was just settling some small disagreement, but they didn't repair the damage to the field."

She tilted her head. "Oh, the others are home."

"Home," Sasuke sniffed. "This place is a dump."

"I'm glad you're feeling well enough to complain again," Shine sassed him. "But shut up."

Sasuke did shut up. There was no point if she was going to respond that way anyway.

The others filed in shortly afterward, pretty tired.

"I still don't get it," Sakura was telling Tenten and Ino and Karin. "We should have run out of supplies hours ago."

"I think there was still some left," Karin said. "And I can't account for it. Did Wally just pop some more in while we had our backs turned?"

"Sorry, ladies, but I can't take credit. I was running errands for you," Wally said. "Hey, Sunshine." He picked Shine up.

"Hi," Shine said. From her new vantage point she surveyed the group. "Everything went well? I'm ready to go back out there myself, but the rest has been nice."

"I'll trade with you," Dabi offered. "I'm sick of looking at sick people."

"Did you make Jakku smile yet?" Shine asked Camie.

"Sadly no," Camie pouted. "I tried a bunch of things, but he was stoic as always. Maybe he needs a girlfriend."

"Sure, that solves everything," Suigetsu muttered.

"Jealous?" Kankuro asked. Then he handed Shine some paper. "I did what you asked. I guess it'll work out."

"What was your secret errand?" Temari asked him.

"Something to do with Naruto," Kankuro said. "Better to explain later."

"Oh, hi, Sasuke. You're out." Camie noticed him suddenly.

Sasuke frowned at her. "I suppose it was too much to hope for that you'd keep ignoring me."

"Wow, grumpy puss." Camie frowned. "Just for that we shouldn't even give you that stuff we got you."

"The what?" Sasuke frowned.

"It's not a big deal," Momo said, holding out some items. "But I noticed that your clothes kind of got...torn earlier, and you don't seem to have any spares, so...I hope it's okay if we replace them."

"Thank the heavens for that," Dabi said.

"Touya," Shine warned.

"Not gonna lie, though," Camie, "I was just glad to get a chance to trash that other fit you were wearing. It was disgusting."

"The holes in--" Sasuke began.

"Oh, not those. I meant the style." Camie made a gagging face. "Seriously, you have the worst sense of style in this team other than Rock Lee. No offense, Lee."

"Hmm?" Lee wasn't actually listening to her. He was doing pushups.

Tenten rolled her eyes.

"What?" Sasuke for some reason got offended by that.

"Camie, don't be rude," Momo chided her.

"I had to get that image out of my eyeballs." Camie pretended to flinch overdramatically. "I mean, gag me."

"Don't tempt me," Sakura said. "I still have gauze."

"Aw, Sakura, that's almost a joke," Camie said. "I'm lowkey proud of you."

"What about that was a joke?" Sakura asked in amazement.

"The joke was you thought I'd let you do that," Bakugo said.

Some people laughed. Sakura frowned.

"I'm glad to see you guys getting along better," Shine said.

"We're not," Sakura said.

Shine grinned at her.

"Did you tell them to...?" Sasuke glanced at Shine suspiciously.

"Nope." She shook her head. "They must have read my mind. Don't I have a reliable team?"

"Is it okay?" Momo asked.

"But how do you know they even fit him?" Suigetsu asked. "Did you measure him while he was unconscious?"

"I would never do such a thing." Momo was miffed. "I can guess people's sizes fairly accurately. I have to for my quirk. I could guess yours also..." She named a size.

"Huh?" Suigetsu blinked.

"Maybe ninja sizes are different," Camie said.

"If those were measurements," Karin said, "I think you had it right, actually."

"And how would you know anyway?" Suigetsu asked Karin.

"Because I have your medical records, you idiot," she said. "Or I did."

"That's creepy," Dabi said. "Karin's a stalker."

"It's not stalking!" Karin snapped.

"Whatever you say, Hot Pocket," Dabi said.

Karin frowned at him.

Sasuke elected to just take the clothes rather than drag this out any longer, and left to put them on.

"It was nice of you to think of that," Shoto told Momo.

"Actually Camie and Ino thought of it," Momo said. "They just asked me to make the designs they came up with."

"Yeah, while we were shopping I was talking to Ino about the guys around here and comparing notes," Camie said. "Then we talked about who has the worst sense of fashion in the team and my bids were Sasuke, Lee, and Kankuro."

"What?" Kankuro glared.

"But hey, it's your style, bro, so no hate. It's just not fashionable." Camie held up her hands. "But I mean...the other two? Ugh, I need brain bleach every time I have to look at their clothes. So then we talked about what would look better, and that's what we came up with."

"Are they your freaking dolls or something?" Bakugo said.

"You better believe that the Ken Dolls I had slayed with their fashion sense," Camie said.

"Naruto." Shine tapped him on the shoulder. "I want to ask you about something. Come with me."

"Uh...sure." Naruto was puzzled.

They walked out of the room, and Wally went with them.

Sasuke reappeared shortly thereafter, wearing street clothes.

Camie applauded, which made him glare at her again. "Knock it off."

"Sorry, just admiring my handiwork," Camie said, waving her hand. "Not bad, right?"

"I've never seen Sasuke wear non-traditional clothes," Karin said. "Why did you pick those, Camie?"

"Duh, because it looks better," Camie said. "I mean...I guess the traditional look is okay for some people, but I've always been a more modern chick. I mean, it's so last century, right?"

"More like last millennium," Momo corrected her. "But here everyone kind of blends the two, I notice. Some traditional, some modern."

"That's an interesting thing to learn," Temari said. "Which of our clothes do you consider to be traditional? What if our traditional is your modern?"

"I never thought of that," Momo said. "But are the tee shirts and tracksuits old or new styles?"

"New," Tenten said. She felt her own trimmed shirt. "This is a little older style but not ancient."

"That's what I thought," Momo said. "So it must be about the same. I like traditional clothes myself, but at our school, they're not practical."

"They suit you," Shoto said.

Momo reddened a little.

"You have that look." Camie nodded at Momo. "She looks like a Japanese model on a magazine cover. With the black hair and smooth skin, I mean, come on. She could wear old stuff. I don't look right at all."

"Camie, please," Momo said.

"You don't look much like her," Tenten said. "But I thought you just had different families."

"Eh, my family has some more Western people in it somewhere along the line," Camie said. "I forget where. Most people do now. Everyone intermingled in our...uh, country. Quirks really destroyed any sense of separation between them. That's what they say in sociology class anyway."

"You remember something from class?" Dabi said.

"Bakugo grilled me on it for a test," Camie said. "Pro tip: never ask Bakugo to help you with sociology. All throughout the test what I remembered was him calling everyone 'b-----ds', 'punks' and other curse words. I got the facts right, but the names were...tricky."

"Didn't you pass the test?" Bakugo asked.

"Well, yeah, but not at the top of the scale," Camie said.

"Ugh, that's why you need to have enough initiative to learn the names on your own," Bakugo said. "I don't do everything."

"How about not relying on your boyfriend to tutor you anyway?" Dabi said. "Isn't that extortion? I mean, what does he gets in return, cuddles?"

"Never say that again," Bakugo said.

"Don't be silly, Dabi," Camie said. "He gets memes. I made a bunch of Torodoki's and a few of the others for that test."

"I really don't like that my image is being used as currency," Shoto said.

"Especially without licensing it for you first," Momo sighed.

Sasuke was only glad he was forgotten about in their nonsense.

Strange...this wasn't getting on his nerves the same way as before. Maybe he was able to tune them out now.

"You know, you missed exploring the other towns," Jugo told him. "I heard they had some incidents."

"Didn't you miss it also?" Sasuke replied.

"Yes, I was glad I did," Jugo replied.

Sakura threw her pen into the air. "That is it," she said, putting down her clipboard. "There's just no way it makes any sense. I give up... Unless someone has an idea."

"The one idea I had was this was a miracle," Sai said. "But you didn't seem to like that one."

"That makes no sense." Sakura frowned at him. "There's nothing spiritual about supplies like that."

"If you say so." Temari shrugged at her.

Sakura just shook her head.

* * *

"You want to have a ceremony about Jiraiya?" Naruto replied when Shine and Wally had told him what they wanted to talk to him about.

"He never really had a proper one, did he?" Shine asked.

"No...I mean, there was nothing to...bury, so there wasn't much to it," Naruto said. "I just...but I thought... I mean, why do you want to do it?"

"We're here in Rain Village," Shine said. "It's a good time to say goodbye to any lingering ghosts, don't you think? I'm sure you've been thinking about it since we arrived, what happened... Wouldn't it be good to have closure?"

"I...well...it might be." Naruto warmed up to this. "To show respect. But Rain Village--"

"They're okay with this," Shine answered. "Kankuro already asked them if they'd mind if we used the lake for a memorial. They didn't ask for whom. And we didn't want to explain. Better not to bring up blame in this case."

"But if you don't want to, that's cool," Wally said. "It's up to you. You knew him better."

"But...don't you two not like Jiraiya much?" Naruto was confused.

Shine folded her arms. "It doesn't matter what we think, Naruto. He was your sensei. And a legendary Sannin of Leaf, so, if for no other reason than that, if you want to show him the proper respect for that, then we see nothing wrong with that. People have to mourn. It's not for me to say who for, don't you think?"

"I'm not sure that was a 'no,'" Naruto said.

"But it's more important to you than us," Wally said. "We never even met him, so it's your call, right?"

Naruto thought. "Yeah, I guess it is. Yeah, we should do it. Jiraiya would like that. Beside...we're here...and he would think that was pretty incredible after what happened before."

Shine nodded. "Shikamaru said he'd take charge of the Leaf customs for it that we could do here, which probably won't be many, but if you want to say anything about it...you could maybe write a speech or something. It's all what you like. The others won't care."

"I'll think about it," Naruto said. "When do you want to have it?"

"Tomorrow, if that's okay with you. Before we get too busy," Shine replied.

"Okay." Naruto nodded.