The Kazankage spared no expense when he commissioned this apartment for his representative. The place was huge. There were three bedrooms and two baths, as well as a living room, dining room, kitchen, and a small workout room.

---

"Be it ever so humble, right Kano?" Ishiaki asked with a smirk as he stepped aside for the rest of them.

"There's no place like home." Kano said with a nod. He was glad that he was going to have a roommate again. It was rather lonely here without El and Hinji. Even though Hinji had kept mostly to himself. The place was just too quiet without them.

Higen was instantly impressed. More so with the weight set/workout room and the meditation nook. The luxury items would probably be impressive to him later, but Higen was a simple kid. He just stood there looking around, but his face said that he approved quite a bit.

There were also plants in the windows and even a bonsai tree by the meditation nook. "You don't have to worry about the plants." Kami said. "I'm over often enough to take care of them. Besides, I gave Kano a rubber tree a couple years ago and he about killed the thing."

"How was I supposed to know it wasn't going to bounce?" Kano asked as he set Higen's luggage down in an open spot. "It was a rubber tree."

Kami rolled her eyes and looked at Higen as if to say. 'See what I'm dealing with?' but it was meant to be funny and over exaggerated.

Higen looked back and forth between them. "That's a joke, right?" His face told that he seemed worried that his roommate was an idiot.

"Yes..." Kano said quietly, glancing away from them both. It wasn't as if he had tried to make the tree bounce. It had fallen off the table he'd put it on. The story just sounded better if he told it as if he was trying to make it bounce.

"Boy, aren't you two just made for each other?" Kami joked. "Here, this'll be your room, Higen." She slid back the soji to what used to be Hinji's room. "It's pretty much as Hinji left it. He was a pretty minimal kind of guy. There's paper and an ink set but not much else... He's never come back for the paper and ink so... guess you're welcome to it."

Higen nodded. But after that, he looked down, frowning. His lips worked as he put his hands on his hips.

"Are you ok, Higen?" Kami asked, frowning. "I know it's not much but I could bring in a couple plants if you like. A window box of sage grass would make it smell really nice in here."

"Huh?" He looked up. "Oh, there's nothing wrong with the place." He blinked a couple times. "So, um... Now what?"

"For now, you make yourself comfortable, Higen." Ishiaki told him simply. "You'll find us a pretty accepting people. We're to look after you, not keep you prisoner."

"Yeah." Higen shrugged the niceties off. "Tell me what I will be doing here, after I get comfortable."

Kami kind of shrugged. "Well... We're sort of down one on our team..." She said. "Oita went home, Akane is on a blood vendetta. They were on my team. Hinji went home and El sort of... well no one's one hundred percent sure where he is all the time. There's a bit of a rumor that he's anbu now. They were Kano's team. With you we've got three again..."

"Under supervision, you'll be permitted to leave the village, Higen." Ishiaki explained to him. He pointed at the three of them. "Any two of us at a minimum to leave the village. Since they're both Chunins now, I don't have to accompany every mission."

Kano coughed and looked at them both. "I think they're jumping the gun a little really. I mean, we don't even really know what you can do." He crossed his arms and looked at the puny guy. "Maybe all the reports are fabricated."

Higen seemed to instantly change his demeanor in response to Kano's tone. He turned to face Kano and glared into the taller boy's eyes. His face went steely cold.
"And what do those reports say?"

Kami slid between them. "That you're a very fierce fighter." She elbowed Kano in the side and turned to him. "And you are being very rude, Kano Kurosaki." She put her hands on her hips and looked up at him as if she were every bit as big as he was. "He's your new house guest. The last thing he needs to feel welcome is you being a nin-cong-soup." She'd gotten that last part wrong, but it came across all the same.

Ishiaki pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned in close for Kami to hear. "Nincompoop..." He corrected her, then straightened up again.

Kano looked down at her, not one bit afraid of the petite little woman who could certainly mop the floor with him, despite appearances. "I'm not being rude. You're both talking about taking him on missions and we know little about what he's capable of. I've got a dojo. I was inviting him to give a demo."

Higen's nostrils flared and his eye twitched. He looked pissed, but there was something more to that look. He stormed out of the room and got all the way to the front door before he realized there wasn't really anywhere to go. He stood there, looking at the door, clenching his fists.

"See!" Kami hissed at Kano. "He's not been here five minutes. Now you've offended him." She gave Kano a huff and went after Higen. She found him in the main room. "Hey... Don't mind Kano. He's like that with everyone new. He's always wanting to test his metal on whoever comes around."

"There's nothing to test," Higen said quietly. "I'm not a real ninja." He didn't face her. He was looking at his feet, still clenching his hands.

Kami frowned. "Um... I... that's not what I hear..." She said. "We were told you were really powerful... like... jinchuriki powerful..."

Higen shook his head. "I can't even weave chakra." He turned and performed an admirably fast handsign. "Water," another sign, "fire," another, "wind," another "earth. Nothing. I don't know what the hell you were expecting."

She chewed her lip. "Well... it doesn't mean you're not a ninja." She told him. "I've heard of ninja who can't weave chakra and are still amazing fighters."

Higen tilted his head, looking at Kami with his big eyes. A lock of hair fell over his face, and he brushed it back with his hands. Realizing he was being a jerk, he slumped his shoulders.
"Well, I have some legitimate talents, sure." He actually smiled just a little. "Still, no jinchuriki." He looked back at the room. "So what am I supposed to do? Unpack my stuff into that guy-- uh, Kano's house?"

She nodded. "Hinji's room is yours now." She said. "You're... not a prisoner, Higen... Sure you can't leave the village without two Chunin, but that's not so different from the other Genin in training around here."

"Well... I don't think it's a good idea to stay here." He rolled his eyes. "I'm likely to deck Kano, and get mauled in return, at this rate."

"Well you can't stay with me." She said. "I live at the greenhouse and how would that look with Kano and I-" She paused. "Well... you know."

"Hmph." Higen rolled his eyes. "Well, he listens to you, at least. Maybe I'll... adjust."

"I'll talk to him." Kami said. "He just wants to know how good you are. I'll remind him that's not why you're here. He eggs get big sometimes... Wait... that's wrong..." She frowned. "Eggs... not eggs..." She sighed. "This language is stupid. You'd think after three years I'd be fluent. What is is when you think highly of yourself?"

"Head gets big," Higen said. He smiled again. She was amusing, if nothing else.

"Yeah but... EGO!" She went all bright and wide eyed as if she'd discovered the formula for turning led into gold. "Ego that's what I meant! He's got a big ego."

"Jeez, it's not everyday I get corrected. Maybe your grasp is better than you thought..." Higen rubbed the back of his head.

"No, no thank you!" She said. "That actually helped. Master Risu suggested I take words I'm not familiar with and associate them with ones I do know. Like "Big headed" and ego. See?" She smiled, far too nice and sweet for her own good.

He smiled, seeming against his own will, and gave a little chuckle. "Yeah. Yeah, sure." He blushed a little. "But... Do you know if they'll expect me to do missions?"

"Well Kano and I are going to be really bored if they don't." Kami said. "We don't know everything going on, just that we're your chaperones... but we think you're going to be the new third on our squad."

Higen sighed loudly. Then another awkward silence ensued. Truth was, he hadn't been told he was a weapon of mass destruction. He'd been groomed for it all his life, to be a leader and a strategist, as well as a powerful fighter, but his chakra had been sealed since birth, and nobody was allowed to talk to him about that.

She reached out and patted his shoulder. "Everything will be ok." She said. "You'll see... You wanna come back in so Kano can not apologize like a doorface?"

Higen looked past her. He was seeming to think of something, some memory. His face looked concerned. Then he shook his head. "There's nothing to apologize for. But I, um, I need to ask you... Can I talk to... Someone in charge? Like... Somebody who works directly with the Kage?"

"I'm sure Ishiaki has something like that planed." She said. "I was a little late getting to the docks so I don't know what all has been decided just yet."

As if summoned by his name, the blind swordsman poked his head in. "Are you two about through? I believe Kano is getting a little jealous that you're spending so much time alone with her, Higen." He pointed out with a smirk. It was doubtful that Kano truly felt that way.

Higen blinked as if baffled by Ishiaki's forwardness.
"Uh, so are you in charge?" He asked. These people were so much more casual and laid back than he was experienced with. He was constantly off balance.

"I suppose you could say that. I answer only to the Shimagunikage." Ishiaki replied with a shrug. "That, and all other ninja in the village answer to me." He was the highest ranking ninja in the Coalition, other than the kage himself. Effectively, this made him the leader of the Coalition ninja force.

"So you're the one with the answers..." Higen stared a little closer at Ishiaki. The man was certainly a ninja of a different caliber than most. It was in his posture, in his voice. There was something about him, almost an aura of hidden power. Higen felt less agitated, and more curious. Maybe he could actually learn something new here. And maybe they could understand how off kilter Higen was. He was a prisoner in his own country, and had been his whole life. He wasn't scared of being a prisoner of the coalition. He was scared of freedom.

"Perhaps not all the answers." Ishiaki replied sagely. He grinned to Higen and tilted his head curiously to the side. "My answers are limited, you must ask the right questions."

"You know the real reason I'm here, don't you?" Higen's eyes shifted for a second to Kami, and then back. He was worried, no, ashamed of what the answer might be. "Am I really a monster?"

At that question Kami quietly dismissed herself. She was curious about Higen, but this wasn't the way to find out about him. She slipped out to find Kano in another part of the house.

"I am aware of the reason we were told, you were here. Whether or not that is the actual reason, remains to be seen." Ishiaki informed him, a little skeptically. He still didn't quite have his own handle on just what the boy's mission might be. "As for being a monster? That is entirely up to you." He told him gently. "It's what we do that defines us. We all have the potential to be monsters."

Higen's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. "The semantics are nice and all mister...uh Ishiaki... But I'm being serious." It was becoming clear how blunt and serious of a personality Higen had. What Master Ishiaki had said was pretty wise and sagely, but Higen took it as an insult.

"You were sent here as an incentive, a show of peace between our nations. We will not attack them, so long as you are in our custody. Many believe however, that you were sent here to destroy us from within." Ishiaki explained to him, rather coldly. He looked at Higen, his shoulders drooped in a show of his relaxed nature. He was not on guard around the boy. "I'm a firm believer that everyone has the potential to become a monster, myself included. There have been several occasions when I was tempted to cross that line. If you truly wish to be the monster people seem to think you are, then I will have little choice but to treat you as such." He leaned against the wall and sighed. "But I like to think you're more than what we've been warned of. That there's more to you than meets the eye, so to speak."

Higen didn't say anything. Again, Master Ishiaki was trying to impart something of major wisdom, but it fell on deaf ears. In reality, what Higen got out of his answer was something else, and likely much, much more than Master Ishiaki had intended to say.
Higen took a deep breath. "I better get unpacked." He stepped around the blind swordsman and went to what would be his room. He undid the rope holding his things together, and unstacked bundles of clothes and boxes, until he got to one particular. He tore open that paper packaging and started taking out books, setting them beside him on the floor.

Ishiaki smiled and watched him head out. He didn't really enjoy giving speeches, but when he did, they were good ones. He could tell that something had grabbed at him. He shrugged and decided to lounge about on the patio for now. The boy was going to stay, not that he really had much choice in the matter...

---

Kano smiled when he heard the soft steps of Kami's bare feet as she approached. "I was just about to fix something to eat. You hungry?"

Kami shook her head and boosted up onto the counter. "I don't want you trying to spar with Higen." She told him.

"Ok." He replied without so much as a second's hesitation. "Got a reason why?" He asked her curiously as he stirred what was in the pan.

"I don't think he was... Trained like we were..." She said. "I think you should lay off till he's a little more secure in his place here."

"So I shouldn't test him out?" Kano asked her, confused by her statement. "How else are we to know what he can do?"

"We wait." She said. "Till he's better established in the village. I've no doubt he's got training, you can see that in the way he moves and stands, but I don't think he's very experienced with his chakra nature... He... sort of said he didn't have one..."

"Didn't have one?" Kano asked, arching an eyebrow curiously. "I've met a couple who could only use taijutsu. But that doesn't exactly fit the intel we've received."

"Right." Kami said. "Just wait for now. Ishiaki is talking to him. Wait till we know more ok?"

But they could hear Higen rifling around in his stuff, pulling apart his stuff, which appeared to consist of notebooks and tomes more than anything else. The sound was a bit... Agitated. Eventually, the thump of leather bindings quit as Higen started stacking the books back up, trying to organize them neatly. He hadn't found what he was looking for.

"Alright..." Kano replied with a sigh. "If you insist." He told her with a nod. He wanted to see what Higen could do, and the best place for that was there in his dojo.

"If he's up to it I think we should show him around town." Kami said. "Maybe take him to dinner at that new barbecue place?"

"You want to go now, or give him more time to unpack?" Kano asked her, reaching up and grabbing some red pepper to add to his sizzling steak chunks.

Out of all his books, none listed the technique he was looking for. He already knew it, but he wanted to be sure. He sat back and sighed wearily. He'd have to find the information from somewhere, or someone, on the island.
"So it's a seal then. Probably," he muttered.

"I think we should go now." Kami said. "Before the sun starts to set."

"Fair enough. Just lemme finish my little snack." Kano told her with a smirk. He stirred it all one more time, then fetched a bowl from another cabinet.

"I'll go see if he's ready." Kami said, hopping off the counter. She went to Higen's room and knocked. "Higen... may I come in?"

Kano flipped the contents of the pan into the bowl, then shut the stove off. He carried the bowl with him back to the living room and flopped down into the lone chair and started to eat.

Higen had stacked books against the wall. A lot of them. Some looked old and worn. He looked up, noticing Kami's legs first. He blinked a bit. "Uh yeah, sure."

She slid the soji aside and it was no longer her silhouette he got to look at. "Kano and I thought you might like a tour of the city... or at least a look around the block..."

He glanced back at his half-unpacked things, and back to her. "Yeah. Sounds good." He didn't look excited. He looked strangely placid and aloof.

Kami thought he looked sad and decided it was her job to make him feel better. "Maybe we can get some dongo? My treat!"

"Okay." He stood up and nodded politely. He cracked the faintest hint of a smile. "I don't know what dongo is, though..." He raised his eyebrows.

She gasped and even squeaked. "Oh it's SO GOOD!" She cried out. "I'd never had it either before coming here. They're sweet dumplings, come on." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the hall and into the main room where Kano was eating his snack. "Get up, Kano. We're getting dongo!"

"Awesome!" Kano said and launched himself from the chair. He upended the bowl of fried steak and dumped the whole contents of it into his mouth.

Higen stumbled along after her, getting dragged like a dog on a leash. He didn't feel so grouchy since it was Kami taking him. Even if mister alpha male was coming with. He wasn't used to people touching him, so he was nervous. But again... It was Kami.

"Ugh, Kano." Kami rolled her eyes at him. "You don't have to eat like a barbarian." She looked at Higen. "He's gonna order a dozen for himself, just to warn you." She opened the door in an attempt to usher the men from the house.

"What?" Kano asked, setting the empty bowl on the table as they headed out. "I require a lot of nourishment, I'm still growing."

Higen blushed a little, looking at his wrist. She had an uncomfortably strong grip. "Is Ishiaki sensei coming?"

"Probably not." Kami said, finally letting go of Higen as they walked down the hall. "I think Tsu sensei is expecting him." She turned back to Kano and gave a knowing smile. "They try to keep it quiet but everyone knows."

"As disturbing as it is... We all know..." Kano couldn't help but shiver a little at the thought of the two of them.

---

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